I'm in the market for some good hard-boiled Private Detective novels. I'm currently reading Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane. Can anyone suggest others? Any more recent novels in the genre?
Thanks!
Thanks!
Gillhoughly said:And ditto five times over, Adam Hall, who taught me how to write, whether he knew it or not. It's spy stuff, but I consider it noir and he's the writer Ludlum wishes he could be.
Wow.
Gillhoughly said:Donald Westlake's darker stuff, the Parker novels, one of them was the Mel Gibson film Payback.
nevada said:Andrew Vachss from what I remember had a series with a PI who was as hard-boiled as they came. He had a big, mean dog too. The PI, not Vachs. I think the dog's name was daisy, but I can be making that up. I do remember that he'd trained the dog to attack on the command sit. I should check them out at the library. I remember really liking them. Of course this was 16 yrs ago.
edited: I just checked my library and he's not listed under Private Investigators. The character's name is Burke, and he does check things out, but maybe he's not a PI in the strictest sense of the world. Still worth checking out though. I think i'll go to the library today.
Lee_OC said:The Burke series is one of my absolute favorites.
btw - the dog's name is Pansy.
Arden said:Was Pansy
I named my dog Burke in honor of this series. She weights 180 pounds, like Pansy on a slim day.
Gillhoughly said:Anything by John D. MacDonald, especially his Travis McGee series.
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And Hard Case Crime is reprinting old classics and buying new stuff. You can read samples on their website.
I've enjoyed Dick Francis, learned a lot from him.
Soccer Mom said:I like J.A. Jance's JP Beaumont series. Those have a good hard edge to them.
Gary said:For years, I was hooked on Richard Prather's Shell Scott books, but I don't know if they are in print today.
UrsusMinor said:For something quirky but still hard-core, give Michael Gruber's Tropic of Night a look.