Hardboiled Detectives: Cracking the Case

Looking for a mystery that will keep you guessing until the very end? Want to follow a character that doesn't take orders from anyone but themselves?  Someone that drives the story forward on their gut instinct and brilliant mind, even if it leads them into danger, especially if it leads them into danger? Then partner up with one of the hard-boiled detectives in the list below and join them as they crack the case. This annotated bibliography focuses on the more entertaining examples of hard-boiled detective mysteries. Its goal is to get men between the ages of 30-60, interested in reading for pleasure by getting them started in a long running series with compelling character that they can develop a desire to follow from book to book.  All titles found on this blog were sourced by the Novelist database and other sources as referenced. 

Author : Raymond Chandler Publisher : New York: Vintage Books, 1992. Series : Philip Marlowe mysteries, 1 If you’re looking for the classic hard-boiled detective, Philip Marlowe is your man. Suave, well-dressed and wielding a keen mind, he navigates the seedy underbelly of 1930s L.A. with class. ‘The Big Sleep’ has this complex gumshoe tracking down an extortionist targeting a millionaire’s daughter and is the first in a healthy series of mysteries. Penned by one of the fathers of the hard-boiled detective, Raymond Chandler, he sets an atmospheric and compelling mystery that moves fast so try and keep up. If you’re looking for more Marlowe, of course follow his series or sit down and watch the classic film. Humphrey Bogart plays the man himself and is probably who you picture when you think hard-boiled detective. For more information: Goodreads page:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2052.The_Big_Sleep Author's Goodreads page:  https://www....

Author : Robert Crais Publisher : New York: Bantam Books, 1987. Series : Elvis Cole/Joe Pike novels, 1 Elvis Cole is a Vietnam vet that practices martial arts, decorates his office with Disney merchandise and says whatever is on his mind, as he cruises through L.A. In a word; he’s quirky. Paired with Joe Pike, an ex-cop who’s more interested in finding the next gunfight than solving a mystery, you’re in for a fun time. When Cole takes a case from a put-out housewife to find her no-good husband and her son, things go from bad to worse. The husband turns up dead; the kid’s still missing; and now the wife is nowhere to be found. On top of all that, Cole has a disgruntled drug lord beating down his office door. Things move quickly in L.A. Crais crafts a suspenseful mystery that will have you tearing through the pages to find out how the crime-fighting duo get out of this one. And if you think they won’t, don’t let the fact that there are another 17 books in this ...

Author : Dennis Lehane Publisher : New York: Harcourt Brace, 1994. Series : Kenzie and Gennaro series, 1 Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are two whip-smart P.I.’s that carry a lot of baggage. Kenzie’s father was a ‘hero’ firefighter and abusive dad. Gennaro regularly wears sunglasses inside the office; to hide the black eyes her dead-beat husband gives her. Yet the pair manage to survive through the 6 mysteries in this series by leaning on each other. The case we join them on in ‘A Drink Before the War’, is a real doozy. The duo is hired by a pair of senators to locate a missing woman and the confidential documents they believe she’s stolen. Finding the woman is a cake walk, but when she is gunned down in what appears to be an act of gangland violence, Kenzie and Gennaro now must survive an all-out gang war on the streets of Boston. Lehane crafts an intricately plotted web of conspiracies that our sleuths get stuck in, weaving together political corruption ...

Author : Sara Gran Publisher : Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. Series : Claire DeWitt mysteries, 1 Claire DeWitt is the world’s greatest investigator; just ask her. She doesn’t go digging for clues or roughing up scumbags, she lets them come to her. Through the use of I Ching, an ancient form of Chinese numerology; the teachings of an eccentric French detective; and copious amounts of marijuana, Claire isn’t so much hard-boiled as hard-baked. In ‘City of the Dead’, Claire must return to New Orleans, the city where her friend and mentor was murdered. But she does what she must; investigating the disappearance of a well-known District Attorney who had made enough enemies to make it interesting. 18 short months after the devastating Hurricane Katrina, the city is still recovering, and Claire is about to discover how hard it is to find a body in the City of the Dead. Equally witty and gritty, Gran will take you on a magic-carpet ride through storm-washe...

Author : Ken Bruen Publisher : New York: St. Martin’s Minotaur 2003. Series : Jack Taylor Series, 1 Jack Taylor was a former member of the Garda Siochana, the Irish police force, but now he uses his skills of investigation as a ‘finder’. Set during a time in Irish history where P.I.s are seen as ‘informers’, its important to make that distinction. When he isn’t fighting sobriety or fighting to be sober, Taylor proves himself a pretty decent shamus. In the first novel of this long-going series, we find Jack brooding in his favourite bar. He’s pulled out of his stupor by a beautiful woman who asks him to investigate the death of her daughter. The police say it was suicide; but the woman has doubts after a mysterious phone call. Of course, Taylor takes the case, mostly because of the woman asking and partly because of the envelope of cash she drops in his lap. Bruen spins a gritty mystery and makes it his own through a lyrical, Irish-brogue writing style. The story m...

Author : Michael Connelly. Publisher : Boston: Little, Brown, 2003. Series : Harry Bosch mysteries, 9 Harry Bosch is a courageous crime-fighter that won’t let red tape get in the way of justice. Mix that with a tragic backstory and you’ve got a great private eye to follow. The one thing that separates him from the other P.I.s though is, for most of his career he was a cop in the LAPD. We join Harry in ‘Lost Light’ the 9th book in the series. Its an interesting point to meet him because he’s recently retired from the LAPD. Bosch makes his first case a cold case, following up on a murder investigation that was taken away from him years ago. Following some hard-earned leads, Harry quickly finds himself in trouble between a suspected ring of international terrorists and the all-powerful Department of Homeland Security. Connelly takes Bosch into the first-person this time around, the sweet spot for any hard-boiled detective novel. It puts us in the mind of Harry Bosch as h...

Director : Ridley Scott. Publisher : Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2007. Rick Deckard, the titular ‘Blade Runner’, would give Philip Marlowe a run for his money. Living in a neon-nightmare of Los Angeles in ‘2019’, there’s no time for feelings and emotions. Deckard has a job to do, hunt down AWOL Replicants and retire them, and he’ll do it, until his pesky heart gets in the way. ‘Blade Runner’ is a highly regarded film that mixes hard-boiled detective/noir elements with hard science fiction. Deckard is an operative of the LAPD in the far-flung future of ‘2019’, tasked with hunting down four Replicants, genetically modified artificial humans, that have made a bloody escape from their indentured servitude. This hunt will be his hardest as coming up against the Replicant, Roy Batty, and his family, will make Deckard question who is the more human of the two. Directed by Ridley Scott, the director of ‘Alien’ and ‘Gladiator’, this movie is still a sight to behold almost ...

Author: Jim Butcher Publisher:  Greensboro, NC: Buzzy Multimedia, 2011. Series : Dresden Files, 1 Harry Dresden is deeply flawed man with a quick temper that often gets him into trouble with the wrong people. He is also a wizard. And a detective. The only wizard-detective in Chicago and probably the greater United States. Harry puts his magic to use doing typical P.I. sleuthing and assisting the Chicago P.D. with their more supernatural cases. With a mysterious past and his compulsion to do the right thing, no matter how hard it hurts, Dresden makes quite the compelling P.I. to follow. ‘Storm Front’ introduces us to the wizard-detective and quickly tells us all we need to know about the man. A lot of people read his door and label him as a joke or a loon. He’s neither but he is very broke, to the point that he has to play nice with timid housewives with missing husbands and come running when the Chicago P.D. calls on him to investigate a horrific double-homicide. Looking ...

Creator : Melissa Rosenberg Publisher : Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, 2016. Series : Jessica Jones, Season 1 Jessica Jones was a superhero, or at least she tried to be. Her run was cut short when she encountered the domineering villain known only as ‘The Purple Man’. Now free of his supernatural domination, Jones suffers from debilitating PTSD. To drown it out she drinks. To pay for the booze she works as a private eye and runs Alias Investigations. Using her super-strength and brilliant mind, Jones can accomplish great things when she isn’t wasted. In Season One of ‘Jessica Jones’, our titular heroine is trying to make ends meet while keeping herself afloat in liquor. It’s been a long time since she’s tried the superhero gig and she’s not eager to return to it, no matter how hard her adopted sister tries to convince her. When ‘The Purple Man’ surfaces again and leaves dead bodies and broken minds in his wake, only Jessica can take him down and fin...

Creators : Juan Diaz Canales (writer), Juanjo Guarnido (illustrator) Publisher : Milwaukie, Or.: Dark Horse, 2010. Series : Blacksad, 1-3 If you’re looking to return to the classic stylings of the hard-boiled detective, John Blacksad is your cat-man. Channelling the spirit of Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade, of ‘The Maltese Falcon’, Blacksad solves cases with his keen mind but isn’t afraid to throw his weight around if he needs to. Donning the classic look, trench coat over a well-tailored suit, Blacksad more than looks the part. So, get over the fact that he’s a cat and keep reading. Set in 1950’s America, John Blacksad tackles three cases that wouldn’t be out of place in the classic novels of the period. One mystery has him investigating the death of a woman he loved. Another has him fighting against white supremacists. The third has him caught up in nuclear secrets and the Red Scare. He takes them all on, gets himself hurt for it, and keeps on coming. With Canales’ atmos...