Noir

When is the last time you read a great mystery? One that didn't include a plot to destroy the world with nuclear arms? Why are all the good noir titles being over shadowed by all the pop-culture driven books with vampire schoolmates and immature city kids having sex because "its what all the cool kids are doing". It's really getting on my nerves at this point. I don't mind a sub-genre every once in a while, but only if Charlene Harris is at the reigns in the case of vampirism or Nick Hornby if were talking adolescent misbehavior.
Last night I finished two books I have been trying to revisit since January 2007. The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett, one of my all-timers and Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley. To be quite clear, I like my mystery in London specifically the 221 B Baker Street area but I love these books.
Dasheill Hammett has always been one of my favorite authors for the simple reason that he took the mystery genre and pulled it into the gritty streets. The Thin Man was his last book and is a wonderful jaunt through the hard-boiled detective world. The story revolves around Nick Charles, a semi retired private eye and his wife Nora a wealthy socialite. The couple are light-heartedly enjoying their young marraige in a prohibition-era New York city when Nora thinks that it would be fun to see her husband at work. Intrigue and suspense shaken with a considerable amount of alcohol make this a great book. Years later MGM made a few movies about the Nick and Nora famously portrayed by William Powell and Myrna Loy. If you don't think mysteries are for you and you hate to get yourself into a dark novel, I actually suggest watching the Thin Man Movie, if anything it will clear up any apprehensions.
Devil in a Blue Dress will make you want a cold shower. Walter Mosley is the king of bringing back the slick, sexy private detective. Easy Rawlins is a normal guy in post World War II Southern California who needs a job, he might have taken the wrong one. We follow Easy (EZ or Ezekiel) as he get mixed up in a political scandal involving a while woman and a black man. I believe this is th first noir-type protagonist to start out an un-licensed detective, which makes the situation all the more desperate. With sexual tension that will make you question your own moral compass and the feeling that you really don't know how things will turn out, this book will beat you about the head if you try to put it down. This was also made in to a movie of the same name with Denzel Washington in1995. While it's a great performance I want you to read the book first on this one.


If you read this blog subscribe to it! and remember you don't have to register to leave a comment!