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| A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z All Books | |
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James M. Cain (1989) The Postman Always Rings Twice. (Reprint Ed.) In 1934, Cain started a new genre: American noir fiction. It may be full of despair, sweltering greed, dark violence and raw sex, but the no-nonsense description of humanity heading towards destruction is impossible to resist. In his laconic style Cain tells the story of Frank, a tramp, who his attracted to Cora, the young wife of brutally violent Nick. When Frank and Cora start an affair behind her older man's back, the story is heading for disaster.
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David V. Canter (2000) Criminal Shadows. Inner Narratives of Evil. David Canter, Professor of Psychology at the University of Liverpool, England and former FBI forensic psychologist explains how to construct profiles of serial rapists and killers. Scholarly!
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Truman Capote (1994) In Cold Blood. A masterpiece. Capote invented a new genre.
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John Case (1998) The Genesis Code. P.I. Joe Lassiter is searching the murderer of his only sister and her son. As more victims pile up, the hunt leads Lassiter to an Italian fertility clinic, where a well-known physician practices artificial insemination - and possibly something more evil based on cloning. A desperate rural priest and a right-wing catholic sect also become involved in the plot that depicts some of the frightening possibilities of genetic engineering.
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Michael Chabon (2007) The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel. The "Frozen Chosen" are living in a fictitious Alaskan homeland, as once suggested by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Hard-drinking cop Meyer Landsman investigates the murder of his neighbor. Publishers Weekly called it a "murder-mystery speculative-history Jewish-identity noir chess thriller". The funniest novel of 2007 is filled with Yiddish jokes and dark humor.
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Raymond Chandler (1988) The Big Sleep. (Originally published in 1939) First published in 1939, Chandler's book created the archetypal character of street-smart private investigator Philip Marlow. He works a case of blackmail in the underbelly of San Francisco, populated by con men, weird ladies, mobsters, cheap sluts, pornographers, gamblers, drunks, and other despicable characters. In this tough world, Marlow is the straight and loyal guy.
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Raymond Chandler (1988) The Long Goodbye. This is probably the best of Chandler's novels. His hero, P.I. Philip Marlowe, tries to help war veteran Terry Lennox, whose sex-obsessed wealthy wife has been murdered. This quickly gets Marlowe into trouble with cops and crazy gangsters. When Terry is also murdered, Marlowe becomes entangled in his friend's dirty family secrets. In his cynical and crisp prose Chandler delivered a gripping tale of moral corruption.
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Lee Child (2006) Killing Floor (Jack Reacher Series, No. 1) Child's ex-military policeman, Jack Reacher, finds himself arrested for murder in the tiny town of Margrave, Georgia. But soon he is out and hunting down a gang of vicious criminals who have spun a network of conspiracy to cover up their scheme of counterfeiting. Child's brisk dialogs, economic prose, three-dimensional characters and fast pace make a terrific read.
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Agatha Christie (2001) And Then There Were None: A Novel. (First published in 1939) Agatha Christie's version of the nursery rhyme is often considered the best mystery novel ever written. 10 strangers are trapped in an Indian island, where the sinister Mr. Owen is accusing them of murder. One by one is found dead, until ... (the resolution of the novel is very different from that of the movie versions).
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Agatha Christie (2000) Hercule Poirot's Christmas. (First published in 1938) In Christie's complex plot a happy family meeting turns into a nightmare as the family's wealthy patriarch is found murdered in his closed bedroom. There are plenty of suspects, but most puzzling is the question how the man could be murdered in a closed room. You will keep on tormenting your brain, until Hercule Poirot solves the mystery.
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Copyright © 2006, 2007, 2008 by Claudia Heilig-Staindl. All Rights Reserved. |
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