hardboiled mysteries

  • Book Series By Volume: Hard-boiled Edition

    For this installment of Book Series By Volume I’m sleuthing out detective novels. There are several bulky series to look at, but I’ve picked my personal big three. Harry Bosch Series by Michael Connelly The 22 books cover about one and a half cubic feet, but Bosch shows up in a couple other satellite series… Continue reading

  • SPL Discoveries: Elisabeth Sanxay Holding

    I’m a big fan of the Hardcase Crime imprint, which has been publishing a succession of luridly jacketed vintage pulp fiction alternated with contemporary noir ever since their premiere title – Grifter’s Game by Lawrence Block – in the sultry summer of 2004. I also love Stark House, a small press publishing a steady stream of vintage crime fiction by… Continue reading

  • Are You Tough Enough? Derek Raymond’s Dare.

    Among crime readers, there are certain qualities that serve as points on our criminal compass. For example, authors who put a scalpel to the subtle psychological underpinnings of crime contrast with those for whom swift action on every page is essential. Another scale lies between whodunnits with a humorous or “cozy” feel, and those on the darker, grittier… Continue reading

  • Beyond Tea & Crumpets: Gritty Brits on DVD

    Think of British TV mystery and you may conjure up images of teacup wielding dowager sleuths, peering through the foxgloves at some suspicious goings on about the Village green. Lord Peter Wimsey and Miss Marple. Arsenic and tweed. But there’s a whole other side to British Crime – a tough contemporary side where hardened detectives battle it… Continue reading

  • Crime: E is for Evanovich? Prolific lady sleuths.

    “You know what I really love a book to have?” she asked me. “No, what?” “About 20 sequels!!” We were counting through Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books, but she’d already read all 18, and was getting desperate. In fact, she’d also been through our If You Like Janet Evanovich list, and looked through a few other library’s lists as well.… Continue reading

  • Crime: Mad Dogs and Estleman

    Advancing through my Alphabet of Crime, I pause at the E’s to share a couple of the best hardboiled mystery writers around: Loren Estleman and James Ellroy. The use of the term “hard-boiled” to describe fiction – borrowed from an early 20th-century expression for experienced tough guys – may date from February 17, 1929 when the New York Times… Continue reading