Where to start for reading classic crime/noir fiction?
Wow, I was just thinking (halfway through this thread) that I clearly had no interest in this genre (despite being an avid reader) and then I realize, I’ve read every book Dennis Lehane has ever written, and all the Easy Rawlins books that Walter Mosely ever wrote, and love them all. Clearly, I’m biased towards more recent hard boiled fiction, as I think all of the above are circa 1990 and later, and the stuff being mentioned initially (Chandler, Hammett, Thompson) is much earlier in the century. So, I guess, all of this is to say, if you like more modern work, you can’t go wrong with Mosely or Lehane, and if you’re an East Coaster (specifically Boston), Lehane’s your choice, but for my money (being an Angeleno) Mosely’s take on post wwII Los Angeles (even black post wwII Los Angeles) is the more personally relevant read.
I think there are people who prefer Hammett & those who prefer Chandler, and once you figure out which you are, further exploring will be easier. I think dame (whose name, it must be said, is particularly appropriate for this thread) is right. I’d suggest starting with a short story from each of those two seminal writers and branch out from there. My bet’s you go with Chandler. Try “I’ll Be Waiting,” a razor-sharp short story about an hour in the life of a hotel detective, a new guest and her fresh-from-prison boyfriend. The writing dances as it captures a snapshot of sadness, hope and decay in just a few beautiful pages; it’s a perfect example of the cynical hero doing his best to assert his version of morality in a dark, corrupt world (and paying a heavy price). “I’ll Be Waiting” is part of a highly recommended collection that also includes Chandler’s brilliantly pointed 1950 essay on detective fiction, “The Simple Art o
fiction: Cornell Woolrich, by all means William Lindsay Gresham‘s “Nightmare Alley” (I’m working on a FPP about Gresham, a forgotten American master) Bradbury’s Death is a Lonely Business true crime: the already mentioned The Executioner’s Song. Shot in the Heart is a masterpiece.
