Continuing my crime fiction crawl, Hard-Boiled: An Anthology Of American Crime Stories (edited by Bill Pronzini and Jack Adrian) is a rather good starter book, with 500+ pages of hard-boiled short stories from the 20s to the 90s. Complete with a long-ish introduction covering the history of the genre and introductory primers on each story's author, you can learn a lot about where to go from here in your reading. I found that I liked the stories from the 20s and 30s best -- hard writing from hard times. The 60s and 70s didn't grab me as well, but the 80s and 90s improved again (the return of hard times?). Overall, I thought it a mighty fine chunk of noir fiction -- one of those books you want to carry around with you -- not necessarily to read in a rush, but to have on hand to savor, bit by bit. Some particular favorites...
Dashiell Hammet - The Scorched Face - mentioned in an earlier post.
Raoul Whitfield - Mistral - an elegantly world-weary piece set on the Mediterranean.
Paul Cain - Trouble-Chaser - tough trip through the L.A. underbelly.
Daniel Mainwaring - Fruit Tramp - depression desperation.
James M. Cain - Brush Fire - a hard-luck bad dream in the backwoods.
Brett Halliday - Human Interest Stuff - dusty yarn that keeps you off balance.
Norbert Davis - Who Said I Was Dead? - screwball noir.
Benjamin Appel - Dock Walloper - gangsters and grit on the NYC waterfront.
David Goodis - Black Pudding - pursuit and counter-pursuit with a walking tour of Philly.
David Alexander - Mama's Boy - a day in Manhattan with one creepy character.
Leigh Brackett - So Pale, So Cold, So Fair - elegantly crafted small-town corruption tale.
Evan Hunter - The Merry, Merry Christmas - what not to do in a bar.
Margaret Maron - Deadhead Coming Down - long-haul trucker boredom relief.
Robert Sampson - To Florida - white trash psycho tears the lid off.
James Hannah - Junior Jackson's Parable - more working-class woes.
Faye Kellerman - Bonding - a child of Beverly Hills tells her tale.
James Ellroy - Gravy Train - inheritance schemes, gore, a man and his dog.
Lawrence Block - Batman's Helpers - intellectual property cops on the streets of Manhattan.
The book is also useful for their many recommendations of further reading. Here's a condensation that I've printed out for my trips to the bookstore.
David Alexander - Paint The Town Black
- - - - - Shoot A Sitting Duck
Edward Anderson - Thieves Like Us
Benjamin Appel - Brain Guy
- - - - - The Power-House
- - - - - The Raw Edge
Leigh Brackett - No Good From A Corpse
Gil Brewer - A Killer Is Loose
W.R. Burnett - Little Caesar
- - - - - High Sierra
- - - - - The Asphalt Jungle
James M. Cain - anything
Paul Cain - Fast One
- - - - - Seven Slayers
Raymond Chandler - anything
Jonathan Craig - So Young, So Wicked
Norbert Davis - Mouse In The Mountain
- - - - - Sally's In The Alley
James Ellroy - The Black Dahlia
- - - - - The Big Nowhere
- - - - - L.A. Confidential
- - - - - White Jazz
David Goodis - Dark Passage
- - - - - Cassidy's Girl
- - - - - Street Of The Lost
Richard Hallas - You Play The Black And The Red Comes Up
Dashiell Hammett - everything
James Hannah - Desperate Measures
Chester Himes - Collected Stories: 1933-1978
- - - - - For The Love Of Immabelle
- - - - - The Real Cool Killers
Geoffrey Homes (Daniel Mainwaring) - Build My Gallows High
Jonathan Latimer - Solomon's Vineyard
John D. MacDonald - The Brass Cupcake
- - - - - The Damned
Horace McCoy - They Shoot Horses, Dont They?
Hellen Nielsen - Gold Coast Nocturne
James Ross - They Don't Dance Much
Jim Thompson - The Killer Inside Me
- - - - - A Hell Of A Woman
- - - - - A Swell-Looking Babe
- - - - - Savage Night
- - - - - Pop. 1280
Lionel White - Clean Break
Raoul Whitfield - Green Ice
- - - - - Death In A Bowl