inspector mysteries confession relationship

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109 reviews
Raymond Chandler

Vintage, 1988

"Tough Like Some Guys Think They Are Tough"
Before Jim Thompson's nihilistic, tough guy crime fiction, and long before smart-talking private detectives like Robert Crais' Elvis Cole or Dennis Lehane's Patrick Kenzie, there was Raymond Chandler and his prototype hard boiled PI, Phillip Marlowe. While Hammett's Sam Spade pre-dates Marlowe's 1939 debut here in "The Big Sleep", Chandler - through Marlowe - is arguably the standard by which ...

Blood Noir (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 16)

277 reviews
Laurell K. Hamilton

Berkley Hardcover, 2008

3 Stars!!
I'm surprised that I am giving this book 3 stars because there are so many 1 starred reviews. But there are parts of this book that I enjoyed. I think the most enjoyable part for me was the fact that one of my favorite and one of the earlier characters of the series, Jason was present throughout the book. I for one have gotten tired of all the new men. I can't even remember their species or ...

The Mastery of Love: A Practical Guide to the Art of Relationship: A Toltec Wisdom Book

121 reviews
Miguel Ruiz

Amber-Allen Publishing, 1999

Absolutely Amazing
This is the most beautiful, wise, spiritual, moving, truthful book i had ever read. The words are so wise and true that it hits the core of the soul and unlocks the key to true happiness and spiritual freedom. It opens up a door to God's love, which is pretty intense. Some people may not be able to handle or comprehend how it unveils the lies all around us, that have blinded us from the innate ...

The Maltese Falcon

131 reviews
Dashiell Hammett

Vintage, 1989

You'll Read It, Like It, and Ask for Another!
It was the portly Continental Op who usually played the starring role in Dashiell Hammett's written adventures. Sam Spade, tough guy private detective, was never a major character in the books, actually appearing in only one of Hammett's novels. But what a novel! It has been said that Hammett took crime fiction out of the wood-paneled libraries of tweed wearing detectives and put the thugs in ...

The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps: The Best Crime Stories from the Pulps During Their Golden Age--The '20s, ...

16 reviews

Vintage, 2007

Top Value
1200 pages of rich, chewy pulp goodness! You can't find better value for your money anywhere. All the big names -- Gardner, Cain, Woolrich, chandler, Hammett. The very best of the rest. A complete Race Williams novel. A must-have!

The Meaning of Night: A Confession

69 reviews
Michael Cox

W. W. Norton, 2007

The meaning of night is death.
"Revenge has a long memory," Edward hisses at Phoebus as he's expelled from Eton, a victim of Phoebus' malice and deceit. Disgraced and with his scholarly ambition thwarted, Edward returns home, whereupon the death of his mother leads to the chance discovery of her letters and journals. They suggest that Edward isn't really who he thinks he is. Rather, that he has ties to a wealthy and ...

Small Favor (The Dresden Files, Book 10)

120 reviews
Jim Butcher

Roc Hardcover, 2008

Fantastic book!
Truly one of the best books in The Dresden Files. Small Favor feels like Harry is maturing and facing up to many of his new-found responsibilities. The action is fast paced and very exciting!

Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner (Includes Author's Book of Shadows)

463 reviews
Scott Cunningham

Llewellyn Publications, 1993

A must have for solitary practitioners.
Over the years I have bought several copies of this book. I wore out one, the others all were loaned out and never came back. I figure those folks needed it more than I did at the time. But I always end up buying a new one because my library seems incomplete without it. This is a must have for any solitary and even for those of us in covens. There is much to learn for Mr. Cunningham.

The Hard Goodbye (Sin City, Book 1: Second Edition)

97 reviews
Frank Miller

Dark Horse, 2005

If you liked the movie, this book just adds more depth
I am a huge fan of the Sin City film and since this complete book came with my Collector's Edition DVD set, I finally got around to reading it. It really shows you how much effort was put into making the movie as close as possible to this amazing story. Frank Miller really creates a world that you can fully immerse yourself in. You will feel the grime of Sin City just by looking at the pictures ...

The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel

279 reviews
Michael Chabon

HarperCollins, 2007

A mayse of the Frozen Chosen
The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a delightfully fun read set in part of Alaska set aside as a refuge for the Jews after the Holocaust. The United States, after the Israelis lost their war for independence, leases the territory to the Jews for sixty years. But now the lease is up and most of the Jews will have to find another home. This sets of a series of events that starts with the death of a ...

Money Shot (Hard Case Crime)

26 reviews
Christa Faust

Hard Crime Case, 2008

Fast and Furious
What do you do when you've had everything beaten out of you and your entire world taken away? You find yourself amongst the ruins. Ex-porno star, Angel Dare, runs a high-class modeling agency providing gorgeous girls for all kinds of enterprises. But when a call comes in from an old friend asking Angel to be in a skin flick with super stud, Jesse Black, Angel just can't say no. When she gets ...

Farewell, My Lovely

45 reviews
Raymond Chandler

Vintage, 1988

A Lyrical Must-Read
According to Wikipedia, FAREWELL, MY LOVELY (1940) was Raymond Chandler's second novel and created from three short stories--"The Man Who Liked Dogs" (1936), "Try the Girl" (1937), and "Mandarin's Jade" (1937). This makes a lot of sense to me, since Chandler's great creation, Philip Marlowe, seems more like a character from a short story than the deep and complex creation that a great novelist ...

Half the Blood of Brooklyn: A Novel

21 reviews
Charlie Huston

Del Rey, 2007

Hardboiled vampires--violent and edgy
Joe Pitt is going through a rough time. His girlfriend is dying of AIDS, he's lost his independence and is working as enforcer for the Society, and then there's the little matter of being a vampire--with the attendant need for blood. Fortunately, Joe doesn't have much by way of morals, which helps take care of the blood issue. Less fortunately, there's something going on in New York--something ...

The Case of the Pitcher's Pendant: A Billibub Baddings Mystery

12 reviews
Tee Morris

Dragon Moon Press, 2008

Great mystery from a very good author
The Case of The Pitchers Pendant is the second in a series,Bilibub Baddings is on the job again and this time with one of his favorite clients. When the manager of his beloved Cubs comes calling he can't help but say yes. Pitchers Pendant will keep you plastered to the pages as you follow Bili through life after Black Thursday and what time in the Great Depression is like for a 4'1" dwarf. A very ...

Already Dead: A Novel

53 reviews
Charlie Huston

Del Rey, 2005

Vampire tales for a nihilistic world
Great book. Joe Pitt is a fantastic character. The writing is first rate. The plot moves along nicely. My only complaint (and its not big enough to knock the book off the five star rating) is that it is too short! Still, the author seems to put out sequels on such a regular basis that it doesn't really matter. If you like your vampire stories to be relevant and contemporary, then look no ...

The Long Goodbye

58 reviews
Raymond Chandler

Vintage, 1988

Arguably Chandler's Best
You don't read Raymond Chandler for the plots--you read him for the magnificent "hard boiled" prose. The Long Goodbye is probably his most complex work, full of world-weary insights and a somewhat more "tender" Marlowe. The great pleasure of The Long Goodbye is seeing how the main character, Philip Marlowe, reconciles his cynical view of humanity with a genuine desire to help a few unfortunates ...

Berlin Noir: March Violets; The Pale Criminal; A German Requiem

61 reviews
Philip Kerr

Penguin (Non-Classics), 1994

Nazi Germany crime noir
What a fertile setting for some great crime noir drama. Germany at that time was being seduced by Nazi nationalism and we get a sense of the people's different reaction to this period of history. Our guide is a hard boiled ex-cop private eye who knows the ins and outs of the landscape. I recommend this series.

Black Seconds (Inspector Sejer Mysteries)

6 reviews
Karin Fossum

Harcourt, 2008

More Konrad Sejer and Jacob Skarre, please!
Creepy is an understatement when talking about Karin Fossum's detective series featuring Inspector Konrad Sejer and his colleague Jacob Skarre. In "Black Seconds," readers get a glimpse into a dark world not too many authors can create as powerful and troubling as Fossum. From the beginning of the series in "Don't Look Back" until now in "Black Seconds," Fossum knows how to create a ...

The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, and Selected Stories (Everyman's Library ...

4 reviews
James M. Cain

Everyman's Library, 2003

Welcome to the Inferno
Although Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler are better known today, James M. Cain (1892-1977) is at least their equal--and many consider that he bested both in his finest novels, which combined sin-blacked characters, sordid plots, terse prose, and all the power of a blast furnace. This anthology collects all three of his landmark novels as well as several short stories, all of them showing ...

The Midnight Road

16 reviews
Tom Piccirilli

Bantam, 2007

Thanks, Tom!
There are two writers extant who can bring me to tears, to real laughter, and sometimes, to screaming in frustration or anger. One of them is Tom Piccirilli. When I first picked up The Midnight Road, I remembered, at once, the very first line of the book from a little taste given at the back of his last novel, The Dead Letters: "Flynn remembered the night of his death more clearly than ...

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