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Hardboiled Horror
There’s something out there in the dark. There’s always something watching. There’s always something reaching for you. Always. And sometimes there’s someone you can call. Someone you can hire. Someone who knows these dark streets and back alleys. Someone who knows how things work in this part of town. Private eyes who are often as dark as the things they hunt. Investigators who know how to look in the shadows for the things that go bump. Good guys but not always nice guys. Hardboiled Horror collects fifteen original tales of noir mystery shot through with elements of horror and the supernatural. Occult detectives, paranormal investigators, seedy P.I.s, amateur sleuths and ghost hunters tackle the cases no one else can handle. The killer lineup includes Heather Graham, Kevin J. Anderson, Rachel Caine, Scott Sigler, Seanan McGuire Alethea Kontis, Jonathan Maberry, Chris Ryall, Dana Fredsti, Jim Beard, Jacopo della Quercia, John Gilstrap, Jon McGoran, Josh Malerman, Max Allan Collins & Matthew V. Clemens, Lois H. Gresh and Nancy Holder. Edited by New York Times bestseller and five-time Bram Stoker Award winner Jonathan Maberry.
599 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 23, 2017
70 people are currently reading
304 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Maberry
528 books7,817 followersJONATHAN MABERRY is a NYTimes bestselling author, #1 Audible bestseller, 5-time Bram Stoker Award-winner, 4-time Scribe Award winner, Inkpot Award winner, comic book writer, and producer. He is the author of more than 50 novels, 190 short stories, 16 short story collections, 30 graphic novels, 14 nonfiction books, and has edited 26 anthologies. His vampire apocalypse book series, V-WARS, was a Netflix original series starring Ian Somerhalder. His 2009-10 run as writer on the Black Panther comic formed a large chunk of the recent blockbuster film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. His bestselling YA zombie series, Rot & Ruin is in development for film at Alcon Entertainment; and John Wick director, Chad Stahelski, is developing Jonathan’s Joe Ledger Thrillers for TV. Jonathan writes in multiple genres including suspense, thriller, horror, science fiction, epic fantasy, and action; and he writes for adults, teens and middle grade. His works include The Pine Deep Trilogy, The Kagen the Damned Trilogy, NecroTek, Ink, Glimpse, the Rot & Ruin series, the Dead of Night series, The Wolfman, X-Files Origins: Devil’s Advocate, The Sleepers War (with Weston Ochse), Mars One, and many others. He is the editor of high-profile anthologies including Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird, The X-Files, Aliens: Bug Hunt, Out of Tune, Don’t Turn out the Lights: A Tribute to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Baker Street Irregulars, Nights of the Living Dead, Shadows & Verse, and others. His comics include Marvel Zombies Return, The Punisher: Naked Kills, Wolverine: Ghosts, Godzilla vs Cthulhu: Death May Die, Bad Blood and many others. Jonathan has written in many popular licensed worlds, including Hellboy, True Blood, The Wolfman, John Carter of Mars, Sherlock Holmes, C.H.U.D., Diablo IV, Deadlands, World of Warcraft, Planet of the Apes, Aliens, Predator, Karl Kolchak, and many others. He the president of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, and the editor of Weird Tales Magazine. He lives in San Diego, California. Find him online at www.jonathanmaberry.com
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 14, 2023
Terrible! Just Terrible! Syke!
A delivery of happiness. A delivery of satisfaction. A delivery of short stories from authors that will surprise you, scare you, leave you thinking.
I feel all of these things. I’m glad I got to experience it, but I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t purchased this book.
So, if you’re like me, and you’re looking for something that will entertain your mind when you’re traveling on the train or plane, or before taking a nap, just gather around these short stories and enjoy your day.
Five stars. 💫💫💫💫💫
A delivery of happiness. A delivery of satisfaction. A delivery of short stories from authors that will surprise you, scare you, leave you thinking.
I feel all of these things. I’m glad I got to experience it, but I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t purchased this book.
So, if you’re like me, and you’re looking for something that will entertain your mind when you’re traveling on the train or plane, or before taking a nap, just gather around these short stories and enjoy your day.
Five stars. 💫💫💫💫💫
October 2, 2018
Everything you'd need for a spooky read featuring private investigators. Intrigue, a few chills, and just a great read to curl up with in bed!
December 18, 2018
It took me a while to finish this one. The plan was to read
Hardboiled Horror
for some spookiness during Halloween month, but the book was seriously long. Maybe not Stephen King-long, but close.
In short, I liked it. Of course - as with many anthologies I've already read - it has short stories I LOVED and those that were pretty weak. The whole theme of this collection was suppose to be noir-esque stories about detectives, and most of the stories had this feel to them. Some stretched the trope a little, tho.
My favourite story was Kissyman and the Succubus by Scott Sigler. It was gruesome and dark, the plot was interesting, but was most important the main hero was truly an antihero that made me question myself rooting for him thorough whole of the story. It was also one of the few short stories that truly felt "finished" in this collection. No open ending, no feeling of it being a teaser or appetizer to bigger story. Still, I'd love to read more about Kissyman and Lefty.
Second story that I really liked was A Tiger in the Night by Rachel Cain. It's a very entertaining, more spooky than gruesome story of a female detective working for Pinkerton Agency sometimes during the tail end of 19th Century. It was great, I loved the characters and the unique feel of the story. This one would make a great starts for a series of books.
Honorable mentions:
Trouble's Braids: A Sam Hunter Story by Johnathan Maberry (very spooky, and I think the most scary of them all)
Grim Repo by Alethea Kotis (this short story felt like a teaser; it kind of abruptly ended, but it has great premise and potential for full length novel)
Rest of the short stories was hit or miss for me. Some of them were kind of awkwardly written, others had themes I'm not a fan of.
Good anthologies and entertaining read.
~4/5 stars
In short, I liked it. Of course - as with many anthologies I've already read - it has short stories I LOVED and those that were pretty weak. The whole theme of this collection was suppose to be noir-esque stories about detectives, and most of the stories had this feel to them. Some stretched the trope a little, tho.
My favourite story was Kissyman and the Succubus by Scott Sigler. It was gruesome and dark, the plot was interesting, but was most important the main hero was truly an antihero that made me question myself rooting for him thorough whole of the story. It was also one of the few short stories that truly felt "finished" in this collection. No open ending, no feeling of it being a teaser or appetizer to bigger story. Still, I'd love to read more about Kissyman and Lefty.
Second story that I really liked was A Tiger in the Night by Rachel Cain. It's a very entertaining, more spooky than gruesome story of a female detective working for Pinkerton Agency sometimes during the tail end of 19th Century. It was great, I loved the characters and the unique feel of the story. This one would make a great starts for a series of books.
Honorable mentions:
Trouble's Braids: A Sam Hunter Story by Johnathan Maberry (very spooky, and I think the most scary of them all)
Grim Repo by Alethea Kotis (this short story felt like a teaser; it kind of abruptly ended, but it has great premise and potential for full length novel)
Rest of the short stories was hit or miss for me. Some of them were kind of awkwardly written, others had themes I'm not a fan of.
Good anthologies and entertaining read.
~4/5 stars
June 19, 2023
Like all anthologies, it has some pretty good stories, others that are more or less or would benefit more from knowing more of the characters (which probably are part of a series), but there is at least a big failure. There is a story about Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson and while at first, it might look that the characters and the environment are well used, in the end, the characters fail to behave properly, become stubborn and close-minded only to have them freaked with a cheap scare jump.
Thinking it further, considering the knowledge of the old lady about what happened, its unnecessary to have them involved as they did, they should have been called by the police, then we could have an interesting investigation and not the focus on the small, frail widow.
Thinking it further, considering the knowledge of the old lady about what happened, its unnecessary to have them involved as they did, they should have been called by the police, then we could have an interesting investigation and not the focus on the small, frail widow.
March 13, 2019
Quite hit and miss for me. Sone stories were great and others left a lot to be desired. It was also deceptively long and took much more time to read than I had anticipated or planned for.
What worked very well? Kissyman and the Succubus, by Scott Sigler, and Like by Josh Malerman. Both hit the genre of the anthology, a crime-horror blend of short stories, brilliantly well.
The other stories were a bit hit and miss though, however the two above were that good that it didn’t feel fair or right to give three stars. Therefore just four stars it is.
What worked very well? Kissyman and the Succubus, by Scott Sigler, and Like by Josh Malerman. Both hit the genre of the anthology, a crime-horror blend of short stories, brilliantly well.
The other stories were a bit hit and miss though, however the two above were that good that it didn’t feel fair or right to give three stars. Therefore just four stars it is.
April 21, 2019
This is an anthology of horror stories. I liked most of the stories in this book. It seems like with anthologies it's hard to like all of them, just a personal taste type of thing. The stories are well written and very entertaining. Some of my favorite stories are Trouble's Braids: A Sam Hunter Story by Jonathan Maberry; Out for Blood by Max Allan Collins and Matthew V. Clemens; A Tiger in the Night by Rachel Caine; Two Little Letters, One Small Word by Jim Beard; Corrosion by Dana Fredsti; and An Emptied Vessel by Seanan McGuire.
July 13, 2019
I really wanted to like this one. I have a soft spot for both horror and hardboiled crime. Sadly, this is a collection of forgettable mediocre short stories. After getting through them I can't remember what 2/3 of them were about. One stood out as bad enough that I skipped it halfway through it, but none stood out as good. I got neither the feeling of a good crime story or a good horror story from any of them, let alone a good combo.
It's just a collection of perfectly okay crime-ish and/or horror-ish short stories.
It's just a collection of perfectly okay crime-ish and/or horror-ish short stories.
March 5, 2019
More of an urban fantasy collection than noir horror, this was more of an uneven read than I expected. Some clunkers, some oddball comedy, and only a few truly nasty gems, including Scott Sigler's "Kissyman and the Succubus." Lots of pages, so you'll likely find something to taste, but recommended with reservations.
August 7, 2025
A variable collection, but the tales I’d particularly recommend are: ‘Kissyman & the Succubus’ by Scott Sigler; ‘Lime’ by Josh Malerman; ‘The Empty Grave’ by Jon McGoran and ‘A Tiger in the Night’ by Rachel Caine.
February 9, 2026
As with so many anthologies, this has its strong and weak points. I will say that many of the stories didn’t feel very hardboiled though. The standouts here for me were the ones by Jonathan Maberry and Scott Sigler.
July 28, 2018
Great collection
Different stories with a detective horror theme. Something for everyone. I coukdnt name my favourite... but if pushed perhaps Kissyman
Different stories with a detective horror theme. Something for everyone. I coukdnt name my favourite... but if pushed perhaps Kissyman
December 27, 2018
Pretty good selection of supernatural themed dark noir. If you like the old Sam Spade type stories but with a ghoulish twist, this is an excellent anthology.
December 14, 2021
Kissyman and Braids stand out in the collection
June 14, 2023
A lot of really good authors and really good stories. A few toward the end that I didn't really love, but overall a nice anthology.
February 20, 2024
“An Emptied Vessel” by Seanan McGuire
January 30, 2026
3.6*
Grim repo
Empty grave
A tiger in the night by Rachel Caine
Grim repo
Empty grave
A tiger in the night by Rachel Caine
January 29, 2023
Worth the read for the Josh Malerman story 'LIME'. One of his best short stories and fans of GOBLIN will have something to smile about when reading it.
December 25, 2022
Some really good, some not so much, but nice collection of short stories.
Want to read
July 12, 2018I started with Alethea Kontis' story and she really made me laugh, scream out and shake my head with a grin. Beautifully crafted as always. I just wouldn't call it horror.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews