New Noir: Captivating Crime Books That Give a Fresh Spin to the Noir Genre
We are in the swing of summer now, and when the sun is hot, it’s the perfect time to stay cool with shady characters. Crime books make for great beach reads, and there’s nothing cooler than noir fiction. If you are unfamiliar with noir, it’s a popular subset of the crime fiction genre. According to the definition by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, noir is “crime fiction featuring hard-boiled cynical characters and bleak sleazy settings.” Think The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler or Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley. There’s usually a lot of witty dialogue and hard luck characters getting roped into morally gray plots and making questionable decisions. And crime. There’s always crime, which is great because crime fiction books make for fun escapism. That is why we’ve created this list of four great new noir books for crime readers, just in time for the summer. So practice your best Humphrey Bogart impression and get ready to root for the underdog.
Jonathan Ames may be best known as the creator of HBO's Bored to Death, the series about a young writer (also named Jonathan Ames) who moonlights as an unlicensed private detective in Brooklyn. Now Ames returns to writing novels with a new private investigator on the West Coast: Happy Doll. Doll is a veteran of both the Navy and LAPD who lives in Hollywood with his beloved dog, George. He works as a detective for hire, as well as security at a spa, protecting the women who work there from the clients. But things take a dark turn when an incident at work goes wrong and an old colleague shows up injured on his doorstep. Is Doll in over his head?
Related: Jonathan Ames Shares His Top Must-Read Noir Fiction
Joette Harper thinks her financial troubles are over when she finds a bag stuffed with cash at the sight of a fatal car wreck. But as anyone who has watched a movie or read a book knows, free money is never free, and the dangerous owner of the $300,000 comes looking for what belongs to him. Joette knows keeping the money is wrong, but it would solve all her problems. So she winds up on the run in a thrilling cat-and-mouse game as she tries to figure out how to keep the cash—and her life.
By clicking 'Sign Up,' I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
What to Read Next
