Welcome to my idiosyncratic crime lists...

I am really hooked on the old hard-boiled authors, noir and neo-noir, and the more hard-boiled police procedurals. After several years of reading, I discovered that I had compiled some interesting names and titles, and while they were not all inclusive, they showed a certain kind of taste and interest that I would like to share with other readers. They are strictly writers that I like the most and books that were more than just a good beach or airplane read. They might save some time for a few readers. I know I felt overwhelmed when I began to seriously search for the kinds of writers I liked to read because so many recommendations turned out to be a little or a great deal on the "cozy" side. I think much crime writing deserves serious consideration as an important literary genre. I hope that readers will take my lists in the spirit in which they are intended, a compilation that gave me a lot of pleasure and I hope will interest other lovers of the crime genre. Titles from your favorite list are welcome, but please bear in mind that if the authors are fairly well known I have already tried their books and did not include them because of the subjectivity of my tastes. I have divided the titles into four divisions: Police Procedurals, Detectives Professional and Amateur, Capers, Hit Men and Criminals and the older, classic Noir and Hardboiled Authors. Comments are welcome.



Policiers
Detective/Constable/Inspector


Stephen Booth Black Dog
Ben Cooper Novels

Marshall Browne The Wooden Leg of Inspector Anders
Inspector Anders Novels

Ken Bruen Calibre
Sergeant Brant Novels
Jack Taylor ex-guard Novels

James Lee Burke Black Cherry Blues
Dave Robicheaux Novels

Andrea Camilleri The Shape of Water
Inspector Montalbano Novels

Dave Case Out of Cabrini
Stacy Macbeth of the 18th District Novels

James Church The Corpse in the Koryo
Inspector O Novels

Michael Connelly The Concrete Blonde
Harry Bosch Novels

Michael Dibdin Cosi Fan Tutti
Investigator Aurelio Zen Novels

Garry Disher The Dragon Man
Inspector Hal Challis Novels

Brian Freeman Immoral
Detective Jonathan Stride Novels

Luiz Alfredo Garcia- Roza December Heat
Inspector Espinosa Novels

John Harvey Lonely Hearts
Homicide Cop Charlie Resnick Novels

Reginald Hill On Beulah Height
Detectives Dalziel and Pascoe Novels

Chester Himes The Big Gold Dream
Gravedigger Jones and Coffin Ed Novels

Jean Claude Izzo Total Chaos
Beat Cop Fabio Montale Marseilles Trilogy Novels

Bill James Roses, Roses
Det. Harpur and Iles Novels

J. Robert Janes Carousel
Inspectors St.-Cyr and Kohler Novels

Gene Kerrigan Midnight Choir

Jack Kerley The Death Collectors
Det. Ryder and Nautilus Novels

Simon Kernick The Business of Dying
Det. Dennis Milne Novels

Donna Leon Acqua Alta
Commissario Guido Brunetti Series

Martin Limon Jade Lady Burning
Army Investigators Sueno and Bascom Novels

Peter Lovesey Diamond Dust
Det. Superintendent Peter Diamond Novels

Barry Maitland The Chalon Heads
Inspectors Kathy and Brock Novels

Henning Mankell One Step Behind
Detective Kurt Wallender Novels

Archer Mayor Occam’s Razor
Police Lt. Joe Gunther Novels

Stuart MacBride Cold Granite
Det. Sergeant Logan MacRae Novels

Ed McBain Cop Hater
87th Precinct Novels

Martin O’Brien Jacquot and the Waterman
Chief Insp. Daniel Jacquot Novels

Nick Oldham Psycho Alley
DCI Henry Christie Novels

Gerald Petievich To Live and Die in L.A.
FBI and Treasury Agent Novels

Ian Rankin The Resurrection Men
Inspector John Rebus Novels

Ruth Rendell Wolf to the Slaughter
Chief Insp. Reginald Wexford Novels

Peter Robinson Strange Affair
Insp. Alan Banks Novels

Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo The Locked Room
Police Superintendent Martin Beck Novels

Martin Cruz-Smith Gorky Park
Senior Invest. Arkady Remko Novels

Stephen Solomita A Twist of the Knife
Stanley Moodrow Novels

Olen Steinhauer Liberation Movements
Various Police Investigators in an unnamed Eastern Europen Counry Novels

Charles Todd A Test of Wills
Inspec. Ian Rutledge Novels

Joseph Wambaugh The New Centurions
Police Novels

Qiu Xiaolong When Red Is Black
Inspec. Chen Cao

Private Detectives and Amateur Sleuths--------- ------------
Ace Atkins Cross Road Blues
Nick Travers Novels
--
Sean Chercover Big City Bad Blood
Ray Dudgeon Detective
--
Lee Child One Shot
Jack Reacher Novels
--
Robert Crais The Monkey’s Raincoat
Elvis Mitchell Novels
--
Loren D. Estleman Every Brilliant Eye
Amos Walker Novels
--
Dick Francis Under Orders
Sid Halley Novels
--
David Fulmer Chasing the Devil’s Tail
Valentine St.Cyr Novels
--
Anthony Gagliano Straits of Fortune
--
Sue Grafton Q is for Quarry
Kinsey Millhone Novels
--
Joseph Hanson Gravedigger
Dave Brandstetter Novels
--
Mick Herron Why We Die
Zoe Boehm Novels
--
Harry Hunsicker Still River
Lee Henry Oswald Novels
--
James Patrick Hunt Maitland Under Seige
Ex-Cop Maitland Novels
--
Daniel Judson The Bone Orchard
Declan “Mac” MacManus Novels
--
Philip Kerr Berlin Noir
Bernie Gunther Novels
--
Joe R. Landsdale Mucho Mojo
Collins and Pine Novels
--
John Lutz Burn
Fred Carver Novels
--
Michael Marshall The Straw Men
Crime Novels
--
Lev Raphael Hot Rocks
Nick Hoffman Novels
--
Jeff Shelby Wicked Break
Noah Braddock Novels
--
Dan Simmons Hard Freeze
Joe Kurtz Novels
--
Peter Spiegelman Red Cat
John March Novels
--
Peter Temple Bad Debts
Jack Irish Novels
--
Andrew Vachss Down Here
Burke Novels
--
Robert Wilson The Big Killing
Bruce Medway Novels
--
Don Winslow Power of the Dog
Crime Novels
--
Capers, Hit Men, Criminals

Megan Abbott The Song Is You
Noir Crime Novels

Lawrence Block Hit Man
Keller Novels

Max Allan Collins The Last Quarry
Quarry Novels

J.J.Connolly Layer Cake

Barry Eisler Rain Fall
John Rain Novels

Loren D. Estleman Any Man’s Death
Peter Macklin Novels

Victor Gischler Pistol Poets
Crime Novels

Donald Goines Whoreson: The Story of a Ghetto Pimp
Crime Novels

Allan Guthrie Two-Way Split
Crime Novels

James Hawes White Merc with Fins

Patricia Highsmith The Talented Mr. Ripley
Tom Ripley Novels

Charlie Huston Caught Stealing
Hank Thompson Trilogy

Lee Irby 7000 Clams
Frank Hearn Novels

Roland S. Jefferson Damaged Goods
Alonzo Crane

Marc LeCard Vinnie’s Head

Elmore Leonard Freaky Deaky
Crime Novels
Ted Lewis Get Carter

Jeff Lindsay Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Dexter Morgan Novels

Adrian McKinty Dead I May Well Be
Michael Forsythe Trilogy

Neil Mcmahon Lone Creek

Giampiero Rigosi Night Bus

James Sallis Drive

Richard Stark (Donald Westlake) Comeback
Parker Novels

Jason Starr Bust (Ken Bruen, Author and Jason Starr, Author)

Duane Swierczynski The Wheelman
Crime Novels

Peter Temple Bad Debts
Jack Irish Novels


Old Noir / Hardboiled

Gil Brewer The Vengeful Virgin

Fredric Brown The Fabulous Clipjoint
Crime Novels

William R. Burnett Little Caesar
Crime Novels

James M. Cain The Postman Always Rings Twice
Crime Novels

Paul Cain Fast One

Raymond Chandler The Big Sleep
Philip Marlowe Novels

James Ellroy L.A. Confidential
The L.A. Quartet

Kenneth Fearing The Big Clock

Steve Fisher I Wake Up Screaming

David Goodis Shoot the Piano Player
Crime Novels

Dashiell Hammett The Maltese Falcon
Crime Novels

Evan Hunter(Ed McBain) Blackboard Jungle

Gerard Kersh Night and the City

Horace McCoy They Shoot Horses Don’t They
Crime Novels

William P. McGivern The Big Heat
Crime Novels

John D. Macdonald The Deep Blue Good-by
Travis McGee Novels

Ross Macdonald The Drowning Pool
Lew Archer Novels

Derek Raymond He Died With His Eyes Open
The Unnamed Narrator Cop in the Factory Novels

Jim Thompson The Killer Inside Me
Crime Novels

Charles Williams A Touch of Death
Crime Novels

Charles Willeford Miami Blues
Crime Novels

Cornell Woolrich The Night Has A Thousand Eyes