#vintagemystery — Public Fediverse posts

Killer AKA Passion Killer, a 1965 sleaze/noir novel by Robert Silverberg (as Don Elliott). A man hires a hitman to kill his wife. Emotional and sexual betrayals follow. As sleaze it's good; as noir fiction it's OK. Has a good femme fatale.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2024/08/robert-silverbergs-killer.html

#vintagethrillers #vintagethriller #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #noir #noirfiction #crimefiction #hardboiledcrime hardboiledfiction #hardboiled #pulpfiction #vintagesleaze #sleazefiction #RobertSilverberg #DonElliott

Ed McBain's Cut Me In was published in 1954. A guy wakes up next to a blonde. He has no idea who she is. Then he finds his partner Del Gilbert lying dead on his office floor. The safe is open. A good solid mystery with some tasteful sexiness.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2021/06/ed-mcbains-cut-me-in-aka-proposition.html

#vintagethrillers #vintagethriller #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #noir #noirfiction #crimefiction #hardboiledcrime hardboiledfiction #hardboiled #pulpfiction #EdMcBain #vintagecrime

The Naked and the Deadly: Lawrence Block in Men's Adventure Magazines is a superb collection. For me the highlights are the three Ed London PI stories and the two Evan Tanner tales. So much pulp fun here. Early Lawrence Block is always a treat.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-naked-and-deadly-lawrence-block-in.html

#vintagethrillers #vintagethriller #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #noir #noirfiction #crimefiction #hardboiledcrime hardboiledfiction #hardboiled #pulpfiction #LawrenceBlock #mensadventure

Gil Brewer’s 1963 Memory of Passion is oddball noir fiction, drenched in lust, desperation and craziness. Bill meets a woman from his past. It’s her all right, but it isn’t. It’s not the same woman, but it is. Frenetic, crazed, fascinating.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2024/07/gil-brewers-memory-of-passion.html

#vintagethrillers #vintagethriller #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #noir #noirfiction #crimefiction #hardboiledcrime hardboiledfiction #hardboiled #pulpfiction #GilBrewer

Bruce Elliott’s 1952 fine noir novel One is a Lonely Number. A guy busts out of jail but his girl has stolen the money from the robbery. He spent his last five bucks on a whore. He has a good plan for easy money. It won't end well.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2024/07/bruce-elliotts-one-is-lonely-number.html

#vintagethrillers #vintagethriller #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #noir #noirfiction #crimefiction #hardboiledcrime hardboiledfiction #hardboiled #pulpfiction #BruceElliott

Charles Runyon’s The Prettiest Girl I Ever Killed was published in 1965. A thematically and structurally unconventional serial killer story that becomes more and more fascinating as the reader is drawn into the author’s clever and devious game.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2024/06/charles-runyons-prettiest-girl-i-ever.html

#vintagethrillers #vintagethriller #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #noir #noirfiction #crimefiction #hardboiledcrime hardboiledfiction #hardboiled #pulpfiction

Mickey Spillane was definitely in the groove when he wrote the fifth Mike Hammer book The Big Kill in 1951. As so often it’s Hammer’s sensitive side that drives him on - it drives him even when he’s blowing away hoodlums with his .45.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2020/03/mickey-spillanes-big-kill.html

#vintagethrillers #vintagethriller #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #noir #noirfiction #crimefiction #hardboiledcrime hardboiledfiction #hardboiled #pulpfiction #MickeySpillane #MikeHammer

Carter Brown's Where Did Charity Go? is a 1970 entry in his Rick Holman Hollywood PI series. A movie star has lost his daughter. Rick has three dangerous dames to deal with. He sleeps with all of them, possibly a bad idea. Good pulp fiction.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2024/06/carter-browns-where-did-charity-go.html

#vintagethrillers #vintagethriller #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #noir #noirfiction #crimefiction #hardboiledcrime hardboiledfiction #hardboiled #pulpfiction #CarterBrown

Dan J. Marlowe’s The Vengeance Man, published in 1966. A guy has a plan to murder his wife in front of witnesses and get away with it. Slightly noir, but has an overwhelming atmosphere of corruption and paranoia and more than one femme fatale.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2024/06/dan-j-marlowes-vengeance-man.html

#vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #noir #noirfiction #DanJMarlowe #crimefiction #hardboiledcrime hardboiledfiction #hardboiled

The Man with the Getaway Face, from 1963, the 2nd Parker novel by Donald E. Westlake (as Richard Stark). Hardboiled crime featuring one of the great anti-heroes. The real focus here is not the heist but a plastic surgery job.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2024/05/richard-starks-man-with-getaway-face.html

#vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #noir #noirfiction #DonaldEWestlake #crimefiction #hardboiledcrime hardboiledfiction #hardboiled #RichardStark

Peter Rabe’s The Box is a 1962 hardboiled crime novel with a tropical setting and a dash of noir. It begins with a man in a packing crate. He’s a lawyer and racketeer. The box is a punishment. There's tropical sleaze, quiet desperation and the moral corruption of expatriates gone to seed. Great stuff.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2024/05/peter-rabes-box.html

#vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #noir #noirfiction #PeterRabe #crimefiction #hardboiledcrime hardboiledfiction #hardboiled

A Gun for Honey was published 1958. Busty hardboiled girl PI Honey West (who packs a rod and never wears a bra) is after a psycho who kisses girls to death. The mystery plot is solid. Sleazy, perverse, trashy, amusing, entertaining, delightful.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2021/02/gg-ficklings-gun-for-honey.html

#vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #noir #noirfiction #HoneyWest #crimefiction #privateeyes #vintagesleaze #sleazefiction #pulpfiction

The Savage Salome is a 1961 Carter Brown thriller featuring hip PI Danny Boyd. Danny is hired by an opera singer to find her dog's murderer. He finds a lot more than that. If you love trashy sleazy hardboiled PI thrillers you'll love this one.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2024/03/carter-browns-savage-salome.html

#vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #vintagethriller #vintagethrillers #privateeyes #CarterBrown #pulpfiction #hardboiled hardboiledfiction

The Festival of the Dead, a fine collection of tales by Sidney Herschel Small published in the pulps in 1931, set in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Plenty of action and paranoia as a Chinese-speaking cop battles a diabolical criminal mastermind.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2024/03/sidney-herschel-smalls-festival-of-dead.html

#vintagecrime #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #pulpfiction #vintagethriller #vintagethrillers #pulpfiction #pulpmagazines

Fredric Brown’s The Far Cry was published in 1951. A man is digging up evidence on a Lonely Hearts murder eight years earlier. A psychological crime novel, but focusing on the psychology of the amateur detective rather than the killer. Not bad.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/12/fredric-browns-far-cry.html

#vintagecrime #noir #noirfiction #crimefiction #vintagethriller #vintagethrillers #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #FredricBrown

Strangers on a Train (1950) was Patricia Highsmith’s first novel. I love Hitchcock’s 1951 film (which departs radically from the book) but I very much disliked Highsmith’s novel. I'm not a fan of agonisingly psychological crime novels. YMMV.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/11/patricia-highsmiths-strangers-on-train.html

#crimefiction #vintagecrime #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #PatriciaHighsmith #AlfredHitchcock

Kiss for a Killer, a 1960 Honey West PI novel by Gloria and Forest Fickling (as G.G. Fickling). Honey investigates a nudist religious cult. Unashamedly violent, lurid, trashy and sleazy with hints of kinkiness. And extraordinarily enjoyable.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/09/honey-west-kiss-for-killer.html

#pulpfiction #vintagecrime #HoneyWest #privateeye #privateeyes #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #vintagethriller #vintagethrillers

Mickey Spillane’s 1964 novel The Snake is a sequel to The Girl Hunters and you absolutely must read The Girl Hunters first. This is a very different Mike Hammer - older, wiser and sadder. Both books are great, but read the earlier books first.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/06/mickey-spillanes-snake.html

#crimenovel #crimenovels #crimefiction #vintagecrime #vintagemysteries #vintagemystery #MickeySpillane #MikeHammer #hardboiled #hardboiledfiction #privateeyes

Leslie Charteris's The Saint Goes West, a 1942 collection of three Saint novellas. A transitional slightly Americanised version of Simon Templar which for me works less well than the earlier and later versions. But the stories are excellent.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-saint-goes-west.html

#crimenovel #crimenovels #crimefiction #vintagecrime #vintagethriller #vintagethrillers #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #LeslieCharteris #thesaint #SimonTemplar

Leslie Charteris's The Saint Goes West, a 1942 collection of three Saint novellas. A transitional slightly Americanised version of Simon Templar which for me works less well than the earlier and later versions. But the stories are excellent.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-saint-goes-west.html

#crimenovel #crimenovels #crimefiction #vintagecrime #vintagethriller #vintagethrillers #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #LeslieCharteris #thesaint #SimonTemplar

Leslie Charteris's The Saint Goes West, a 1942 collection of three Saint novellas. A transitional slightly Americanised version of Simon Templar which for me works less well than the earlier and later versions. But the stories are excellent.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-saint-goes-west.html

#crimenovel #crimenovels #crimefiction #vintagecrime #vintagethriller #vintagethrillers #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #LeslieCharteris #thesaint #SimonTemplar

Leslie Charteris's The Saint Goes West, a 1942 collection of three Saint novellas. A transitional slightly Americanised version of Simon Templar which for me works less well than the earlier and later versions. But the stories are excellent.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-saint-goes-west.html

#crimenovel #crimenovels #crimefiction #vintagecrime #vintagethriller #vintagethrillers #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #LeslieCharteris #thesaint #SimonTemplar

Leslie Charteris's The Saint Goes West, a 1942 collection of three Saint novellas. A transitional slightly Americanised version of Simon Templar which for me works less well than the earlier and later versions. But the stories are excellent.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-saint-goes-west.html

#crimenovel #crimenovels #crimefiction #vintagecrime #vintagethriller #vintagethrillers #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #LeslieCharteris #thesaint #SimonTemplar

Noël Calef’s novel Frantic (original French title Ascenseur pour ’échafaud) was published in 1956. The basis for Louis Malle’s superb 1958 film noir Elevator to the Gallows.

Lots of noirness, fine suspense, a powerful sense of impending doom, some nasty plot twists. Fine stuff.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/04/noel-calefs-frantic-ascenseur-pour.html

#noir #noirfiction #hardboiled #hardboiledfiction #vintagecrime #1950scrime #crimefiction #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #vintagethriller #vintagethrillers #NoelCalef #filmnoir

The Girl With No Place To Hide (1959), a Marvin H. Albert Jake Barrow PI thriller written under the name Nick Quarry. Rescuing a girl leads Jake into the worlds of high fashion and photography and high-stakes gambling.

Good noirish stuff.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/03/nick-quarrys-girl-with-no-place-to-hide.html

#noir #noirfiction #hardboiled #hardboiledfiction #vintagecrime #1950scrime #crimefiction #privateeyes #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #MarvinHAlbert #NickQuarry #vintagethriller #vintagethrillers

The Girl With No Place To Hide (1959), a Marvin H. Albert Jake Barrow PI thriller written under the name Nick Quarry. Rescuing a girl leads Jake into the worlds of high fashion and photography and high-stakes gambling.

Good noirish stuff.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/03/nick-quarrys-girl-with-no-place-to-hide.html

#noir #noirfiction #hardboiled #hardboiledfiction #vintagecrime #1950scrime #crimefiction #privateeyes #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #MarvinHAlbert #NickQuarry #vintagethriller #vintagethrillers

The Girl With No Place To Hide (1959), a Marvin H. Albert Jake Barrow PI thriller written under the name Nick Quarry. Rescuing a girl leads Jake into the worlds of high fashion and photography and high-stakes gambling.

Good noirish stuff.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/03/nick-quarrys-girl-with-no-place-to-hide.html

#noir #noirfiction #hardboiled #hardboiledfiction #vintagecrime #1950scrime #crimefiction #privateeyes #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #MarvinHAlbert #NickQuarry #vintagethriller #vintagethrillers

The Girl With No Place To Hide (1959), a Marvin H. Albert Jake Barrow PI thriller written under the name Nick Quarry. Rescuing a girl leads Jake into the worlds of high fashion and photography and high-stakes gambling.

Good noirish stuff.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/03/nick-quarrys-girl-with-no-place-to-hide.html

#noir #noirfiction #hardboiled #hardboiledfiction #vintagecrime #1950scrime #crimefiction #privateeyes #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #MarvinHAlbert #NickQuarry #vintagethriller #vintagethrillers

The Girl With No Place To Hide (1959), a Marvin H. Albert Jake Barrow PI thriller written under the name Nick Quarry. Rescuing a girl leads Jake into the worlds of high fashion and photography and high-stakes gambling.

Good noirish stuff.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/03/nick-quarrys-girl-with-no-place-to-hide.html

#noir #noirfiction #hardboiled #hardboiledfiction #vintagecrime #1950scrime #crimefiction #privateeyes #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries #MarvinHAlbert #NickQuarry #vintagethriller #vintagethrillers

Day Keene's Joy House was published 1954. A man loses five weeks of his life in an alcoholic haze. All he remembers is that he was a successful but unethical trial lawyer. And he does remember shooting his wife.

A nasty little erotic noir masterpiece.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2023/03/day-keenes-joy-house.html

#noir #noirfiction #hardboiled #hardboiledfiction #vintagecrime #1950scrime #crimefiction #DayKeene #vintagemystery #vintagemysteries