The Best American Noir of the Century by Otto Penzler and James Ellroy

In his introduction to the The Best American Noir of the Century, James Ellroy writes, “noir is the most scrutinized offshoot of the hard-boiled school of fiction. It’s the long drop off the short pier and the wrong man and the wrong woman in perfect misalliance. It’s the nightmare of flawed souls with big dreams and the precise how and why of the all-time sure thing that goes bad.” Offering the best examples of literary sure things gone bad, this collection ensures that nowhere else can readers find a darker, more thorough distillation of American noir fiction.

James Ellroy and Otto Penzler, series editor of the annual The Best American Mystery Stories, mined one hundred years of writing—1910–2010—to find this treasure trove of thirty-nine stories. From noir’s twenties-era infancy come gems like James M. Cain’s “Pastorale,” and its post-war heyday boasts giants like Mickey Spillane and Evan Hunter. Packing an undeniable punch, diverse contemporary incarnations include Elmore Leonard, Patricia Highsmith, Joyce Carol Oates, Dennis Lehane, and William Gay, with many page-turners appearing in the last decade.

INDEX:

Spurs by Tod Robbins
Pastorale by James M. Cain
You'll always remember me by Steve Fisher
Gun crazy by MacKinlay Kantor
Nothing to worry about by Day Keene
The homecoming by Dorothy B. Hughes
Man in the dark by Howard Browne
The lady says die! by Mickey Spillane
Professional man by David Goodis
The hunger by Charles Beaumont
The gesture by Gil Brewer
The last spin by Evan Hunter
Forever after by Jim Thompson
For the rest of her life by Cornell Woolrich
The dripping by David Morrell
Slowly, slowly in the wind by Patricia Highsmith
Iris by Stephen Greenleaf
A ticket out by Brendan DuBois
Since I don't have you by James Ellroy
Texas city by James Lee Burke
Mefisto in onyx by Harlan Ellison
Out there in the darkness by Ed Gorman
Hot spings by James Crumley
The weekender by Jeffery Deaver
Faithless by Joyce Carol Oates
Poachers by Tom Franklin
Like a bone in the throat by Lawrence Block
Crack by James W. Hall
Running out of dog by Dennis Lehane
The paperhanger by William Gay
Midnight emissions by F.X. Toole
When the women come out to dance by Elmore Leonard
Controlled burn by Scott Wolven
All through the house by Christopher Coake
What she offered by Thomas H. Cook
Her lord and master by Andrew Klavan
Stab by Chris Adrian
The hoarder by Bradford Morrow
Missing the morning bus by Lorenzo Carcaterra