detective or private eyes.

iansales said:
Kate Ross did a series of historical detective novels set in Regency England. They're good. They are: Cut to the Quick, A Broken Vessel, Whom the Gods Love and The Devil in Music.

Ellroy is certainly good. Probably the best place to start is either American Tabloid or the LA Quartet - The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential and White Jazz.

Also highly recommended is Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir trilogy, set in Germany during world War II.
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I read his LA Noir omnibus about the cop L. Hopskins.

The first book was decent but i didnt like how genius like the cop was. Too much drama over how smart he is. I liked the dark side of him more.

The serial killer in the book was interesting. It was soo creepy reading from his perspective.
 
huxley said:
I just finished reading the "Chinatown" script, and I'm interested in more detective stories or private eye story.

I know of sherlock holmes, james patterson's "Cross"

does anything come to mind :either books, or tv, films, ect...

thanks.
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If you liked Chinatown, I'd vote for some of the classic noir authors:

Raymond Chandler
Dashiell Hammett

For something more recent... Dennis Lehane's Kenzie/Gennaro books are incredible.
 
Hammett and Chandler are a must.

I would also check out the Vintage Crime/Black Lizard series. When this started it was made up of older noir novels from the 40's, 50's and 60's but now includes a wide range if novels including more recent works. Start with the old stuff; Jim Thompson, David Goodis, Frederic Brown, Charles Willeford.

Vintage Crime/ Black Lizard

Here's a few other good series.http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/blacklizard/

Stephen Greenleaf-The John Marshall Tanner Series.
James Lee Burke-Dave Robicheaux series
Lawrence Block-The Matt Scudder series.

Last but not least, and I can't recommend any hardboiled P.I. type novels more strongly.

James Crumley-The C.W. Sughrue & Milo Milodragovitch novels.

Crumley was not commercially successful in the U.S., but is highly thought of by aficionados of the hard boiled, as well as his peers writing within the genre.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Crumley
 
You need to read James Ellroy's The Black Dahlia for the most obsessed, messed-up, on-the-edge detectives ever.
 
Perhaps the best of them all - Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novels. I'd start at about 1980. If you like them you'll soon be looking for the early ones. Also, I always enjoy the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike stories of Robert Crais. The Sherlock Holmes stories are enormously entertaining; best read all the way through in the proper order.
 
Musky said:
Hammett and Chandler are a must.

I would also check out the Vintage Crime/Black Lizard series. When this started it was made up of older noir novels from the 40's, 50's and 60's but now includes a wide range if novels including more recent works. Start with the old stuff; Jim Thompson, David Goodis, Frederic Brown, Charles Willeford.

Vintage Crime/ Black Lizard

Here's a few other good series.

Stephen Greenleaf-The John Marshall Tanner Series.
James Lee Burke-Dave Robicheaux series
Lawrence Block-The Matt Scudder series.

Last but not least, and I can't recommend any hardboiled P.I. type novels more strongly.

James Crumley-The C.W. Sughrue & Milo Milodragovitch novels.

Crumley was not commercially successful in the U.S., but is highly thought of by aficionados of the hard boiled, as well as his peers writing within the genre.

James Crumley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Hi again Musky its been a while. I remember you helping me when i was new to Jim Thompson and co.

I have got alot of Vintage/Black Lizard since then. Jim Thompson has become a huge favorite. No one does bleak Noir better.

Also by the way i read Charles Willeford and David Goodis for the first time last month. Miami Blues and Shoot The Piano player.
Have you read those two books what do you think of them ?
 
Connavar said:
Hi again Musky its been a while. I remember you helping me when i was new to Jim Thompson and co.

I have got alot of Vintage/Black Lizard since then. Jim Thompson has become a huge favorite. No one does bleak Noir better.

Also by the way i read Charles Willeford and David Goodis for the first time last month. Miami Blues and Shoot The Piano player.
Have you read those two books what do you think of them ?
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Connavar, it has been a while. Glad you took to the Thompson books. They really are bleak, aren't they? I have read both of the books you mentioned, and remember liking them very much. Unfortunately, I read them both about 20 years ago, and my old brain does not recall much in the way of specifics. I remember Miami Blues and another Willeford book The Shark Infested Custard as much lighter in tone than Shoot the Piano Player. Of course the "Miami Blues" movie with Alec Baldwin could be clouding my memory.

Shoot the Piano Player was made into a 1960 film by Francois Truffaut that is supposedly a film noir masterpiece. I have not been fortunate enough to have seen it.

I can't remember if I ever recommended James Crumley to you. If I didn't, I sure should have. Knowing what you seem to like from your posts here, he'd be right in your wheelhouse.
 
There are so many!

John Lescroart---Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky--police/legal thriller mixed---Hard Evidence; The Second Chair; The First law---several more

Robert K. Tannenbaum---The Karp/Ciampi series---Act of Revenge/ No Lesser Plea/ Hoax and many others

Agathat Christie---And Then there Were None! An abosulte classic--in print for over 50 years! Don't miss this one!

Tess Gerrittsen--The Surgeon and The Apprentice, among others.
 
I've got Cook's Garret books, not bad. I haven't finished them But let me give a big endorsement to the Dresden books. I grab them as soon as I can when they come out (and a new one is due) and they keep me up. I really love the Dresden Files.
 
Musky said:
Connavar, it has been a while. Glad you took to the Thompson books. They really are bleak, aren't they? I have read both of the books you mentioned, and remember liking them very much. Unfortunately, I read them both about 20 years ago, and my old brain does not recall much in the way of specifics. I remember Miami Blues and another Willeford book The Shark Infested Custard as much lighter in tone than Shoot the Piano Player. Of course the "Miami Blues" movie with Alec Baldwin could be clouding my memory.

Shoot the Piano Player was made into a 1960 film by Francois Truffaut that is supposedly a film noir masterpiece. I have not been fortunate enough to have seen it.

I can't remember if I ever recommended James Crumley to you. If I didn't, I sure should have. Knowing what you seem to like from your posts here, he'd be right in your wheelhouse.
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Willeford seemed like Elmore Leonard to me. A good light hardboiled crime writer. He was very good with characters,little humor in it. I liked that its different than from my usual dark,action like Hardboiled books or the bleak character stuidies like Thompson,Ross Macdonald,Goodis etc.

I read Jim Thompson's After Dark, My Sweet last month. Dark,sick book. What a writer Thompson was. He can make a book that almost only is about whats happening in the head of a crazy guy seem really interesting.

By The way have you read Ken Bruen or Charlie Huston ? Modern Noir writers that keep the style of Thompson,Goodis era Noir books.
 
Connavar said:
Willeford seemed like Elmore Leonard to me. A good light hardboiled crime writer. He was very good with characters,little humor in it. I liked that its different than from my usual dark,action like Hardboiled books or the bleak character stuidies like Thompson,Ross Macdonald,Goodis etc.

I read Jim Thompson's After Dark, My Sweet last month. Dark,sick book. What a writer Thompson was. He can make a book that almost only is about whats happening in the head of a crazy guy seem really interesting.

By The way have you read Ken Bruen or Charlie Huston ? Modern Noir writers that keep the style of Thompson,Goodis era Noir books.
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I have a coupon at Borders and am thinking of finally picking up one of Huston's books. I've heard a lot of raves about his vampire series, but I think I'd rather start with his regular noir fiction.
 
soulsinging said:
I have a coupon at Borders and am thinking of finally picking up one of Huston's books. I've heard a lot of raves about his vampire series, but I think I'd rather start with his regular noir fiction.
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I choosed Caught Stealing book of Huston before his vampire books too.

As a regular reader of SFF i need more real good hardboiled crime. I will read his vampire books but not before his crime series,books.
 
Connavar said:
I choosed Caught Stealing book of Huston before his vampire books too.

As a regular reader of SFF i need more real good hardboiled crime. I will read his vampire books but not before his crime series,books.
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Did you read Caught Stealing yet? How was it? I went to 3 Borders in town and the local indie place and they were ALL sold out of that book!
 
soulsinging said:
Did you read Caught Stealing yet? How was it? I went to 3 Borders in town and the local indie place and they were ALL sold out of that book!
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I would rate it 3 stars of 5. It started uneventful but when it got going it was a fun ride. The second half is real good hardboiled first person book. I cant wait to read the other books in the same series.

I recommend it. He is not as literary talented hardboiled crime writer as Ken Bruen,Pelecanos but he is real good at hardcore,dark Noir.
 
My current favourites:

Daniel Silva
Harlan Coben
Michael Connelly
 
I absolutely second the suggestions to read Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch books and John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee books. You'll find the McGee stories a bit dated, with some attitudes that would now seem fairly politically incorrect. On the other hand, one of the great things about those books is that the character grows as the series progresses, and outgrows some of those attitudes, particularly concerning women.

Also, when reading James Ellroy, don't neglect his non-fiction book My Dark Places, which tells the story of his own mother's murder when he was a boy, and the story of his going back as an adult and, along with a law enforcement professional, re-examining the case, which was never solved. This book is especially interesting because he ascribes his fascination (maybe obsession) with the Black Dahlia case to his experience in having his mother murdered. At any rate, The Black Dahlia is my favorite book of his.

Other suggestions: Jonathan Kellerman and Faye Kellerman (yes, they're married); I like her books a bit more than his, but both series...she writes about an orthodox Jewish LAPD detective (he doesn't start out that way, which is part of what makes the series interesting) and his family, while he writes about a child psychologist who does consulting work, officially and unofficially, for the LAPD...are very good.
 
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