Need a good hard-boiled book to warm my cockles during the coming cold months

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Pleasant cozy mysteries seem to be the opposite of hard-boiled.

I've actually read cozy noir. Michelle Scott wrote a series...what is the title of the first. Let me go check. Be right back.

[BearMountainBooks]

Here it is:
https://www.amazon.com/Straight-Hell...michelle+scott

Straight to Hell

I was expecting a typical cozy, but it's not. It's cruising along being cozy and then:

Spoiler:

the main starts shoplifting. Not because she needs the items, but basically because she is in the employ of the devil trying to save her own bacon. This isn't something you typically find in cozies, but I continued on. In a typical cozy, the main would have found a way around the requirement that she do something like shoplift to prove her loyalty. There were other bits like this--she's supposed to push someone to his death. She does it, but the guy is saved--not by her and not by her means, so I'm thinking it really is cozy, but then...Last, but not least, at the end of the book, she's in a situation where she can prove her loyalty or gain her tokens or whatever by sleeping with her sister's boyfriend (luring him to the dark side so to speak) and ...she does it. The book essentially ends on that dark note where instead of the redemption that you'd expect in a cozy, you've got this gal who has fallen further and further into this mess. Yet the book is cozy in most other respects (the love interest, the setting, the premise, her fetish with shopping, etc).

So cozy noir does exist. There was another book I read that I'd put in that category, but I don't remember the title or the author at the moment. It's not really a genre I read on purpose.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by MickeyC

Have you ever read any of the Martin Walker mysteries? Very pleasant cozy mysteries that take place in south western France.

No cozies, please (in this thread).

-- But thank you for the suggestion.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Pleasant cozy mysteries seem to be the opposite of hard-boiled.

Exactly. And that's the reason I choose not to read one (in any examples listed - or might be listed - for this thread).

[John F]

Do you only want older novels?

How about Dennis Lehane's McKensie/Genaro series?

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by John F

Do you only want older novels?

How about Dennis Lehane's McKensie/Genaro series?

I loved these books when they came out (at least the first set - I haven't read the newest one), but I don't remember if they're told from the First Person POV.

I'm not sure if they're really "noir" either, but that could be purely interpretation. What I love about Lehane's stories is that he gets into the human heart. It's not just a murder mystery - personally, I think that's my biggest grievance with the movie Mystic River. It turned a seriously thoughtful book into just another murder thriller.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by John F

Do you only want older novels?

How about Dennis Lehane's McKensie/Genaro series?

If it meets the criteria I set up in post #1, then ABSOLUTELY I'm interested.

That's an author I'm not familiar with.

[Doitsu]

Also check out Adrian McKinty's Sean Duffy series for some Irish noir.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

If it meets the criteria I set up in post #1, then ABSOLUTELY I'm interested.

That's an author I'm not familiar with.

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

...

Give me worn gumshoes and a world-weary attitude,

Check. From what I recall.

and a man (or woman) who constantly needs a shave.

It is a husband and wife detective team, as I recall. I don't recall mention of his facial hair or her hairy legs/pits.

I want noir attitude! Pulp novels are OK. First person narratives are, of course, mandatory.
...

The opening paragraphs:

The bar at the Ritz-Carlton looks out on the Public Gardens and requires a tie. I’ve looked out on the Public Gardens from other vantage points before, without a tie, and never felt at a loss, but maybe the Ritz knows something I don’t.

My usual taste in clothes runs to jeans and diver’s shirts, but this was a job, so it was their time, not mine. Besides, I’d been a little behind on the laundry recently, and my jeans probably would’ve hopped the subway and met me there before I got a chance to put them on. I picked a dark blue, double-breasted Armani from my closet—one of several I received from a client in lieu of cash—found the appropriate shoes, tie, and shirt, and before you could say, “GQ,” I was looking good enough to eat.

The first book in the series is A Drink Before the War: A Novel (Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro Series)

From Amazon:

"As richly complex and brutal as the terrain it depicts, here is the mesmerizing, darkly original novel that heralded the arrival of Dennis Lehane, the master of the new noir—and introduced Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, his smart and tough private investigators weaned on the blue-collar streets of Dorchester."

Not really a spoiler, but does include the story overview (also from Amazon):

Spoiler:

A cabal of powerful Boston politicians is willing to pay Kenzie and Gennaro big money for a seemingly small job: to find a missing cleaning woman who stole some secret documents. As Kenzie and Gennaro learn, however, this crime is no ordinary theft. It's about justice, about right and wrong. But in Boston, finding the truth isn't just a dirty business . . . it's deadly.

One book in the series was made into a movie: Gone Baby Gone

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I think that's my biggest grievance with the movie Mystic River. It turned a seriously thoughtful book into just another murder thriller.

My biggest grievance with Mystic River (the movie) was Kevin Bacon.

I DO think Lehanes's Kenzie and Gennaro books would hit a lot of Drib's criteria, though.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

My biggest grievance with Mystic River (the movie) was Kevin Bacon.

I DO think Lehanes's Kenzie and Gennaro books would hit a lot of Drib's criteria, though.

Yeah, they would.

[John F]

The drawback to the Kensie/Gennaro books is that some of the content is disturbing, unsettling, ...

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by John F

The drawback to the Kensie/Gennaro books is that some of the content is disturbing, unsettling, ...

I don't think that will be a problem for the OP. Actually sounds perfect for him.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by John F

The drawback to the Kensie/Gennaro books is that some of the content is disturbing, unsettling, ...

Agreed. I didn't personally like them, but they fit the criteria. (The one I "read" was DNF). Too dark.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by John F

Check. From what I recall.


It is a husband and wife detective team, as I recall. I don't recall mention of his facial hair or her hairy legs/pits.


The opening paragraphs:



The first book in the series is A Drink Before the War: A Novel (Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro Series)

From Amazon:

"As richly complex and brutal as the terrain it depicts, here is the mesmerizing, darkly original novel that heralded the arrival of Dennis Lehane, the master of the new noir—and introduced Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, his smart and tough private investigators weaned on the blue-collar streets of Dorchester."

Not really a spoiler, but does include the story overview (also from Amazon):

Spoiler:

A cabal of powerful Boston politicians is willing to pay Kenzie and Gennaro big money for a seemingly small job: to find a missing cleaning woman who stole some secret documents. As Kenzie and Gennaro learn, however, this crime is no ordinary theft. It's about justice, about right and wrong. But in Boston, finding the truth isn't just a dirty business . . . it's deadly.

One book in the series was made into a movie: Gone Baby Gone

That opening paragraph you quote caught me up in the narrative. I like the attitude and find it very 'noirish'.

I'll check that one out and will report back.

-- Thank you!