noir
/nwär/
noun
a genre of crime film or fiction characterized by cynicism, fatalism, and moral ambiguity.
"his film proved that a Brit could do noir as darkly as any American"
a film or novel in the noir genre.
plural noun: noirs
"he says he's making a noir"
"As the United States slid into the Great Depression, organized criminals like Al Capone and the so-called'Midwestern Outlaws' (like John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd) were afforded an enormous amount of press in which--if they were not lauded outright--the attention and interest indicated a public that sympathized the shunning of the bounds of law and a State which had proved to a failure in maintaining order and stability.
Out of this massive social rupture emerged Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, a daily newspaper comic that (among other things) re-inserted a narrative in American popular culture that could encompass both the regenerative violence of the Western and the more modern problems of urban disorder."-Dick Tracy: The Ethics of Violence and the Legacy of an American Comic Strip
/nwär/
noun
a genre of crime film or fiction characterized by cynicism, fatalism, and moral ambiguity.
"his film proved that a Brit could do noir as darkly as any American"
a film or novel in the noir genre.
plural noun: noirs
"he says he's making a noir"
"As the United States slid into the Great Depression, organized criminals like Al Capone and the so-called'Midwestern Outlaws' (like John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd) were afforded an enormous amount of press in which--if they were not lauded outright--the attention and interest indicated a public that sympathized the shunning of the bounds of law and a State which had proved to a failure in maintaining order and stability.
Out of this massive social rupture emerged Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, a daily newspaper comic that (among other things) re-inserted a narrative in American popular culture that could encompass both the regenerative violence of the Western and the more modern problems of urban disorder."-Dick Tracy: The Ethics of Violence and the Legacy of an American Comic Strip
On October 4th, 1931 "Dick Tracy first appears; published only in the Detroit Sunday Mirror." Originally, Chester "Chet" Gould, named his private investigator "Plainclothes Tracy" but Captain Joseph Medill Patterson, co-founder, and director of the New York Daily News and the editorial powerhouse behind Little Orphan Annie, suggested to use the slang for a P.I. and thus Dick Tracy was born. (https://www.encyclopedia.com/media/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/dick-tracy). The violence in Dick Tracy was something new to comics and was influential on future comics, particularly Batman. (How did we get Modern Comic Book Characters? The Story of Dick Tracy and the Shadow).
The 1990 technicolor gloriousness of composition and makeup, Dick Tracy starring Warren Beatty is classified as "Pulp Noir" which is defined as "a subgenre influenced by various "noir" genres, as well as pulp fiction genres, particularly the hard-boiled genre. Pulp noir is marked by its use of classic noir techniques, but with urban influences. Whereas film-noir directly involves characters living bleak existences to accomplish a goal with odds against them, pulp noir often portrays a grittier, one-man army. Typically, the main character has no distinguishing abilities but can hold ground against seemingly impossible odds. Pulp noir locations are often seedy, run-down, and degraded urban landscapes, where the lack of law, morals and even the proliferation of crime and drugs are common themes." -https://www.goodreads.com/genres/pulp-noir
Dick Tracy, timeless comic noir
https://www.dicktracymuseum.com/timeline-1
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/532884/11-things-you-might-not-know-about-dick-tracy
https://www.dicktracymuseum.com/timeline-1
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/532884/11-things-you-might-not-know-about-dick-tracy
Noir: a novel by Moore, Christopher
"From repeat New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore comes a brand new standalone novel set on the mean streets of San Francisco in the aftermath of World War II. Absurdly outrageous, sarcastically satiric, always entertaining--Christopher Moore is back!"-- Provided by publisher.
"From repeat New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore comes a brand new standalone novel set on the mean streets of San Francisco in the aftermath of World War II. Absurdly outrageous, sarcastically satiric, always entertaining--Christopher Moore is back!"-- Provided by publisher.
Good Neighbors : a novel by Langan, Sarah
"From three-time Bram Stoker-Award-winning novelist Sarah Langan comes a propulsive literary suburban noir set in near-future America during the hottest summer on record. Maple Street has a neighborly cul-de-sac, where a terrible secret tears a rift between two misfit moms who were once best friends. When innocent Shelly Schroeder falls down a sinkhole, it's one mom's word against the other's, in a court of public opinion that can end only in blood. Think Big Little Lies-if re-imagined by Shirley Jackson"-- Provided by publisher.
"From three-time Bram Stoker-Award-winning novelist Sarah Langan comes a propulsive literary suburban noir set in near-future America during the hottest summer on record. Maple Street has a neighborly cul-de-sac, where a terrible secret tears a rift between two misfit moms who were once best friends. When innocent Shelly Schroeder falls down a sinkhole, it's one mom's word against the other's, in a court of public opinion that can end only in blood. Think Big Little Lies-if re-imagined by Shirley Jackson"-- Provided by publisher.
Velvet was the Night by Moreno-Garcia, Silvia
"From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic comes a riveting noir about a daydreaming secretary, a lonesome thug, and the mystery of the missing woman that brings them together. 1970s Mexico City. Maite is a secretary who lives for one thing: the latest issue of Secret Romance. While student protests and political unrest consume the city, Maite escapes into stories of passion and danger. Her next-door neighbor, Leonora, a beautiful art student, seems to live a life of intrigue and romance that Maite envies. When Leonora disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman--and journeying deeper into Leonora's secret life of student radicals and dissidents. Meanwhile, someone else is also looking for Leonora at the behest of his boss, a shadowy figure who commands goon squads dedicated to squashing political activists. Elvis is an eccentric thug who longs to escape his own life: He loathes violence and loves old movies and rock 'n' roll. But as Elvis searches for the missing woman, he comes to observe Maite from a distance--and grows more and more obsessed with this woman who shares his love of music, and the unspoken loneliness of his heart. Now as Maite and Elvis come closer to discovering the secrets behind Leonora's disappearance, they can no longer escape the danger that threatens to consume their lives, with hitmen, government agents, and Russian spies aiming to protect Leonora's secrets--at gunpoint"--. Provided by publisher.
"From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic comes a riveting noir about a daydreaming secretary, a lonesome thug, and the mystery of the missing woman that brings them together. 1970s Mexico City. Maite is a secretary who lives for one thing: the latest issue of Secret Romance. While student protests and political unrest consume the city, Maite escapes into stories of passion and danger. Her next-door neighbor, Leonora, a beautiful art student, seems to live a life of intrigue and romance that Maite envies. When Leonora disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman--and journeying deeper into Leonora's secret life of student radicals and dissidents. Meanwhile, someone else is also looking for Leonora at the behest of his boss, a shadowy figure who commands goon squads dedicated to squashing political activists. Elvis is an eccentric thug who longs to escape his own life: He loathes violence and loves old movies and rock 'n' roll. But as Elvis searches for the missing woman, he comes to observe Maite from a distance--and grows more and more obsessed with this woman who shares his love of music, and the unspoken loneliness of his heart. Now as Maite and Elvis come closer to discovering the secrets behind Leonora's disappearance, they can no longer escape the danger that threatens to consume their lives, with hitmen, government agents, and Russian spies aiming to protect Leonora's secrets--at gunpoint"--. Provided by publisher.
Winter Counts : a novel by Weiden, David Heska Wanbli
Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council, Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishment, the kind that's hard to forget. But when heroin makes its way into the reservation and finds Virgil's nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from, and how to make them stop. They follow a lead to Denver and find that drug cartels are rapidly expanding and forming new and terrifying alliances. And back on the reservation, a new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces together, he must face his own demons and reclaim his Native identity. He realizes that being a Native American in the twenty-first century comes at an incredible cost.
Blacktop Wasteland: a novel by Cosby, S. A.
"A gritty, voice-driven thriller about a former getaway driver who thought he had escaped the criminal life who is pulled back in by race, poverty, and his own former life of crime. Beauregard "Bug" Montage is a man with many different titles: husband, father, friend, honest car mechanic. But before he gave it up, Bug used to be known from the hills of North Carolina to the beaches of Florida as the best Wheel Man on the East Coast. After a series of financial calamities, Bug feels he has no choice but to take one final job as the getaway driver for a daring diamond heist that could solve all his money troubles and allow him to go straight once and for all. Like "Ocean's Eleven" meets "Drive" (but with a mostly black cast of characters), Blacktop Wasteland is a searing, operatic story of sons living up (or down) to their fathers; of a heist gone sideways; of a man ground down by economic desperation; of fast cars and daring chases and identity and love"-- Provided by publisher.
Lives Laid Away by Jones, Stephen Mack
"When the body of an anonymous young Hispanic woman dressed as Queen Marie Antoinette is dredged from the Detroit River, the Detroit Police Department wants the case closed out fast. Wayne County Coroner Dr. Bobby Falconi gives the woman's photo to his old pal August Snow, insisting August show it around his native Mexicantown to see if anyone recognizes her. August's good friend Elena, a prominent advocate for undocumented immigrants, recognizes the woman immediately. Her story is one the authorities don't want getting around--and she's not the only young woman to have disappeared during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid, only to turn up dead a few weeks later. Preyed upon by the law itself, the people of Mexicantown have no one to turn to. August Snow, ex-police detective, will not sit by and watch his neighbors suffer in silence. In a guns-blazing wild ride across Detroit, from its neo-Nazi biker hole-ups to its hip-hop recording studios, its swanky social clubs to its seedy nightclubs, August puts his own life on the line to protect the community he loves"-- Provided by publisher.
"When the beautiful young videographer offered to join his campaign, Senator Lee Rogers should've known better. But saying no would have taken a stronger man than Rogers, with his ailing wife and his robust libido. Enter Barton Brock, the senator's fixer. He's already gotten rid of one troublesome young woman -- how hard could this new one turn out to be? Pursued from Washington D.C. to the streets of Paris, 18-year-old Fanny Cours knows her reputation and budding career are on the line. But what she doesn't realize is that her life might be as well..."--Amazon.
Sadie Keller is determined to find out how her brother died, even if no one else thinks it's worth investigating. Untimely deaths are all too common in rural Blackwater, Kansas, where crime and overdoses are on the rise, and the small-town police force is consumed with the recent discovery of a child's skull in the woods. Sadie is on her own, delving into the dark corners of a life her brother kept hidden and unearthing more questions than answers. Eighteen-year-old Henley Pettit knows more than she'd like to about the seedy side of Blackwater, and she's desperate to escape before she's irreparably entangled in her family's crimes. She dreams of disappearing and leaving her old life behind, but shedding the past is never easy, and getting out of town will be far more dangerous than she ever imagined. As more bones are found in the woods, time is running out for Sadie to uncover the truth and for Henley to make her escape. Both women are torn between family loyalties and the weight of the secrets they carry, knowing full well that while some secrets are hard to live with, others will get you killed.-- Publisher's description.
When a case of blackmail involving the daughter of a California millionaire leads to murder, the inimitable Philip Marlowe is stirred into action as he becomes embroiled in a troublesome case of extortion complicated by kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder.
Matt Scudder wields his own brand of guerilla justice against kidnappers who have taken a drug dealer's wife.
"A detective novel set in 1945, about two female private investigators trying to solve the locked-room murder of a society widow"-- Provided by publisher.
The new collection contains 20 stories, including classics of the genre and rare, little-known gems such as the title story, Bradbury's first published mystery. A number of the stories were adapted by the author for his popular TV series, The Ray Bradbury Theater, and fans of Bradbury's work will recognize his touch with crime stories about circus sideshow performers and ventriloquists' dummies, sunken cathedrals, time travelers, and robots that look just like people. But they will also discover plenty that is startling and unfamiliar, such as the original short story that inspired a portion of Bradbury's famous novel Dandelion Wine, as well as that story's dark and psychologically disturbing sequel, written at the prompting of no less a figure in the mystery field than Ellery Queen. No one ever wrote like Bradbury. And as this lavish collection demonstrates, when he turned his hand to this genre, he produced some of the most unforgettable crime stories ever told.--Publisher.
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