City Sleuths and Tough Guys: Crime Stories from Poe to the Present

Trace the hard-boiled mystery back to its roots with this collection of twenty-eight detective stories set in tough, urban settings. From classics by Poe and Vidocq to contemporary favorites such as Hammett and Spillane, this is a literary feast for all mystery fans. Introduction / David Willis McCullough -- The simple art of murder / Raymond Chandler -- The clue of the yellow curtains / Francois Eugene Vidocq -- The mystery of Marie Roget / Edgar Allen Poe -- The lodger / Marie Belloc Lowndes -- Princess Sonia's bath / Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre -- The investors / Edgar Wallace -- The tenth clew / Dashiell Hammett -- The rubber trumpet / Roy Vickers -- No proof / Yoh Sano -- Dead-end for Delia / William Campbell Gault -- At the Etoile du Nord / Georges Simenon -- I always get the cuties / John D. MacDonald -- This world, then the fireworks / Jim Thompson -- The gold fever tapes / Mickey Spillane -- Wild goose chase / Ross MacDonald -- The nine-to-five man / Stanley Ellin -- Small homocide / Ed McBain -- Blind man with a pistol / Chester Himes -- Pigeon blood / Paul Cain -- Just one of those days / Donald E. Westlake -- Election day / Joseph Hansen -- The Parker shotgun / Sue Grafton -- The Johore murders / Paul Theroux -- Sure, blue, and dead, too / Janwillem van de Wetering -- Skin deep / Sara Paretsky -- Death by water / William Marshall -- Flake piece / Carolyn Wheat -- Dead soldier / Loren D. Estleman -- Double indemnity, the screenplay / Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder