Peter Marsh’s The Devil’s Daughter, published 1942. Unconventional noir with a femme fatale who doesn't fit the usual mould. A story of love and lust, of hate, of revenge and of suspicion and betrayal. Great stuff.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/08/peter-marshs-devils-daughter.html

#crimefiction #crimenovel #crimenovels #vintage crime #vintage mystery #vintage mysteries #noirfiction #noir

Walter Untermeyer’s 1953 novel Dark the Summer Dies is noir melodrama rather than crime noir. It takes a long while for the real noirness to kick in but it is noir and has a genuine femme fatale. Worth reading if noir melodrama is your thing.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/07/walter-untermeyers-dark-summer-dies.html

#noirfiction #femmefatale #pulpfiction

New cover to my noir crime novel The Pick-Up.

Hoping it clicks with readers.

I have more planned for these characters but time, you know 🙄

#bookcovers #bookstodon #crimefiction #noirfiction

Sin Pit (1954) is Paul S. Meskil’s only novel. It's seriously hardboiled, most definitely noir and pretty sleazy. This is the seamy underside of 1950s America. A cynical cop gets drawn into a nightmare world of lust. Excellent book.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/06/paul-s-meskils-sin-pit.html

#crimenovel #crimenovels #crimefiction #hardboiledfiction #hardboiled #noir #noirfiction

W.R. Burnett's High Sierra, a great noir novel by a great writer. A bank robber just out of jail gets mixed up in a heist with a bunch of amateurs and a girl. He used to be a big shot. Now he's tired and fatalistic. The book packs a real punch.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/05/wr-burnetts-high-sierra.html

#crimenovels #crimenovel #crimefiction #noir #noirfiction #hardboiled #hardboiledfiction #WRBurnett

Noël Calef’s novel Frantic (original French title Ascenseur pour ’échafaud) was published in 1956. The basis for Louis Malle’s superb 1958 film noir Elevator to the Gallows.

Lots of noirness, fine suspense, a powerful sense of impending doom, some nasty plot twists. Fine stuff.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/04/noel-calefs-frantic-ascenseur-pour.html

#noir #noirfiction #hardboiled #hardboiledfiction #vintagecrime #1950scrime #crimefiction #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #vintagethriller #vintagethrillers #NoelCalef #filmnoir

The Girl With No Place To Hide (1959), a Marvin H. Albert Jake Barrow PI thriller written under the name Nick Quarry. Rescuing a girl leads Jake into the worlds of high fashion and photography and high-stakes gambling.

Good noirish stuff.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/03/nick-quarrys-girl-with-no-place-to-hide.html

#noir #noirfiction #hardboiled #hardboiledfiction #vintagecrime #1950scrime #crimefiction #privateeyes #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #MarvinHAlbert #NickQuarry #vintagethriller #vintagethrillers

Day Keene's Joy House was published 1954. A man loses five weeks of his life in an alcoholic haze. All he remembers is that he was a successful but unethical trial lawyer. And he does remember shooting his wife.

A nasty little erotic noir masterpiece.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/03/day-keenes-joy-house.html

#noir #noirfiction #hardboiled #hardboiledfiction #vintagecrime #1950scrime #crimefiction #DayKeene #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries

William P. McGivern’s 1953 novel The Big Heat was the source for Fritz Lang’s classic film noir of the same name. A good noir novel about an obsessed cop and with a complex sympathetic femme fatale. But Lang's movie is better.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2012/03/william-p-mcgiverns-big-heat.html

#WilliamPMcGivern #FritzLang #noir #noirfiction #hardboiled #hardboiledfiction #vintagecrime #1950scrime #crimefiction

Orrie Hitt’s 1954 novel She Got What She Wanted is fairly typical of his work, blending noir fiction and sleaze fiction. This one is very noir, as a girl gets tired of living on farm and heads to the big city to make her fortune, at any cost.

It's not just noirish, it's very good noirish fiction.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/03/orrie-hitts-she-got-what-she-wanted.html

#pulp #pulpfiction #noir #noirfiction #sleaze #sleazefiction #vintagesleaze #hardboiledfiction #hardboiled #vintagecrime #OrrieHitt

Leigh Brackett's 1944 novel No Good from a Corpse is fine hardboiled stuff. A PI takes a case for a client he hates. There's a rich assortment of crooked PIs, deranged alcoholics, insane ex-cons and as many no-good dames as you could wish for.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2013/07/no-good-from-corpse.html

#noir #noirfiction #hardboiled #hardboiledfiction #vintagecrime #1940scrime #crimefiction #privateeyes #LeighBrackett

Silly me I started this series with the second book. The fist part is The Fabulous Clip Joint. Though I didn’t feel lost in this Carny Noir.

As per his standalone novels, Brown creates an odd and tricky mystery with relatable and humorous characters.

@bookstodon #bookstodon #noirfiction #noir #hardboiledfiction #FredricBrown

Born To Be Bad (1959), one of the many sleaze novels Lawrence Block wrote under the name Sheldon Lord, before he established himself as a major crime writer.

A slightly noirish melodrama that deals with human relationships in an honest and grown-up way. With an intriguing complex heroine.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/02/lawrence-blocks-born-to-be-bad.html

#LawrenceBlock #sleaze #sleazefiction #noirfiction #Noir #pulpfiction #pulp #SheldonLord #trashfiction

Charles Williams' novel Nothing in Her Way (1953) deals with a whole series of fascinating confidence tricks.

Intricate and skilful plotting, ingenious confidence tricks, characters with some depth, taut suspense, an ambiguous hero and a femme fatale - what more could you want? Highly recommended.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/01/charles-williams-nothing-in-her-way.html

#CharlesWilliams #noir #noirfiction #hardboiled #hardboiledfiction #vintagecrime #1950scrime #crimefiction #pulpfiction

Free to download!

Just enter 0 in the price box and add it to cart.

***************************

He’s out there.

He’s hungry for children.

He’s not alone.

In 1961 Brooklyn, Carmella Noto, a brilliant young artist, psychically experiences other people’s pain and death. Her twin brother Enzo, a nonverbal autistic, accesses radio waves in his head. Both hiding their talents, both hiding their true selves.

When their childhood friend is kidnapped and his family murdered, they use their secret talents to find him before he faces a fate worse than death.

What they find is a monster so dark that it stained their family’s past.

Buy Cities that Eat Islands and discover what lengths childhood friends will go through to save one of their own from a heinous evil.

https://mepurfield.gumroad.com/l/DVMNTo?layout=profile

@bookstodon #bookstodon @actuallyautistic #autisticcharacters #neurodivergentfiction #darkfantasy #urbanfantasy #noirfiction

Time To Prey, an enjoyable 1960 entry in Frank Kane’s long-running Johnny Liddell PI thriller series. A pretty girl passes a letter to Johnny and then gets murdered.

Johnny Liddell is a Mike Hammer clone, but more cold-blooded and less ethical. But Kane is just not in Spillane's league as a writer.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/01/frank-kanes-time-to-prey.html

#noir #noirfiction #hardboiled #hardboiledfiction #vintagecrime #1960scrime #crimefiction #FrankKane #MickeySpillane #MikeHammer #privateeyes

The Three-Way Split is a 1960 pulp noir title by Gil Brewer. It concerns a treasure hunt.

The protagonist is a genuine noir hero. He’s a good man but with weaknesses. He’s a decent guy but he’s desperate. He needs that treasure. What will a man do for that sort of money?

This is fast-moving action, perhaps more adventure noir than straightforward crime noir. Recommended.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2021/06/gil-brewers-three-way-split.html

#GilBrewer #noirfiction #noir #hardboiledfiction #hardboiled #vintagecrime

Stephen Marlowe’s Model for Murder was published in 1955. More of a ”reluctant amateur detective” novel than a PI novel although it has plenty of hardboiled style.

Jason has just served a prison term for a crime his brother committed and he gets out to find that his brother has stolen his girl. Now Jason is in the frame for another murder.

Fine pulp crime fiction.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2020/08/stephen-marlowes-model-for-murder.html

#hardboiled #hardboiledfiction #privateeyes #noirfiction #crimefiction #pulpfiction

#finishedReading #thePostmanAlwaysRingsTwice by #JamesMCain

Really enjoyed this one. Nearly a hundred years old but a great read. Not surprised it got banned (in Boston)

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/2ee0759b-2e51-49e2-9aed-275938de1eaf

#noir #noirFiction #hardBoiled #hardBoiledFiction

I read 23 hardboiled/noir fiction titles in 2022. The best?

Bill S. Ballinger's Portrait in Smoke (1950).
https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2022/11/bill-s-ballingers-portrait-in-smoke.html

James O. Causey's The Baby Doll Murders (1957) https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2022/06/o-causeys-baby-doll-murders.html

Lionel White's Clean Break (AKA The Killing, 1955)
https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2022/08/lionel-whites-clean-break-killing.html

Henry Kane's Frenzy of Evil (1963)
https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2022/08/henry-kanes-frenzy-of-evil.html

#hardboiledfiction #hardboiled #noirfiction #noir #crimefiction #BillSBallinger #JamesOCausey #LionelWhite #vintagecrime #vintagemysteries