Hardboiled fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction. The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence of organized crime that flourished during Prohibition (1920–1933) and its aftermath, while dealing with a legal system that has become as corrupt as the organized crime itself. Rendered cynical by this cycle of violence, the detectives of hardboiled fiction are often antiheroes. Notable hardboiled detectives include Dick Tracy, Philip Marlowe, Nick Charles, Mike Hammer, Sam Spade, Lew Archer, Slam Bradley, and The Continental Op.
Noir fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction.
Dorothy B. Hughes was an American crime writer, literary critic, and historian. Hughes wrote fourteen crime and detective novels, primarily in the hardboiled and noir styles, and is best known for the novels In a Lonely Place (1947) and Ride the Pink Horse (1946).
Tod Goldberg is an American author and journalist best known for his novels Gangsters Don't Die (Counterpoint), Gangster Nation (Counterpoint), Gangsterland (Counterpoint) and Living Dead Girl, the popular Burn Notice series (Penguin/NAL) and the short story collection The Low Desert: Gangster Stories (Counterpoint).
Ed Lynskey is an American poet, critic, and novelist, mostly of crime fiction. He was born in 1956 in Washington, D.C. where he still lives and works. Lynskey received his B.A. (1979) and M.A. (1984) from George Mason University as well as did post-graduate study at The George Washington University. He writes five mystery series, including the P.I. Frank Johnson Mystery Series, the Isabel & Alma Trumbo Cozy Mystery Series, the Piper & Bill Robin Cozy Mystery Series, the Hope Jones Cozy Mystery Series, the Ginny Dove Cozy Mystery Series, and the Juno Patchen Cozy Mystery Series.
The Real Cool Killers is a hardboiled crime fiction novel written by Chester Himes. Published in 1959, it is the second book in the Grave Digger Jones & Coffin Ed Johnson Mysteries. The protagonists of the novel, Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed, are a pair of black detectives who patrol the dangerous slums of Harlem. The book was originally published in French under the title Il pleut des coups durs.
Kelli Stanley is an American author of mystery-thrillers. The majority of her published fiction is written in the genres of historical crime fiction and noir. Her best known work, the Miranda Corbie series, is set in San Francisco, her adoptive hometown.
Vicki Due Hendricks is an American author of crime fiction, erotica, and a variety of short stories.
Donkey Punch is a crime novel by Scottish author Ray Banks. It was first published in the United Kingdom by Edinburgh-based company Birlinn Ltd in 2007, and again by the same publisher in 2008. In the United States it was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2009, titled Sucker Punch, and was reprinted in 2011.
Dare Me is a 2012 mystery novel written by Megan Abbott. The novel centers on American cheerleading. The book explores themes of friendship, obsession and power.
Twist Phelan is an American writer of crime fiction. She is known for her Finn Teller Corporate Spy mystery series, PinnaclePeak mystery series, and her short stories, which have won numerous awards.
The Fever is a novel by American writer Megan Abbott first published in 2014 by Little, Brown and Company. It is Abbott's seventh novel.
Steph Cha is a Korean American novelist and fiction writer, who has released three novels in the crime fiction genre about her detective protagonist Juniper Song: Follow Her Home (2013), Beware Beware (2014), and Dead Soon Enough (2015). Her most recent book, stand-alone crime fiction novel Your House Will Pay (2019), won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery.
You Will Know Me is a 2016 murder mystery by author Megan Abbott, published by Little, Brown and Company. The book follows the Knox family after a family friend is killed in a hit-and-run car crash before the daughter's gymnastics competition.
A Borrowed Man is a 2015 science fiction hardboiled noir novel by Gene Wolfe.
The Turnout is a mystery novel by Megan Abbott published August 3, 2021 by G. P. Putnam's Sons. That year, it won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller.
Give Me Your Hand is a 2018 thriller novel by American author Megan Abbott. The book follows Kit Owens and Diane Fleming, two postdoctoral research scientists studying premenstrual dysphoric disorder, as each grapples with the consequences of a secret the other has revealed to them. The story alternates between their experiences and relationship in high school and in the lab as postdocs.
The End of Everything is a 2011 novel by American author Megan Abbott. It follows Lizzie Hood, a thirteen-year-old girl, after the alleged kidnapping of her best friend, Evie Verver. Lizzie finds herself growing closer to Evie's family, particularly her father Mr. Verver, as she tries to uncover what happened to her friend. The novel, which has drawn comparisons to the novel Lolita and to the Oakland County Child Killer case, is Abbott's first novel not to fall within the period noir genre.
Beware the Woman is a 2023 novel by American author Megan Abbott. The story follows Jacy as she visits her new husband's family in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for the first time. Published by Putnam on May 30, 2023, the novel was inspired by Gothic literature and themes of female bodily autonomy being violated. The novel received positive reviews, including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist, and was listed as one of the best novels of 2023 by newspapers such as NPR, PBS NewsHour, The Guardian, The Irish Times, the Tampa Bay Times, the Sun Sentinel, and Literary Hub.
Die a Little is a 2005 novel by American author Megan Abbott.
