Ed Lynskeys Favorite Hardboiled Crime Fiction Novels
Discover Ed Lynskey's top picks for hardboiled crime fiction novels. Explore a curated list of gritty, suspenseful reads that define the genre's best.
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Dashiell Hammett: Complete Novels (LOA #110)
by Dashiell Hammett
Presents five novels by Dashiell Hamilton, all published between 1929 and 1934.
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The Lady in the Lake
by Raymond Chandler
Crime fiction master Raymond Chandler's fourth novel featuring Philip Marlowe, the "quintessential urban private eye" (Los Angeles Times). In The Lady in the Lake, hardboiled crime fiction master Raymond Chandler brings us the story of a couple of missing wives—one a rich man's and one a poor man's—who have become the objects of Philip Marlowe's investigation. One of them may have gotten a Mexican divorce and married a gigolo and the other may be dead. Marlowe's not sure he cares about either one, but he's not paid to care.
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Deadly Beloved
by Max Allan Collins
Female private eye Ms. Michael Tree takes on a case that looks open and shut, but may have ties to the murder of her husband. Based on characters from Collins' graphic novel series, Ms. Tree.
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Queenpin
by Megan Abbott
By the author of Dare Me and The End of Everything A young woman hired to keep the books at a down-at-the-heels nightclub is taken under the wing of the infamous Gloria Denton, a mob luminary who reigned during the Golden Era of Bugsy Siegel and Lucky Luciano. Notoriously cunning and ruthless, Gloria shows her eager young protégée the ropes, ushering her into a glittering demimonde of late-night casinos, racetracks, betting parlors, inside heists, and big, big money. Suddenly, the world is at her feet—as long as she doesn't take any chances, like falling for the wrong guy. As the roulette wheel turns, both mentor and protégée scramble to stay one step ahead of their bosses and each other.
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The Wake-Up
by Robert Ferrigno
When Frank Thorpe, a deeply moral former undercover operative, sees a hard-charging art dealer knock down a Latino child in LAX airport, he decides to teach him a lesson. But Thorpe's plans get a little out of hand, and Thorpe becomes immersed in a criminal underworld peopled by a drug dealing surfer with a socially-climbing wife, two mentally challenged goons with a penchant for violence, and a vicious Romanian named Vlad. The Wake-Up is an absolutely irresistible, outrageously comic thriller that starts off with a bang and never lets up until the end.
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The First Wave
by James R. Benn
The second Billy Boyle investigation Billy Boyle is dispatched to help arrange the surrender of Vichy French forces in Algeria. But dissension among the regular army, the militia, and De Gaulle’s Free French forces allows black marketers in league with the Germans to divert medical supplies, leading to multiple murders. Billy must find the killers and rescue the woman he loves, a British spy.
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L.A. Outlaws
by T. Jefferson Parker
Investigating the latest crime scene of a celebrity thief who has been staging lucrative heists and donating the spoils to charity, rookie deputy Charlie Hood is forced to make an ethics-testing decision when the thief is targeted by a professional killer.
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First Blood
by David Morrell
A mentally unstable Vietnam vet has a one-man war with the police force of a small town after they abuse him. Includes a never-before-seen alternate suicide ending, deleted scenes and commentary with Sylvester Stallone.
