The Best American Noir of the Century

Well worth its impressive weight in gold, it would be a crime not to have this seminal masterpiece in your collection.New York Journal of BooksIn his introduction to The Best American Noir of the Century, James Ellroy writes, Noir is the most scrutinized offshoot of the hard-boiled school of fiction. It's the long drop off the short pier and the wrong man and the wrong woman in perfect misalliance. It's the nightmare of flawed souls with big dreams and the precise how and why of the all-time sure thing that goes bad. Offering the best examples of literary sure things gone bad, this collection ensures that nowhere else can readers find a darker, more thorough distillation of American noir fiction. James Ellroy and Otto Penzler mined writings of the past century to find this treasure trove of thirty-nine stories. From noir's twenties-era infancy come gems like James M. Cain's Pastorale, and its postwar heyday boasts giants like Mickey Spillane and Evan Hunter. Packing an undeniable punch, diverse contemporary incarnations include Elmore Leonard, Patricia Highsmith, Joyce Carol Oates, Dennis Lehane, and William Gay, with many page-turners appearing from the past decade.Delightfully devilish . . . A strange trek through the years that includes stories from household names in the hard-boiled genre to lesser-known authors who nonetheless can hold their own with the legends.Associated PressJames Ellroy is the author of the Underworld U.S.A. trilogyAmerican Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand, and Blood's a Roverand the L.A. Quartet novels, The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz. His most recent book is The Hillicker Curse, a memoir.Otto Penzler is the founder of the Mysterious Bookshop and Mysterious Press, has won two Edgar Allan Poe Awards (most recently for The Lineup), and is series editor of The Best American Mystery Stories. (#fwd) Foreword by Otto Penzler (#intro) Introduction by James Ellroy 1923 TOD ROBBINS (../Text/Section0002.xhtml#robbins) Spurs 1928 JAMES M. CAIN (../Text/Section0003.xhtml#cain) Pastorale 1938 STEVE FISHER (../Text/Section0004.xhtml#fisher) Youll Always Remember Me 1940 MACKINLAY KANTOR (../Text/Section0005.xhtml#kantor) Gun Crazy 1945 DAY KEENE (../Text/Section0006.xhtml#keene) Nothing to Worry About 1946 DOROTHY E. HUGHES (../Text/Section0007.xhtml#hughes) The Homecoming 1952 HOWARD BROWNE (../Text/Section0008.xhtml#browne) Man in the Dark 1953 MICKEY SPILLANE (../Text/Section0009.xhtml#spillane) The Lady Says Die! 1953 DAVID GOODIS (../Text/Section0010.xhtml#goodis) Professional Man 1956 GIL BREWER (../Text/Section0011.xhtml#brewster) The Gesture 1956 EVAN HUNTER (../Text/Section0012.xhtml#hunter) The Last Spin 1960 JIM THOMPSON (../Text/Section0013.xhtml#thompson) Forever After 1968 CORNELL WOOLRICH (../Text/Section0014.xhtml#woolrich) For the Rest of Her Life 1972 DAVID MORRELL (../Text/Section0015.xhtml#morrell) The Dripping 1979 PATRICIA HIGHSMITH (../Text/Section0016.xhtml#highsmith) Slowly, Slowly in the Wind 1984 STEPHEN GREENLEAF (../Text/Section0017.xhtml#greenleaf) Iris 1987 BRENDAN DUBOIS (../Text/Section0018.xhtml#dubois) A Ticket Out 1988 JAMES ELLROY (../Text/Section0019.xhtml#ellroy) Since I Dont Have You 1991 JAMES LEE BURKE (../Text/Section0020.xhtml#burke) Texas City, 1947 1993 HARLAN ELLISON (../Text/Section0021.xhtml#ellison) Mefisto in Onyx 1995 ED GORMAN (../Text/Section0022.xhtml#gorman) Out There in the Darkness 1996 JAMES CRUMLEY (../Text/Section0023.xhtml#crumley) Hot Springs 1996 JEFFERY DEAVER (../Text/Section0024.xhtml#deaver) The Weekender 1998 LAWRENCE BLOCK (../Text/Section0025.xhtml#block) Like a Bone in the Throat 1999 JAMES W. HALL (../Text/Section0026.xhtml#hall) Crack