Catalog Search Results
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English
Description
Sleep with the Devil, first published in 1954, is a hard-boiled noir crime novel by prolific author Day Keene (pseudonym of Gunnar Hjerstedt, 1904-1969). The novel follows Les Ferron, a borderline sociopath who commits a series of crimes, has two girlfriends - one "good," and one "bad - and a large amount of cash. The plot has twists along the way to keep readers engaged to the very end in this taut thriller.
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English
Description
Sinners and Shrouds, first published in 1955 as an Inner Sanctum Mystery, is a fast-paced, action-packed novel by master crime-writer Jonathan Latimer (1906-1983). The story centers on newspaper reporter Sam Clay, who becomes his own story when he wakes up next to a corpse and with no memory of the woman's identity and of what took place the previous night. Clay knows that he is being framed for the murder but has to prove this-both to himself and...
3) The Avenger
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English
Description
The Avenger, first published 1952, is a noir thriller centering on Morgan Wayne, a man determined to avenge those criminals − crime lords, gangsters, dope dealers, vice peddlers, and gunmen − the law treated as untouchable "...so he walked alone into the very heart of gangland to deal justice where the law had failed." Matthew Blood was a pen name for W. Ryerson Johnson in collaboration with David Dresser.
Morgan Wayne knew that the peddlers...
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English
Description
The Dead Can Tell, first published in 1940, is a murder-mystery featuring New York City police inspector Christopher McKee, one of a series of books featuring the inspector. For added realism, author Helen Reilly (1891-1962) based many of her novels on her research of the NYPD Homicide Squad.
"Sara Hazard died when her car slid across the drive into the murky depths of East River. The police crossed it off as an accident until Ins.
McKee of the...
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Series
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English
Description
The Frightened Man, first published in 1942, is a fast-paced noir murder mystery set in New York city and featuring private detective Jim Steele. Steele comes upon two murdered bodies and suspicion falls on Steele's good friend Larry Maxwell, part of a wealthy family but who has been threatened by his brother of being cut out of the family will. Dana Chambers was a pseudonym of Albert Leffingwell (1895-1946).
Gruesome twosome as Jim Steele finds,...
6) In His Blood
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English
Description
In His Blood, first published in 1955, is a noir thriller centered on Milton Raskob, a downtrodden factory worker, who, after receiving a slight from his boss, goes on a killing spree. Police Lt. Ed Tanager leads the investigation, and the book's chapters mostly alternate between these two characters and the last hours of the victims. A minor classic for its vivid portrayal of the mind of the killer and the dogged determination of Tanager and the...
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Description
Lead With Your Left, first published in 1957, is a classic hard-boiled crime novel, and follows a young NYPD detective over the course of a week in his hunt for the killer of two retired policemen. Author Ed Lacy (a pseudonym for Leonard Zinberg, 1911-1968) was a prolific writer of pulp crime fiction, and is credited with creating the first believable African-American private eye in American fiction, Toussaint Marcus Moore (in Room to Swing, 1957).
Obstreperous...
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English
Description
I.O.U. Murder, first published in 1942 as Rough on Rats, is a noir murder mystery set in California. Private detective Anthony Martin is called in to find a missing man who left his business-partner with a large debt. Martin delves into the racy (at that time) blue movie industry, mixing tough-guy investigator with a good dose of humor. William Francis was a pseudonym for William Francis Urell (1913?-1979) who wrote 3 novels set in Los Angeles featuring...
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English
Description
Too Like the Lightning, first published in 1939, is a noir thriller by Dana Chambers (pseudonym of Albert Leffingwell, 1895-1946), and the second book in the Jim Steele mystery series (the book was also published as Too Like the Dead). From the back cover: When Jim Steele woke up that morning, there was a lovely blonde head that he couldn't remember, resting on the pillow beside him. Huddled in the adjoining bathroom was a corpse he remembered only...
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English
Description
South Pacific Affair, first published in 1960, is a novel set in Tahiti and centers on a romance between a simple island girl and an American man. While trying to create a new life together, the past keeps returning to haunt the pair and their idyllic life on their island paradise. Author Ed Lacy (a pseudonym for Leonard Zinberg, 1911-1968) was a prolific writer of pulp crime fiction, and is credited with creating the first believable African-American...
11) Frenzy
Author
Language
English
Description
Frenzy, first published in 1960, is a classic noir novel centered on Norm Sands, a small-time grifter (con-artist) beset by bad breaks and hard times. Returning to his hometown in southern California, Sands looks to make his big score, no matter what the cost to friends and family. Author James Causey (1924-2003) wrote a number of short stories for magazines such as Weird Tales, Detective Story Magazine, and Galaxy Science Fiction, and three crime...
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English
Description
High Priest of California, first published in 1953, is a gritty noir thriller by Charles Willeford. The book, Willeford's first novel, centers on San Francisco used-car salesman Russell Haxby, a highly unpleasant character, who, motivated perhaps by sheer boredom, engages in small time cons and seduces a married woman. Willeford (1919-1988) is best known for his books featuring hardboiled detective Hoke Moseley.
A roaring saga of the male animal...
13) Hot Red Money
Author
Language
English
Description
Hot Red Money, first published in 1959, is a Cold War thriller ('Red' in the title refers to communism). Journalist Maurice Morel receives information from an informer that there are large amounts of secret Soviet money and gold tucked away in Lebanese and Swiss banks. Following the lead turns deadly for the informant and Morel's life is in danger as he attempts to discover the planned use of the funds.
"Several million dollars of that Russian gold...
14) Johnny Staccato
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English
Description
Johnny Staccato, first published in 1960, features a Greenwich Village jazz pianist who supplements his income by working as a private detective. Based on a cult-favorite noir TV-series of the same name, Johnny Staccato was "... a smooth man on the ivories, hot on the trigger, and cool in a jam-he's the toughest private eye to hit America in a decade."
From the great new television series starring John Cassavetes comes this novel of love in Greenwich...
15) Hungry Men
Author
Language
English
Description
Hungry Men, first published in 1935, is a Depression-era novel portraying an unemployed musician, Acel Strecker, who travels America as a hobo, taking odd-jobs when he can, and begging for food when he can't. His experiences, both good and bad, paint a vivid picture of life in America in the 1930s. While in New York, Acel meets and falls in love with an unemployed typist, and together they share a number of adventures. Eventually, Acel forms a street...
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English
Description
Murder Picks the Jury, first published in 1947, is a fast-paced murder mystery and courtroom drama by author W. T. Ballard, writing under the pseudonym Harrison Hunt. From the cover notes: "Hate, like a point of flame, burned in Lee's brain, hate for Vale City and all it represented. Vale City, corrupt, cruel and uncaring, had murdered his only friend - the one man who had stood by him through his degradation. As surely as if it had plunged a knife...
Author
Series
Daniel Port omnibus volume 1
Language
English
Description
Dig My Grave Deep, first published in 1956 is a noir thriller by master novelist Peter Rabe. The story centers on Daniel Port, a smart gangster who wants to get out of the criminal life while he still can, but to do so, his boss orders him to complete one last job - eliminating his chief rival for control of the city. The city, by the way, is replete with corruption at all levels of politics, government bureaucracies, and big business; no one is to...
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Description
Alfred Coppel (Alfredo Jose de Arana-Marini Coppel, 1921- 2004) was an American author. Born in Oakland, California, he served as a fighter pilot in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. After his discharge, he started his career as a writer. He became one of the most prolific pulp authors of the 1950s and 1960s, adopting the pseudonyms Robert Cham Gilman and A.C. Marin and writing for a variety of pulp magazines and later "slick"...
19) An Old Captivity
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English
Description
An Old Captivity, first published in 1940, is Nevil Shute's engrossing novel of an archaeological expedition to Greenland. Replete with Shute's attention to detail, the book centers on pilot Donald Ross, who has spent time flying seaplanes in the far north of Canada. Upon his return to England, he is offered a job flying a seaplane for a proposed survey in Greenland. The survey is commissioned by an Oxford don, Professor Lockwood, who will be accompanied...
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Description
The Whispering Window, first published in 1936, is the first in the series featuring amateur detective Ethel Thomas. The setting is a large department store plagued by missing products and, more seriously, four murders in a single day's time.
From the dustjacket: Meet Miss Ethel Thomas! - the shrewdest spinster-sleuth that ever walked the pages of a mystery story. You've seldom encountered as lively a lady of her years (age 75), and it's a treat...
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