Good/great modern/contemporary noir/hard-boiled fiction

I'm really in the mood for some noir or hard-boiled fiction.

I've read both Lehane and Ellroy and of course much of the classics (Chandler, Hammett, Thompson and such). Anyone have any good suggestions?

anyone?

You have probably already read Ross Macdonald, one of my favorites.

Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter or anything Hard Case Crime publishes.

http://www.hardcasecrime.com/

For someone writing now Megan Abbott is top notch. to go across the pond Ken Bruen

All the 'Maigret' books by Georges Simenon.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I have some Simenon I haven't read yet but I thought those were less noir hardboiled and more the general detective novels/stories.

I have some Ross Macdonald as well but I didn't even think of him. I bought them a while ago and they were shelved and forgotten until I read you response.

Please try one of the the MacDonalds! I think you'll like them.

will do...

Then, I think, the one you want is Mickey Spillane, with the Mike Hammer stories.

for the classic stuff also try Cornell Woolrich

Have you tried David Goodis and Charles Willeford? Both wrote some good noir novels.

Try James Lee Burke. He's the best!

Andrew Vachss

The early Matthew Scudder books by Lawrence Block -like Sins of the Fathers is pretty noirish

Walter Mosley?

Also definitely Cutter and Bone by Newton Thornburg

There is also the Thraxas series (for example, Thraxas and the Sorcerers by Martin Scott/Millar), if you want to have a look at the 'Fantasy Noir' genre. It has investigations and all, so it definitely fits what you are looking for.

Just finished Dope Thief by Dennis Tafoya. Highly recommended. Kind of reminds me of Dan Simmons,
"hard" series. Excellent.

Black Wings Has My Angel by Elliott Chaze

Build My Gallows High by Geoffrey Homes is really good. It was written in 1946 and adapted to film in 1947 as 'Out of the Past' starring Robert Mitchum & Kirk Douglas.

The PARKER series by Richard Stark Donal Westlake

Try Vicki Hendricks. She's very contemporary and VERY noir. CRUEL POETRY or MIAMI PURITY would be a good place to start with her. Ray Banks is excellent, also. Try his SUCKER PUNCH.

I'm rather surprised not to see any of John le Carre's books mentioned. To me, they're almost all deep noir. Or are espionage novels out of genre?

Depending on how hard boiled you like it , I would try Walter mosley and the Easy Rawlinds mysteries. Noirish with a touch of american history and also Elmore Leonard.

I would add to the list 2 Eds. Firstly Ed Mcbain, author of the prolific 87th Precinct police procedurals. So many great ones to choose from. Secondly Ed Dee, another terrific writer of police procedurals. 14 Peck Slip, his first novel, would be a good place to start.

Reading West on 66 by James H. Cobb. Its pretty good.

Hello. Reader and writer of detective novels who just joined this group and saw the thread. Can't believe that Robert Parker, he of the Spenser novels, hasn't been mentioned. I'd say he is the preeminent hardboiled detective novelist of the past 40 years. My own detective story, Pascal's Wager, is heavily influenced by his work, as I'm sure other fictional P.I.'s like those of Robert Crais are.

James Lee Burke is good - try Black Cherry Blues. For some country noir try Daniel Woodrell's novels Tomato Red or Winter's Bone.

Excellent read of Twin Cities Noir edited by Julie Schaper at Akashic Noir. It is a short stories collectively authored book which will give you the idea of visiting St. Paul and Minneapolis, preferably in winter and at night.

Derek Raymond is amazing. Very dark and literary.

Philip Kerr writes a series about a anti-Nazi German cop named Bernie Gunther and his exploits during a time frame of early 1930's through early 1950's that I think is quite good. He's able to create an atmosphere and setting of those grim times that you can almost taste...

I second the Kerr books. The Bernie Gunther novels make for a compelling read... do give Berlin Noir a shot.

Jonathan Valin's hard boiled Harry Stoner series is excellent.

I will 3rd. or whatever Berlin Noir...

But have you thought of also looking at some Fantasy, which explicitly tries for a 'Noir' atmosphere?

I would recommend Jim Butcher and Glen Cook (His Garette series).

But probably only the first few in the series. In fact 'only' start with their first books.

I also liked that 'alternate History" Fatherland . A thriller, but I guess its setting feels 'Noir' to me :)

I've recently discovered and devoured Barry Eisler's John Rain series. Rain is a professional, and very accomplished assassin. In fact, in the first book of the series that's all he is, but as the series progresses the character grows increasingly complex. Much of the action is set in Tokyo and the rest of Japan, but he does get around: Brazil, Paris, etc.

>36 guido47:

If you can stretch from 'fantasy' to 'sci-fi', then Richard Morgan's books are an excellent set to try; there's the Takeshi Kovacs series, which consists of Altered Carbon, Market Forces, Broken Angels, and there's the stand-alone Black Man (my personal favourite).

There's also Jon Courtenay Grimwood's 9tail fox, and perhaps his Arabesk Trilogy too.

Further, for those who don't object to reading their stories in graphical form (comic books, that is to say), there are plenty of good places to start:

Most accessible is probably Darwyn Cooke's adaptations of the Parker stories, The Hunter, The Outfit and The Score.

I absolutely adore the works of Ed Brubaker. He's done plenty, often in collaboration with Sean Phillips. The Criminal series is straight out crime noir; start with Criminal: Coward. Then there's his horror noir series, Fatale; start with Fatale: Death Chases Me for that one. Then, going back earlier in his career, there's his superhero noir series - perhaps a bit more Le Carre than noir, though - called Sleeper, which is collected in a single volume, Sleeper Omnibus, or there's Sleeper: Season 1 for a cheaper place to start. This was the one comic that for a long time I'd push on everyone to read, I think it's that good.

Hope some of you guys out there reading this find some inspiration from these suggestions.

Thanks #38, I have read Richard Morgan . I will look at Grimwood

Since we share 500+ books (and I should borrow about 200 from you) I look forward to any 'Noir' SF/Fantasy you suggest :-)

There is a trilogy, of sorts, that is fantasy/hard-boiled detective that I really enjoyed. It is the Fable of Tonight series by Mike Resnick - Stalking the Unicorn is first and you should start with that one so you know how John Justin Mallory wound up in an alternative Manhattan.