Geneva Chase is still doing freelance work as an investigative journalist for her dying newspaper, The Sheffield Post, when she gets the call to cover a breaking story. Elliot Carlson is a local news anchor with a huge chip on his shoulder. Genie has never liked him, but even she is shocked to learn he’s…
Leadfoot by Eric Beetner is the 2nd fast and furious thriller featuring the McGraws—a family who will transport anything you require and won't ask any questions. The Dukes of Hazzard. “Thunder Road.” White Lightning. The moonshine-running driver hitting the backroads with suped-up Detroit iron and a trunkful of corn liquor, racing the revenuers, the sheriffs,…
Noir is the punk rock of the book world. It’s a niche genre that has been exploited to the point that the term it is meant to describe has been so watered down as to be unrecognizable and indistinguishable from the mainstream it rebels against. And, if Noir is punk rock, then Raymond Chandler is…
I will tell you from the start: I’ve written a great book. Part mystery, part psychological thriller—I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever written, and it’s been on my agent’s desk for the past 12 years because there isn’t a publisher that wants it. Here’s the thing: in the opening scene, we learn that…
I am a fan of crime fiction, and while I tend to prefer hard-boiled and noir books, I do my best to read from different eras, different countries, and within different subgenres. I’ve even been known to pick up a cozy mystery every once in a while. It’s important to me to see what has…
Fast Shuffle by David Black is a hard-boiled noir about a used-car salesman who believes he's a private detective straight from the pages of Raymond Chandler (available July 7, 2015). Fast Shuffle is the story of private detective Harry Dickinson, a hard-boiled, tough-as-nails detective with a love of old jazz standards and finding the solutions…
Here we are, fifteen years into a new century, and many authors are churning out noir novels as essential as anything from its heyday. If you’re like me, when you think of the 90s, it feels about five years ago, but the last decade and a half comprises the entire publishing career of many authors,…
In case you’re confused by the author credit in the heading here, let me just say that I join you in your befuddlement. This 1961 noir novel was originally published as a Fawcett Gold Medal paperback original, with W. Franklin Sanders tagged as the writer. But over time it came to be revealed that Charles…
The Art of Robert E. McGinnis by Robert E. McGinnis and Art Scott is a coffee-table book that highlights the illustrious career of one of America's most recognizable artists (available November 11, 2014). I’m somewhat ashamed to admit that while I have long been an admirer of particularly striking covers of what we now call…
So this is the next in my line of posts where I’m going to write about an underappreciated vintage noir novel, and in so doing, discuss a movie that was made from its story (sometimes it’s the other way around, but you get the idea). Robert Siodmak’s 1948 (referenced as ’49 in some places) film…
