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

Fletcher Flora's Let Me Kill You, Sweetheart was written in 1958. Three men have sex with a young woman. One murders her. A witty lighthearted murder mystery/psychosexual melodrama with dashes of whimsy and black comedy and a hint of noir.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2024/04/fletcher-floras-let-me-kill-you.html

I love occult detective stories. Aleister Crowley’s Simon Iff stories belong to this genre but with a distinctive flavour all their own. Nothing supernatural or paranormal here but Iff uses Crowley's philosophy to solve crimes. Offbeat but fun.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2013/05/aleister-crowleys-simon-iff-stories-and.html

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

Just before WW1 Max Rittenberg wrote a series of clever short stories featuring scientific detective Magnum, a bad-tempered conceited arrogant scientist who dabbles in crime solving if a case interests him or if he’s offered enough money.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-invisible-bullet-other-strange.html

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

Eugene Thomas’s Bait for Men, stories from the 1930s about Vivian Legrand, The Lady From Hell. Thief, blackmailer, murderess, cruel, vindictive, without moral scruples. She's also smart, resourceful and daring. A classic sexy bad girl.

Here's my review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2024/01/eugene-thomass-bait-for-men.html

Gaston Leroux’s historically important impossible crime novel The Perfume of the Lady in Black, published in 1908. There are several murders and disappearances and a significant childhood memory. And there's one body too many. Fairly enjoyable.

My review: https://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2024/01/gaston-lerouxs-perfume-of-lady-in-black.html

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