(list entries are linked to individual reviews)
Showing posts with label Lists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lists. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Sunday, July 29, 2012
My Ten Favorite Noir Novels of All Time at This Moment
From out of the darkness, here I have found the greatest joy:
Frank Norris, McTeague (1899)
Martin M. Goldsmith, Detour (1939)
William Lindsay Gresham, Nightmare Alley (1946)
Bill S. Ballinger, Portrait in Smoke (1950)
Gil Brewer, A Killer Is Loose (1954)
Jim Thompson, A Hell of a Woman (1954)
Charles Williams, A Touch of Death (1954)
James McKimmey, The Long Ride (1961)
Richard Stark, The Score (1964)
Natsuo Kirino, Out (1997)
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Top Ten Novels Reviewed in 2011
1. Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon (1930)
2. Gil Brewer, Memory of Passion (1962)
3. Gil Brewer, A Taste for Sin (1961)
4. Dave Zeltserman, Outsourced (2011)
5. Richard Stark, Plunder Squad (1972)
6. Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, Death Note (2003-2006)
7. Donald E. Westlake, The Ax (1997)
8. Richard Stark, The Sour Lemon Score (1969)
9. Otsuichi, Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse (2000)
10. Richard Stark, Lemons Never Lie (1971)
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Top Ten Novels Reviewed in 2010
1. Natsuo Kirino, Out (1997)
2. Richard Stark, The Score (1964)
3. Dorothy B. Hughes, In a Lonely Place (1947)
4. W. R. Burnett, Little Caesar (1929)
5. Lionel White, Clean Break [a.k.a. The Killing] (1955)
6. Elmore Leonard, Freaky Deaky (1988)
7. Erskine Caldwell, The Bastard (1929)
8. Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955)
9. Richard Stark, The Hunter (1962)
10. Don Tracy, Criss-Cross (1934)
Monday, June 7, 2010
Hard Case Crime Awards: The Best and the Worst of the First 50
Top 3
1. Charles Williams, A Touch of Death (HCC #17)
2. Ken Bruen and Jason Starr, Bust (HCC #20)
3. Lawrence Block, Grifter’s Game (HCC #1)
48. Madison Smartt Bell, Straight Cut (HCC #21)
49. Max Allan Collins, Deadly Beloved (HCC #38)
50. Stephen King, The Colorado Kid (HCC #13)
The Best Cover Award
Gregory Manchess for John Lange’s Grave Descend (HCC #26)
The Worst Cover Award
Robert McGinnis for John Farris’ Baby Moll (HCC #46)
The It-May-Be-Terrible-or-It-May-Be-a-Masterpiece Award
Russell Hill, Robbie’s Wife (HCC #29)
The Once-Too-Often-to-the-Well Awards
Lawrence Block, A Diet of Treacle (HCC #39)
Donald E. Westlake, Somebody Owes Me Money (HCC #44)
David J. Schow, Gun Work (HCC #49)
Richard Aleas, Little Girl Lost (HCC #4)
The Charles Ardai Award for Noble Publishing Projects
Charles Ardai
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
James Lee Burke's Best Mysteries of All Time
James Lee Burke's list of his choices for the best mysteries of all time has strangely disappeared from the Parade magazine website, so, as a public service, I am reproducing his list and annotations here. This list suggests, among other things, that (a) Burke may not have read very many mysteries and (b) he may be friends with Ron Hansen and Michael Connelly:
Ron Hansen's Mariette in Ecstasy is a masterful metaphysical story dealing with the stigmata. Ultimately, it's about a woman who represents courage and altruism in the midst of mediocrity.
James M. Cain once said his stories were about the ultimate human tragedy—people getting what they want. Double Indemnity, a 1930s murder mystery involving an insurance fraud scheme, exemplifies his best work.
Mr. Majestyk, by Elmore Leonard, features a farmer who runs afoul of the Mob. It's one of the best portrayals of professional criminals I have ever read and a beautiful accomplishment in terms of dialogue and style.
Selected Tales and Sketches is a collection of Nathaniel Hawthorne's stories, perhaps the best allegories ever written about the nature of good and evil.
The city of Los Angeles is a protagonist in The Black Echo, Michael Connelly's superb tale about Vietnam vets pulling off the score of scores. Connelly writes with the knowledge and experience of a hard-nosed police reporter, but he's also an artist.
Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men deals with evil that seems to have no origin. The writing is spartan, the imagery and dialogue as clean as razor cuts in leather. The story seems derived from the collective unconscious; it is frightening and unforgettable.
[Originally published in Parade on April 19, 2009.]
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Jason Starr's Six Crime Novels That Have Most Influenced Him
1. George V. Higgins, The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1972)2. Jim Thompson, The Killer Inside Me (1952)3. Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955)4. Charles Willeford, The Shark-Infested Custard (1993)5. Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty (1990)6. Ken Bruen, The Guards (2001)
To read Jason Starr's comments on the six crime novels that have most influenced him, visit the Vertigo Comics blog.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Top Ten Novels Reviewed in 2009
1. Bill S. Ballinger, Portrait in Smoke (1950)
2. James M. Cain, Double Indemnity (1936)
3. James McKimmey, The Long Ride (1961)
4. John D. MacDonald, Soft Touch (1958)
5. Gil Brewer, The Brat (1957)
6. Bill S. Ballinger, The Tooth and the Nail (1955)
7. Marvin H. Albert, Devil in Dungarees (1960)
8. W. R. Burnett, High Sierra (1940)
9. Harry Whittington, Hell Can Wait (1960)
10. Paul Tremblay, The Little Sleep (2009)
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Top Ten Novels Reviewed in 2008
1. Gil Brewer, A Killer Is Loose (1954)
2. Charles Williams, Hell Hath No Fury [a.k.a. The Hot Spot] (1953)
3. Martin M. Goldsmith, Detour (1939)
4. Jason Starr, Tough Luck (2003)
5. Patricia Highsmith, Strangers on a Train (1950)
6. Raymond Chandler, The High Window (1941)
7. P. J. Wolfson, Bodies Are Dust (1931)
8. Ken Bruen and Jason Starr, Bust (2006)
9. Charles Williams, Big City Girl (1951)
10. Gil Brewer, Hell’s Our Destination (1953)
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