BlackHat Mystery Bookstore

Non-Fiction Books

     Noir & Hardboiled & Pulp

Books About Mystery Fiction

Technical Books


"To preserve the truth, we need mysteries."
— Andrei Tarkovsky


'Books on Noir Film' Page
Mystery Fiction Page / Kindle Editions


About Noir & Hardboiled & Pulp

Hardboiled Explicator by Robert E. Skinner  "The Hardboiled Explicator: A Guide To The Study of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett & Ross Macdonald" [1985]
by Robert E. Skinner

Scarecrow Press pb [9/2002] for $24.95
Scarecrow Press pb [2/85] out of print/used
BlackHat Mystery Bookstore Raymond Chandler [1888-1959] Pages
BlackHat Mystery Bookstore Dashiell Hammett [1894-1961] Pages
BlackHat Mystery Bookstore Ross Macdonald [1915-83] Page
cover of original February 1940 'Dime Detective' Magazine  
"The Dime Detectives" [1988]
by Ron Goulart

Mysterious Press 8¾x6 hardcover [11/88] out of print/many used
Pulp Culture by Woody Haut  "Pulp Culture: Hardboiled Fiction & The Cold War" [1996]
by Woody Haut

Serpents Tail 8x5½ pb [4/96] for $12.79
Mammoth Fiction edited by Maxim Jakubowski  "The Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction" [1996]
Edited by Maxim Jakubowski

Carroll & Graf 11¼x4¾ pb [8/96] for $9.56
Hardboiled America by Geoffrey O'Brien  "Hardboiled America: Lurid Paperbacks & The Masters of Noir" [1997]
by Geoffrey O'Brien

DaCapo Press 9x6 pb [4/97] for $13.56
The Big Book of Noir  "The Big Book of Noir" [1998]
Edited by Ed Gorman, Lee Server & Martin H. Greenberg

Carroll & Graf 10x7¼ pb [10/98] out of print/used
Neon Noir by Woody Haut  "Neon Noir: Contemporary American Crime Fiction" [1999]
by Woody Haut

Serpents Tail 8½x5 pb [4/99] for $13.59
Women Rewriting Hard-Boiled book by Priscilla Walton & Manina Jones  "Detective Agency: Women Rewriting The Hard-Boiled Tradition"
[1999] by Priscilla L. Walton & Manina Jones

Univ CA Press 9x6 pb [5/99] for $18.95
Univ CA Press 9½x6¼ hardcover [5/99] out of print/used
Sins of the City by Jim Heimann  "Sins of The City: The Real Los Angeles Noir" [1999]
by Jim Heimann

Chronicle Books 10x7½ pb [7/99] for $13.27
America Noir by David Cochran  "America Noir: Underground Writers & Filmmakers of The
Postwar Era" [2000]
by David Cochran

Smithsonian Inst. Press 9x6½ hardcover
[5/2000] for $22.36
Hard-Boiled / Working Class Readers & Pulp Magazines  "Hard-Boiled: Working Class Readers & Pulp Magazines" [2000]
by Erin A. Smith

Temple Univ Press 9x6 pb [6/2000] for $15.96
Adventure House Guide To Pulps  "Adventure House Guide To The Pulps: A Checklist of The Pulp Magazine Era" [2000]
by John Gunnison, John Locke & Doug Ellis

Adventure House pb [7/2000] out of print/used
Gumshoe America by Sean McCann  "Gumshoe America: Hard Boiled Crime Fiction & The Rise & Fall of New Deal Liberalism" [2000]
by Sean McCann

Duke Univ Press 9x6¼ pb [11/2000] for $24.95
Duke Univ Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [11/2000] for $89.95
Mammoth Action edited by Maxim Jakubowski  "The Mammoth Book of Pulp Action" [2001]
Edited by Maxim Jakubowski

Carroll & Graf 11¼x4¾ pb [12/2001] for $9.56
Bad Girls  "Bad Girls of Pulp Fiction" [2002] by Thomas Campbell
Running Press 3½x3 miniature [3/2002] for $4.95
Black & White & Noir by Paula Rabinowitz  "Black & White & Noir: America's Pulp Modernism" [2002]
by Paula Rabinowitz

Columbia Univ Press 9x6.3 pb [7/2002] for $18.50
Columbia Univ Press hardcover [7/2002] for $49.50
Hardboiled Mystery Writers edited by Matthew Bruccoli  "Hardboiled Mystery Writers: Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Ross Macdonald - A Literary Reference" [2002]
Edited by Matthew Bruccoli & Richard Layman

Carroll & Graf 10x7 pb [7/2002] for $15.40
BlackHat Mystery Bookstore Raymond Chandler [1888-1959] Pages
BlackHat Mystery Bookstore Dashiell Hammett [1894-1961] Pages
BlackHat Mystery Bookstore Ross Macdonald [1915-83] Page
Heartbreak & Vine by Woody Haut  
"Heartbreak and Vine" [2003]
by Woody Haut

Serpent's Tail 8½x5¼ pb [4/2003] for $11.90
Scene of the Crime  "Scene of the Crime: Photographs From The L.A.P.D. Archive"
[2004] Essay by Tim B. Wride; Foreword by L.A.P.D. Chief William J. Bratton, Introduction by James Ellroy

Harry N. Abrams 13½x8.3 hardcover [10/2004] for $23.80
Lesbian Pulp Fiction book edited by Katherine V. Forrest  "Lesbian Pulp Fiction: The Sexually Intrepid World of Lesbian Paperback Novels, 1950-1965" [2005]
Selected & Introduction by Katherine V. Forrest

Cleis Press pb [5/2005] for $14.70

L.A. Noir by Alain Silver  "L.A. Noir: The City As Character" [2005]
by Alain Silver & James Ursini

Santa Monica Press 8½x11 pb [10/2005] for $14.56

Hard-Boiled Masculinities book by Christopher Breu  "Hard-Boiled Masculinities" [2005] by Christopher Breu
A scholarly examination of how and why hard-boiled masculinity emerged during the unsettled times after World War I, shifting from Victorian-influenced depictions of men in top hats & mustaches to the portrayal of much more overtly violent & muscular men, moving back and forth across the divide between high and low culture in American society. Author cites examples from the works of Ernest Hemingway, Dashiell Hammett, Chester Himes, and William Faulkner, as well as many lesser-known writers of the hypermasculine 'tough-guy' pulp magazines of the 1920s and 1930s.
Univ MN Press 9x6 pb [12/2005] for $22.50
Univ MN Press hardcover [12/2005] for $60.00
Hard-Boiled Sentimentality book by Leonard Cassuto  
"Hard-Boiled Sentimentality: The Secret History of American Crime Stories" [2008] by Leonard Cassuto
Columbia Univ Press 9x6 pb [10/2008] for $27.50
Columbia Univ Press hardcover [10/2008] for $79.50
Dime Detective Companion book by James L. Traylor  "Dime Detective Companion" [rev 2011]
by James L. Traylor

featuring articles by Monte Herridge, Marvin Lachman & Will Murray, and the 1936 multi-author short story "The Tongueless Men"
CreateSpace 9x6 pb [3/2011] for $24.95

Books About Mystery Fiction
books on writing mystery fiction at Amazon

Detecting Women book by Philippa Gates  
"Detecting Women: Gender and The Hollywood Detective Film" [2011]
by Philippa Gates

S.U.N.Y. Press 9x6 pb [4/2011] for $29.95
S.U.N.Y. Press 9x6¼ hardcover [4/2011] for $90.00
Talking About Detective Fiction book by P.D. James  "Talking About Detective Fiction" [2009]
by P.D. James

Penguin U.K. 8½x5¼ pb [10/2009] out of print/used
Knopf 7½x4¾ hardcover [12/2009] for $14.66
Detecting Men: Masculinity and the Hollywood Detective Film book by Philippa Gates  "Detecting Men: Masculinity and The Hollywood Detective Film"
[2006] by Philippa Gates

SUNY Press 8¾x6 pb [7/2006] for $30.95
SUNY Press 9x6¼ hardcover [7/2006] for $89.50
Booze & the Private Eye by Rita Elizabeth Rippetoe  "Booze and The Private Eye: Alcohol In The Hard-Boiled Novel"
[2004] by Rita Elizabeth Rippetoe

McFarland & Co. 9x6 pb [8/2004] for $35.00
Elements of Mystery Fiction by William G. Tapply  "The Elements of Mystery Fiction: Writing The Modern Whodunit"
[2004] by William G. Tapply

Poisoned Pen Press 8½x5½ pb [5/2004] for $11.53
Write A Damn Good Myster by James N. Freyy  "How To Write A Damn Good Mystery: A Practical Step-by-Step Guide From Inspiration To Finished Manuscript" [2004]
by James N. Frey

St. Martin 8½x5¾ hardcover [2/2004] for $15.61
Women Mystery Writers by Jeffrey Marks  "Atomic Renaissance: Women Mystery Writers of The 1940s & 1950s" [2003]
by Jeffrey Marks

Delphi Books 9½x6 hardcover [9/2003] for $21.95
Classic Era of Crime Fiction by Peter Haining  "The Classic Era of Crime Fiction" [2002]
by Peter Haining

Chicago Review Press 11¾x9 pb [9/2002] for $35.00
Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction by Mike Ashley  "The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction" [2002]
by Mike Ashley

Carroll & Graf 7¾x5¼ pb [5/2002] for $9.71
They Died in Vain edited by Jim Huang  "They Died In Vain: Overlooked, Underappreciated & Forgotten Mystery Novels" [2002]
Edited by Jim Huang

Crum Creek Press 8x5 pb [4/2002] for $10.40
Mystery Writers of America Handbook edited by Sue Grafton  "Writing Mysteries: A Handbook By The Mystery Writers of America" [1976; 2nd edition 2002]
Edited by Sue Grafton

Writers Digest 9x6 pb [4/2002] for $11.04
M.W.A. hardcover [10/2002] out of print/used
History of Mystery by Max Allan Collins  "The History of Mystery" [2001]
by Max Allan Collins

Collectors Press 12¼x11¼ hardcover [10/2001] for $38.25
100 Favorite Mysteries of The Century edited by Jim Huang  "100 Favorite Mysteries of The Century" [2000]
Edited by Jim Huang

Crum Creek Press pb[12/2000] for $9.60
Oxford Companion To Crime & Mystery Writing edited by Rosemary Herbert  "The Oxford Companion To Crime & Mystery Writing" [1999]
Edited by Rosemary Herbert

Oxford Univ Press 9½x6¾ hardcover [12/99] out of print/used
Encyclopedia of Murder & Mystery by Bruce F. Murphy  "The Encyclopedia of Murder & Mystery" [1999]
by Bruce F. Murphy

Palgrave Macmillan 9¼x7½ pb [2/2002] for $17.47
Palgrave Macmillan 9¾x8 hardcover [12/99] out of print/used
You Can Write a Mystery by Gillian Roberts  "You Can Write A Mystery" [1999]
by Gillian Roberts

Writers Digest Books 9x6 pb [8/99] for $10.39
Killer Books reference  "Killer Books: A Reader's Guide To Exploring The Popular World of Mystery & Suspense" [1998]
by Jean Swanson & Dean James

Berkley Trade 9¼x6 pb [4/98] out of print/many used
Detecting Men by Willetta L. Heising  "Detecting Men: A Readers Guide & Checklist For Mystery Series Written By Men" [1997]
by Willetta L. Heising

Purple Moon Press 11x8½ pb [3/98] out of print/many used
'Pocket Guide' edition [3/97] out of print/used
Blues Detective by Stephen F. Soitos  "The Blues Detective: A Study of African American Detective Fiction" [1996]
by Stephen F. Soitos

Univ MA Press 9½x6 pb [2/96] for $21.95
Univ MA Press 9½x6¼ hardcover [2/96] out of print/used
Spooks, Spies & Private Eyes edited by Paula L. Woods  "Spooks, Spies, and Private Eyes: Black Mystery, Crime & Suspense Fiction" [1995]
Edited by Paula L. Woods

Main Street Books 8¼x5½ pb [11/96] out of print/used
Doubleday 9x8¼ hardcover [11/95] out of print/used
Detecting Women by Willetta L. Heising  "Detecting Women: A Readers Guide & Checklist For Mystery Series Written by Women" [orig 1995; 3rd edition 1999]
by Willetta L. Heising

Purple Moon Press pb [12/99] out of print/used
Purple Moon Press 11&fracx8¾ hardcover [12/99] out of print/used
'Pocket Guide' edition [10/98] out of print/used
Encyclopedia Mysteriosa book by William L. DeAndrea  "Encyclopedia Mysteriosa: A Comprehensive Guide To The Art of Detection In Print, Film, Radio & Television" [1994]
by William L. DeAndrea

The first such volume since 1975; reviewers complain of missing authors & characters & TV shows, but no review faults the book's accuracy.
Macmillan 9½x5½ pb [5/97] out of print/used
John Wiley & Sons 9¾x8 hardcover [9/94] out of print/many used
Femmes Fatales by Mary Ann Doane  
"Femmes Fatales: Feminism, Film Criticism, Psychoanalysis" [1991]
by Mary Ann Doane

Routledge 9x6 pb [8/91] for $20.99
Routledge hardcover [8/91] out of print/used
Woman Detective by Kathleen Gregory Klein  "The Woman Detective: Gender & Genre" [1988]
by Kathleen Gregory Klein

Univ IL Press 9x6 pb [2/95] for $18.95
Univ IL Press hardcover [1988] out of stock/used
100 Best Crime & Mystery Books by H. R. F. Keating  "Crime & Mystery: The 100 Best Books" [1987]
by H.R.F. Keating

Carroll & Graf 8x5½ pb [1/97] for $8.96
Carroll & Graf hardcover [11/87] out of print/used

"Sons of Sam Spade: The Private-Eye Novel In The Seventies" [1980]
by David Geherin
Continuum pb [1/83] out of print/used
Ungar hardcover [3/80] out of print/used

"The Complete Detective: Being The Life and Strange & Exciting Cases
of Raymond Schindler, Master Detective" [1950]
by Rupert Hughes
recommended by Erle Stanley Gardner
Sheridan House hardcover [1/1950] out of print/used


Technical Books

Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation, first UK edition book by William Tilstone  "Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation,  
First U.K. Edition" [2011] by William Tilstone

Routledge/Auerbach hardcover [DUE Dec 2010, bumped till later]
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Forensics For Dummies  "Forensics For Dummies" [2004] by Douglas P. Lyle, MD
nominated for an Edgar Award
For Dummies 9¼x7¼ pb [4/2004] for $13.59
Complete Idiot's Guide to Forensics book by Alan Axelrod & Guy Antinozzi   "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Forensics: Discover How Crimes Are Solved Through Science & Detection" [2003]
by Alan Axelrod & Guy Antinozzi

Alpha Books 2nd edition 9x7¼ pb [9/2007] out of print/used
Complete Idiot's Guide to Criminal Investigation book by Alan Axelrod & Guy Antinozzi   "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Criminal Investigation" [2002]
by Alan Axelrod & Guy Antinozzi

Alpha Books 9x7¼ pb [7/2002] out of print/used
Criminal Poisoning book by John Harris Trestrail III  "Criminal Poisoning: Investigational Guide For Law Enforcement, Toxicologists, Forensic Scientists & Attorneys" [2000]
by John Harris Trestrail III

Humana Press 2nd edition 9x6 pb [4/2007] for $44.95
Humana Press 2nd edition 9x6 hardcover [4/2007] for $89.95
Humana Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [2/2000] out of print/used
Crime Scene Investigation by Barry A.J. Fisher  "Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation" textbook [orig 1949]
by Barry A.J. Fisher

Routledge/Auerbach 8th edition hardcover [DUE Feb 2012] for $93.30  
CRC Press 7th edition hardcover [9/2003] for $73.16
"Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation, Seventh Edition, Interactive Training CD-ROM"
CRC Press CD-ROM [6/2004] for $98.03
Homicide Investigation by Dr. Lemoyne Snyder  "Homicide Investigation: Practical Information For Coroners, Police Officers & Other Investigators" [orig 1944]
by Dr. Lemoyne Snyder

recommended often by Erle Stanley Gardner
Charles C. Thomas 3rd edition pb [9/77] for $52.95
Charles C. Thomas 3rd edition hardcover [9/77] out of print/used

Online sales in association with  books on writing mystery fiction at Amazon

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