Crime/Noir recommendations

[Ser Duck]

Uhmm? Joking?

If not: A ½ min search brings up "Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci"

no not joking

from wiki..

"Leonardo had no surname in the modern sense, “da Vinci” simply meaning “of Vinci”: his full birth name was "Lionardo di ser Piero da Vinci", meaning "Leonardo, (son) of (Mes)ser Piero from Vinci". The inclusion of the title "ser" indicated that Leonardo's father was a gentleman."

But he is generaly known as Leonardo da Vinci isn't he? However because Dan Brown is a moron he thought the da vinci was his surname.

[Reposado]

I went through a bunch of Elmore Leonard this spring. While a lot of it was good, the only thing I can recommend wholeheartedly is Road Dogs.

Has anyone read John MacDonald? I never have and fear it might be tacky, but I do like the setting(the keys) and one line from that song always sticks in my head, so I can't help but consider it when I see it in the store.

[Jojen]

Dashiell Hammett

I loved The Maltese Falcon (and the movie ain't bad either).

[dillinisgood]

Reading The Blue Door by David Fulmer right now. Excellent book. I read a ton of crime/noir stuff so i'd like to think I can recognize a good one when I see it. This one is better than anything ive read recently.

[The Missing Link]

The Kenzie/Genarro books by Dennis Lehane are good reads. Darkness, Take My Hand is one of the most terrifying serial killer novels that I have read.

The Charlie Parker books by John Connolly are solid. The first few which were Every Dead Thing, Dark Hollow and The Killing Kind are great. Every Dead Things serial killer The Hollow Man ranks right up there with the previously mentioned killer in terms of terror inducing. He's gone a little supernatural now, but they are still good reads.

In terms of comic books, I reccomend Fell by Warren Ellis. I've only read the first volume but I enjoyed it.

[Ser Duck]

I finished ADWD this weekend decided for a rest from fantasy so I've just started The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss.

Imagine a crime/spy novel written by Oscar Wild. I've only just started but it's very good and it comes highly recomended by none other than Stephen Fry :bowdown:

"The most delicious, depraved, inventive, macabre and hilarious literary debut I can think of. More, I want more!"

[Michael Charles Duncan]

I would check out any Victor Gischler novel. My favorites are Gun Monkeys, Suicide Squeeze, and Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse.

Another author I recently stumbled on was Allan Guthrie. I've read Two-Way Split and I've currently bought the rest of his.

Another novel would be The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville. There is a sequel but I haven't read it yet.

[Contrarius]

I have no recommendations of my own, but I thought I'd mention this --

For anyone who is on Goodreads, the user named Kemper writes frequent, really good mystery/thriller reviews. I don't even read a whole lot of mystery, but I enjoy following his reviews. Just a thought!

[Horselover Fat]

Has anyone read John MacDonald? I never have and fear it might be tacky, but I do like the setting(the keys) and one line from that song always sticks in my head, so I can't help but consider it when I see it in the store.

I have read some MacDonald. If you are talking about the Travis McGee books, they are really very good, starting with THE DEEP BLUE GOOD-BY. The McGee books are entertaining and are definitely a product of their time but I would not call them tacky. MacDonald is a very good author. The McGee books do, however, follow something of a formula that becomes tiresome if you read a lot of them one after the other.

He also wrote a number of stand alone books, probably the most famous of which is CAPE FEAR (originally THE EXECUTIONERS, awesome book). I have only read a few of these but the ones I have read have been very good.

[Reposado]

I have read some MacDonald. If you are talking about the Travis McGee books, they are really very good, starting with THE DEEP BLUE GOOD-BY. The McGee books are entertaining and are definitely a product of their time but I would not call them tacky. MacDonald is a very good author. The McGee books do, however, follow something of a formula that becomes tiresome if you read a lot of them one after the other.

Yeah that's what I was talking about. That's what I was a bit worried about. Probably the titles that are the most worrying. Thanks for alleviating.

[dillinisgood]

For my money it doesn't get any better than Ross MacDonald. I like Chandler but Marlowe comes across forced to me at times. Plus I just have a soft spot for Lew Archer. If I was forced to pick a favorite of his i'd go with The Zebra-Striped Hearse.

A few more

-Andrew Vachss

-Sean Doolittle

-Sean Chercover

-K.C. Constantine

Also if any of you guys are into police procedurals at all and haven't read Night Dogs by Kent Anderson consider yourself in for a real treat.

[red snow]

I would check out any Victor Gischler novel. My favorites are Gun Monkeys, Suicide Squeeze, and Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse.

Ok, it's confirmed. Marvel comics mainly hire crime writers these days. I guess Axel Alonso was the editor of "100 bullets" before he joined marvel.

After ADWD, I decided I needed something different and lean in page count. So I'm about to begin "The Wheelman" Another marvel comics writer (although he now works for DC).

[Zeke]

Patricia Highsmith. The Ripley novels, The Talented Mr Ripley and Ripley's Game in particular, and Strangers on a Train (which is so much better than the movie are particularly great. She has a real talent for writing twisted and perverse and yet still believable (and nearly sympathetic in the case of Ripley) sociopaths. She has a real knack for getting inside her character's head.

And there's some really brilliant black humor in there too. You'll find yourself laughing at the most inappropriate times :D

[Swiffer]

Hi everyone... long-time George fan, first-time poster.

Avid reader here, and one of the all-time greats who I'm surprised hasn't popped up in this thread yet is the works of Jim Thompson. He writes gritty noir, where the books starts off dark, and descends into more of a hellish nightmare with each chapter. He's written some very popular novels that have been turned into films... "The Getwaway" with Steve McQueen, "The Killer Inside Me" (recently starring Casey Affleck and Jessica Alba) -- this is an incredible novel, a first-person perspective into the mind of a sociopath/serial killer who hides in plain sight as a town sheriff... and another excellent novel of his is "The Grifters", which was turned into a movie in 1990 with John Cusak and Anjelica Houston.

Nearly all of his novels are very dark and very entertaining, if you're into this kinda thing... "The Killer Inside Me" is most likely my favorite, though I also recommend:

Pop. 1280

Savage Night

After Dark, My Sweet

Roughneck (quasi-autobiography -- this guy lived a rough life)

Hopefully this sparks some interest.

I'm also a fan of Elmore Leonard's books, I think he's one of the sharpest writers of dialogue around. Freaky Deaky and Tishomingo Blues are both standouts, but really, all of them are a lot of fun. I saw Elmore speak at a library in Philly a few years back... he said that he usually doesn't have a plot in mind when he starts writing the book... what he does is create deep characters, then throws them into situations together, and figures out what their conversations will be like. From there, the plot formulates on its own. It's a pretty cool way to develop plots that continuously defy conventions, and they guy has been doing it with dozens and dozens of novels and stories over the course of 60+ years.

Last recommendation... part mystery, part horror, and all genius -- H.P. Lovecraft is terrifying stuff with excellent prose.

Cheers,

Swiff

[ZOLTAN THE MERCILESS]

After ADWD, I decided I needed something different and lean in page count. So I'm about to begin "The Wheelman" Another marvel comics writer (although he now works for DC).

The Getaway Man by Vachss might be right up your alley as well. It's a pretty quick read but a good book none the less.

[Kouran]

I dont know how anyone hasnt mentioned Mickey Spillane yet. His Mike Hammer novels are still pretty darn good and are pretty much classic detective fiction/noir classics.

[Reposado]

I'm also a fan of Elmore Leonard's books, I think he's one of the sharpest writers of dialogue around. Freaky Deaky and Tishomingo Blues are both standouts, but really, all of them are a lot of fun. I saw Elmore speak at a library in Philly a few years back... he said that he usually doesn't have a plot in mind when he starts writing the book... what he does is create deep characters, then throws them into situations together, and figures out what their conversations will be like. From there, the plot formulates on its own. It's a pretty cool way to develop plots that continuously defy conventions, and they guy has been doing it with dozens and dozens of novels and stories over the course of 60+ years.

Cheers,

Swiff

That's certainly an interesting way to go about it. I hadn't heard that quote but it makes sense now. In LaBrava, I felt like he wasted those characters, because the plot never went anywhere interesting.

[taurunum dire cat]

I love darck crime books so here are some of my faw

-Mo Hayder-Birdman,The Treatmant,Tokyo..one realy sick lady

-Robert Wilson-A small death in Lisbon,there are more of his books but this one is best

-Caleb Carr-Alienist,no relation with UFOs

-Jo Nesbo-Harry Hole novels

-Hanning Mankel- Kurt Wallamder novels

There are more of tham but for some of them Im not sure are translated to english here are some and if you can fine tham than enjoy

-Luca di Fulvio

-Boris Akunin/sorry if I speled it wrong

[red snow]

Finished "the wheelman". It was fast, fun, brutal and to the point - a perfect palette cleanser after ADWD. It felt as though it could be a pulp-fiction style screenplay with Colin Farrel as the lead. I liked how Duane got us to root for the main character despite him being pretty vicious himself - I guess it helped that everyone else was even more morally bankrupt than him. My only real complaint was that it seemed too much of a co-incidence how everyone seemed to be connected to everyone within the tale, although the author did a good job of establishing why they were so interconnected. There were a few fun twists in the book that caught me by surprise which is always a good thing.

Those of you who made the rec mentioned the other books aren't as good? That's a shame.

I'm reading a fantasy next but will hit another crime book once i'm done.

[Horselover Fat]

THE BLONDE is not as good as WHEELMAN but still worth the trouble. It gets a bit more dicey after that.