November MysteryKIT- Noir

Welcome to Noir November! A typical noir novel usually features dark themes, snappy dialogue, set in gritty urban areas. Usually there are flawed characters using poor judgment, and a double-crossing femme fatale who causes everyone’s downfall.

Listed are a few authors of books written in both classic and modern styles:

Megan Abbott
W.R. Burnett
Raymond Chandler
James M. Cain
James Ellroy
Dashiell Hammett
Patricia Highsmith
Dorothy B. Hughes
Horace McCoy
David Goodis
Ross MacDonald
Jim Thompson
Daniel Woodrell
Cornell Woolrich

There are many more authors and noir sub genres out there, so have fun with whatever you choose and update the wiki if you are inclined to do so.

A favorite genre!

>2 mstrust: Me too! I’m trying to find something I haven’t read.

Planning to read Charles Williams's The Big Bite, which will also knock off the big/little BingoDog square.

I'm planning on my first book by Cornell Woolrich, The Bride Wore Black.

My pick for this month is The Asphalt Jungle by W. R. Burnett.

>5 christina_reads: The Bride Wore Black is good. I also really like Phantom Lady, which was originally published as by William Irish.

I am finally going to read In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes. This one has been sitting on my shelf for years. It was made into one of my favorite Humphrey Bogart films and I have been saving the book, I think the time is right for it now.

I'm always surprised when the first thread appears for the next month. It always seems like the month just started. Not sure what I might have that will fit here.

This is not a mystery genre that I read often. Does anyone have suggestions for me? Thanks.

>9 LadyoftheLodge: Why don't you try Cornell Woolrich's short story Rear Window (short story), Cheryl? It's a good story (maybe you've seen the Hitchcock movie) and it's not too long, so if it doesn't really work for you it'll be over soon. It's also free on Kindle Unlimited, which I think you have.

>9 LadyoftheLodge: I'm not super well-read in this genre either, but a couple I've read and liked are The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett (and then of course watch the movie with William Powell and Myrna Loy!) and The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (surprisingly funny for a noir novel!).

Tags can sometimes mislead, but that's how I choose what I'll read, usually. A few that came up for me on my tbr are:

Buried Angels / Camilla Lackberg
The Missing ones / Patricia Gibney
The Good Liar / Nichlas Searle

>9 LadyoftheLodge: If I'm faced a genre/subgenre I don't know much about, I often dip my toe in with a story collection. It gives me an overview from different perspectives and introduces me to a variety of authors working in that genre. And if you want to take that approach, the Akashic Noir series might be a place to start. Each book is a collection of stories set in a different city. The obvious choices are there -- Los Angeles Noir, Chicago Noir -- but you've also got more far-flung and unexpected options -- Addis Ababa Noir, Honolulu Noir, Zagreb Noir.

>13 KeithChaffee: Thanks for the suggestions. I have not sampled any of those collections, so will check them out.

Finally going to get to some Dashiell Hammett.
$1.62 Kindle purchase got me his 'Essential Works', six novels.
Now I need to choose where to begin!

I have set up the 2025 Category Challenge group here: https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/24518/2025-Category-Challenge. Feel free to stop by anytime, start suggesting CATs and KITs, and post your threads for the 2025 challenge!

(I'm posting this notification to a bunch of threads, so sorry if you see it multiple times!)

I picked up L.A. Confidential (by James Ellroy) a few years ago from The Last Stand Bookstore in L.A., and even though I've seen the movie a couple of times (excellent, BTW), I haven't actually read the book! This looks like the perfect time :-)

I found some inexpensive or free downloads on Kindle, so will probably read one of these authors:
Charlotte Armstrong
Dorothy Hughes
Robert B. Parker
Ellery Queen

>18 LadyoftheLodge: I've read two novels by Charlotte Armstrong, The Unsuspected and The Chocolate Cobweb, and really enjoyed both! I need to read more by her.

2025 MysteryKIT Planning thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/365460#n8659406

If you haven't yet visited the 2025 Category Challenge group, come on over! CAT and KIT discussion is in progress, and we're going to start voting on Wednesday, November 6. So if you'd like to suggest a CAT or KIT for next year, check out the discussion and make your proposals here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/365087.

I'm posting this several places in the 2024 group, so my apologies if you see it a bunch of times!

Finished The Big Bite by Charles Williams.

The murders in Der Bojenmann are gruesome enough to qualify the book as noir, I think. You need a rather strongh stomach for this, but the rest was great. Lots of local colour in the Hamburg setting, and I grew very fond of the grumpy characters. Can't wait for the next one.

I ended up reading The Last Note of Warning which I hadn’t expected to be as dark. A lot of the action is set in speakeasies during Prohibition and there are some sinister characters and gritty nefarious dealings. I liked the roles the women played in some double cross plot sequences.

This also fit for AlphaKit.

>15 JayneCM: What a deal! I need to see if it's still going.
>18 LadyoftheLodge: Dorothy B. Hughes's In A Lonely Place is one of the greats of noir.

I'm reading the second in the Travis McGee novels, Nightmare in Pink.

I read Darkness Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane.
A good fit for the category, dark, violent and over the top gruesomeness. However, I enjoy the characters Kenzie and Gennaro, their repartee, and their loyalty to each other.

I have completed the classic noir tale, In a Lonely Place by Dorothy Hughes. This dark tale deserves all the praise it gets and was a 5 star read for me.

I read The Asphalt Jungle by W. R. Burnett. It's a heist story set in an atmospheric, large Midwestern city.

Today (Sunday, November 10) is the last day for voting on the 2025 CATs, so if you haven't voted yet, you can do so here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/365087. See message #73 and following. Again, cross-posting in many places, so sorry if you see this message multiple times.

I also read Laidlaw, by William McIlvanney, the beginning of the Tartan Noir style.

I read Nightmare in Pink. I liked The Deep Blue Good-Bye a little better, but this was still a good one. McGee goes to NYC and tries to help his best friend's younger sister, whose fiancée has been killed.

I just finished The Bride Wore Black by Cornell Woolrich, which I definitely think qualifies as noir -- in the end, none of the characters get what they want. But a fascinating and suspenseful read nonetheless!

It's mid-November and I still haven't started L.A. Confidential (by James Ellroy) and realistically speaking, I don't think I can tackle it for this prompt as it's actually quite long at close to 500 pages!
I'm not quite in the mood for Classic Noir-- though I love Film Noir. Last night I watched the 1948 black & white film, Night Has a Thousand Eyes (by Cornell Woolrich; directed by Mia Farrow's father, John Farrow, and starring Edward G. Robinson). Lots to love visualy and acting-wise-- though the "who" in the "whodunnit" wasn't very well developed IMHO.
I wish there was someone who wrote books like the Fargo movie and series! BTW, I just finished watching the last season a couple weeks ago and I think it may be my favorite. Juno Temple, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and John Hamm are remarkable in their roles as an abused wife, a cold businesswoman, and a Constitutional sheriff respectively.
Hmmm, one of my favorite modern Noir movies and books is Ice Harvest (by Scott Philips) and I haven't read or seen the movie (very different endings, IIRC) in over ten years. I'm going to go see if I still have it my stacks!

I ended up listening to The Ice Harvest (by Scott Phillips; narrated by Grover Gardner)-- It is only 4.5 hours long! Charlie Arglist is a Mob attorney who runs a series of strip joints and peep shows in Wichita, KS. He is also an embezzler, having skimmed from the operating funds over the course of a few years. Ready to bolt, he is caught up in an ice storm on Christmas Eve as he dots the "i"s and crosses his "t"s before he leaves. There is money, a femme fatale, and quite a bit of ironic humor if you can pull back far enough from seeing the seamy side to the city.
The movie has John Cusack playing the role of Charlie; but the descriptions in the book pertaining to the character remind me more of Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini). I'll probably queue up the movie this weekend if for nothing else than Oliver Platt's performance as the drunk brother-in-law ::chef's kiss::

I tried to read Black Out by John Lawton. It takes place during the blitz and our 'hero' is a police inspector. He made me uncomfortable from the start of the book but when he broke a woman with horrible style interrogation and then had her crawling on the floor begging him for sex I binned it. I don't recommend it to anyone.

I read Driftnet by Lin Anderson and enjoyed it very much.

>36 majkia: That sounds truly awful!

I read The Cleaner by Paul Cleave, the book is labeled Christchurch Noir.

The Missing Ones / Patricia Gibney
4 stars

A woman is murdered in a church. Not long after, a man is found hanging in his yard. It turns out there is a connection between the two people. Detective Lottie is in charge of the team trying to solve these murders. Despite her own family having troubles (she has three teenagers and her husband died a few years earlier), she does her best to sort out what’s going on, even as more murders pile up. In addition, there is a connection to a local former orphanage, St. Angela’s, but what is that connection, exactly?

There is a lot going on and a lot of characters, but it did make it trickier to figure out who might have done it (not that I ever – well, rarely, anyway – actually figure it out before it’s revealed, anyway!). I really liked it, though. There were short chapters that made it easy to keep going. Note that parts of this book are quite dark. This is the first in a series that I will definitely be continuing.

I read Let it Bleed by Ian Rankin
Terrific atmosphere! The investigation required a lot of research into government and civil service departments that were all identified by acronyms and which became very confusing. A fast-paced beginning was followed by a slow middle and a satisfying finish. Rebus’ dental problems were painful to read, never mind experience.