Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

When a dying millionaire hires Philip Marlowe to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, Marlowe finds himself involved with more than extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder are just a few of the complications he gets caught up in. "Chandler <writes> like a slumming angel and invest<s> the sun-blinded streets of Los Angelos with a romantic presence." --Ross... (more)

The Long Goodbye (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

The Long Goodbye (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

by Raymond Chandler

Marlowe befriends a down on his luck war veteran with the scars to prove it. Then he finds out that Terry Lennox has a very wealthy nymphomaniac wife, who he's divorced and re-married and who ends up dead. and now Lennox is on the lam and the cops and a crazy gangster are after Marlowe.

Farewell, My Lovely (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

Farewell, My Lovely (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

by Raymond Chandler

Marlowe's about to give up on a completely routine case when he finds himself in the wrong place at the right time to get caught up in a murder that leads to a ring of jewel thieves, another murder, a fortune-teller, a couple more murders, and more corruption than your average graveyard.

The Maltese Falcon

by Dashiell Hammett

Sam Spade, a slightly shop-worn private eye with his own solitary code of ethics, stars in Hammett's detective fiction, a novel that has haunted 2 generations of readers.

Red Harvest (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

Red Harvest (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

by Dashiell Hammett

One of Hammett's masterpieces, this is the most vivid and realistic picture of gang war ever written--and one of the most exciting of all suspense novels.

Gun, with Occasional Music

A Novel

by Jonathan Lethem

Gumshoe Conrad Metcalf has problems-there's a rabbit in his waiting room and a trigger-happy kangaroo on his tail. Near-future Oakland is a brave new world where evolved animals are members of society, the police monitor citizens by their karma levels, and mind-numbing drugs such as Forgettol and Acceptol are all the rage. Metcalf has been shadowing Celeste, the wife of an affluent doctor. Perhaps he's falling a... (more)

The Thin Man (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

The Thin Man (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

by Dashiell Hammett

Nick and Nora Charles are Hammett's most enchanting creations, a rich, glamorous couple who solve crimes in between wisecracks and martinis.

Heaven's Prisoners

by James Lee Burke

Vietnam vet Dave Robicheaux has turned in his detective's badge, is winning his battle against booze, and has left New Orleans with his wife for the tranquil beauty of Louisiana's bayous. But a plane crash on the Gulf brings a young girl into his life -- and with her comes a netherworld of murder, deception, and homegrown crime. Suddenly Robicheaux is confronting Bubba Rocque, a brutal hood he's known since... (more)

The Postman Always Rings Twice (Unabridged)

The Postman Always Rings Twice (Unabridged)

by James M. Cain

Cain's first novel, banned in Boston, was an instant sensation and established him as a master of the mystery/suspense genre.

Freaky Deaky

by Elmore Leonard

He used to be on the bomb squad, but it's not until he transfers out that Chris Mankowski really begins juggling with dynamite. Rape and revenge are just the tip of the iceberg in a twisty tale that brings Detroit's denizens to life -- and occasional death -- in all their seedy glory. Electrifying, explosive, and unexpected, this is Elmore Leonard at his suspenseful best.

The Little Sister

by Raymond Chandler

A movie starlet with a gangster boyfriend and a pair of siblings with a shared secret lure Marlowe into the less than glamorous and more than a little dangerous world of Hollywood fame. Chandler's first foray into the industry that dominates the company town that is Los Angeles.

L.A. Confidential

by Zhichao Chen, James Ellroy

James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential is film-noir crime fiction akin to Chinatown,Hollywood Babylon, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Jim Thompson. It's about threetortured souls in the 1950s L.A.P.D.: Ed Exley, the clean-cut cop who lives shivering in the shadow of hisdad, a legendary cop in the same department; Jack Vincennes, a cop who advises a Police Squad- like TV show and busts movie stars for payoffs... (more)

Get Shorty

by Elmore Leonard

Mob-connected loanshark Chili Palmer is sick of the Miami grind -- plus his "friends" have a bad habit of dying there. So when he chases a deadbeat client out to Hollywood, Chili figures he might like to stay. This town with its dreammakers, glitter, hucksters, and liars -- plus gorgeous, partially clad would -be starlets everywhere you look -- seems ideal for an enterprising criminal with a taste for the... (more)

Maximum Bob

by Elmore Leonard

Hard-ass Palm Beach County judge Bob Isom Gibbs enjoys sending even petty offenders away to do hard time -- which has made the list of miscreants who want him dead longer than a fully grown Florida gator's tail. And a good number of his illwishers are probation officer Kathy Baker's clients, including young Dale Crowe and his psycho uncle Elvin. Now, Kathy's got an even more daunting task than keeping BIG's horny... (more)

The Killer Inside Me (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

The Killer Inside Me (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

by Jim Thompson

In a small town in Texas there is a sheriff's deputy named Lou Ford, a man so dull that he lives in cliches, so good-natured that he doesn't even lay a finger on the drunks who come into his custody. But then, that would be too easy, for Lou's sickness requires other victims. . . . A nightmarish book of psychopathic evil.

Without Fail

by Lee Child, Dick Hill

The sixth novel in the acclaimed series featuring Jack Reacher. With the vice president's life in danger, the head of a high-level Secret Service security detail wants Jack Reacher to find the holes in her own system, and fast. A group of men already has the high-profile victim in their sights and will stop at nothing to realize their objective. What the assassins never planned on was Jack Reacher.

Travis McGee: Book 1

The Deep Blue Good-By

by John D. MacDonald

TRAVIS McGEE He's a self-described beach bum who won his houseboat in a card game. He's also a knight errant who's wary of credit cards, retirement benefits, political parties, mortgages, and television. He only works when his cash runs out and his rule is simple: he'll help you find whatever was taken from you, as long as he can keep half.... With an introduction by CARL HIAASEN JOHN D. MACDONALD "....the great... (more)

Kinsey Millhone: Book 2

"B" Is for Burglar

by Sue Grafton

Although business has been slow lately for P.I. Kinsey Millhone, she’s reluctant to take on the case of locating Beverly Danziger’s sister Elaine Boldt. It’s a small matter that Beverly should be able to handle herself. So why is she enlisting Kinsey’s services? Beverly claims she needs Elaine’s signature on some documents so that she can collect a small inheritance. But the whole affair doesn’t sit well with... (more)

Riding the Rap

by Elmore Leonard

Now that his mom's gravy train has derailed, gambling, debt-ridden Palm Beach playboy Warren "Chip" Ganz has decided to take somebody rich hostage -- with the help of a Bahamian ex-con, a psycho gardener/enforcer, and the beautiful, if underfed, psychic Reverend Dawn. The trouble is they choose bookmaker Harry Arno as their victim, and Harry can scam with the best. The BIG trouble is ace manhunter U.S. Marshal... (more)

Kinsey Millhone: Book 3

"C" Is for Corpse

by Sue Grafton

Kinsey meets him in the local gym. Bobby Callahan is a scarred young man struggling back to life after a car forced his Porsche over the edge of a canyon, battering his body and muddling his memory. All he remembers is that someone, for some reason, tried to kill him. Desperate for clues about his own past life and certain he is being stalked, he asks Kinsey to protect him. Kinsey can't resist the brave kid - and... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: hard-boiled

by Raymond Chandler

by Raymond Chandler

by Raymond Chandler

by Dashiell Hammett

by Dashiell Hammett

A Novel

by Jonathan Lethem

by Dashiell Hammett

by James Lee Burke

by James M. Cain

by Elmore Leonard

by Raymond Chandler

by Zhichao Chen, James Ellroy

by Elmore Leonard

by Elmore Leonard

by Jim Thompson

by Lee Child, Dick Hill

by John D. MacDonald

by Sue Grafton

by Elmore Leonard

by Sue Grafton