The Best American Noir of the Century

“Well worth its impressive weight in gold, it would be a crime not to have this seminal masterpiece in your collection.”—New York Journal of BooksIn his introduction to 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 mined writings of the past century 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 postwar 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 from the past decade.“Delightfully devilish . . . A strange trek through the years that includes stories from household names in the hard-boiled genre to lesser-known authors who nonetheless can hold their own with the legends.”—Associated PressJames Ellroy is the author of the Underworld U.S.A. trilogy—American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand, and Blood's a Rover—and the L.A. Quartet novels, The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz. His most recent book is The Hillicker Curse, a memoir.Otto Penzler is the founder of the Mysterious Bookshop and Mysterious Press, has won two Edgar Allan Poe Awards (most recently for The Lineup), and is series editor of The Best American Mystery Stories.Foreword by Otto PenzlerIntroduction by James Ellroy 1923 • TOD ROBBINS Spurs1928 • JAMES M. CAIN Pastorale1938 • STEVE FISHER You’ll Always Remember Me1940 • MACKINLAY KANTOR Gun Crazy1945 • DAY KEENE Nothing to Worry About1946 • DOROTHY E. HUGHES The Homecoming1952 • HOWARD BROWNE Man in the Dark1953 • MICKEY SPILLANE The Lady Says Die!1953 • DAVID GOODIS Professional Man1956 • GIL BREWER The Gesture1956 • EVAN HUNTER The Last Spin1960 • JIM THOMPSON Forever After1968 • CORNELL WOOLRICH For the Rest of Her Life1972 • DAVID MORRELL The Dripping1979 • PATRICIA HIGHSMITH Slowly, Slowly in the Wind1984 • STEPHEN GREENLEAF Iris1987 • BRENDAN DUBOIS A Ticket Out1988 • JAMES ELLROY Since I Don’t Have You1991 • JAMES LEE BURKE Texas City, 19471993 • HARLAN ELLISON Mefisto in Onyx1995 • ED GORMAN Out There in the Darkness1996 • JAMES CRUMLEY Hot Springs1996 • JEFFERY DEAVER The Weekender1998 • LAWRENCE BLOCK Like a Bone in the Throat1999 • JAMES W. HALL Crack1999 • DENNIS LEHANE Running Out of Dog2000 • WILLIAM GAY The Paperhanger2001 • F. X. TOOLE Midnight Emissions2002 • ELMORE LEONARD When the Women Come Out to Dance2002 • SCOTT WOLVEN Controlled Burn2005 • THOMAS H. COOK What She Offered2005 • ANDREW KLAVAN Her Lord and Master2006 • CHRIS ADRIAN Stab2006 • BRADFORD MORROW The Hoarder2007 • LORENZO CARCATERRA Missing the Morning Bus