TOP 10 HARD-BOILED DETECTIVE NOVEL QUEST

Currently, I’m taking a hiatus from contemporary fiction in order to read some classics.  I’ve always loved hard-boiled detective novels: the one-liners, the gritty streets, the dark and brooding hero, and, of course, the tantalizing women.  So far, I’ve read some great hard-boiled fiction, but now it’s time for me to wade a bit deeper into the genre.

Based on what I’ve read so far, my Top 10 Hard-Boiled Detective Novels would be:

1.    The Last Good Kiss – James Crumley
2.    Gone, Baby, Gone – Dennis Lehane
3.    L.A. Requiem – Robert Crais
4.   Right As Rain – George Pelecanos
5.    The Last Coyote – Michael Connelly
6.    Eight Million Ways to Die - Lawrence Block
7.    Already Dead – Charlie Huston
8.    The Big Sleep – Raymond Chandler
9.    The Maltese Falcon – Dashiell Hammett
10.    Motherless Brooklyn – Jonathan Lethem
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In order to educate myself and to better compare the classics with today’s fiction, I’ve decided to read some of the books that have been on my TBR list for a while.  I’ve done my research.  These are books that continually appear on the hard-boiled classic lists of others.  From time to time, I will revise my Top 10 Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction list.

Here are the books that I plan to read:

• Red Harvest – Dashiell Hammett
• The Long Goodbye – Raymond Chandler
• Double Indemnity – James Cain
• I, The Jury – Mickey Spillane
• The Chill – Ross MacDonald – Read on July 8, 2009.  See my review.
• Early Autumn - Robert B. Parker

Do you have any more suggestions?  Please let me know.