Hard Boiled

Hard-boiled crime fiction is a literary style, most commonly associated with detective stories, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex. Derived from the romantic tradition which emphasized the emotions of apprehension, awe, horror and terror, hardboiled fiction deviates from that tradition in the detective's cynical attitude towards those emotions. The attitude is conveyed through the detectives inner monologue describing to the audience what he is doing and feeling.

The genre's typical protagonist is a detective, who witnesses daily the violence of organized crime tha
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The Big Sleep (Philip Marlowe, #1)
The Maltese Falcon
Farewell, My Lovely (Philip Marlowe, #2)
The Long Goodbye (Philip Marlowe, #6)
Red Harvest (The Continental Op #1)
The Lady in the Lake (Philip Marlowe, #4)
The High Window (Philip Marlowe, #3)
The Little Sister (Philip Marlowe, #5)
The Thin Man
L.A. Confidential (L.A. Quartet, #3)
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Killing Floor (Jack Reacher, #1)
The Big Nowhere (L.A. Quartet, #2)
Trouble Is My Business (Philip Marlowe, #8)
The Black Dahlia (L.A. Quartet, #1)

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Lawrence Block
She made love with the freshness of an impatient virgin and the ingenuity of a sex-scarred whore.
Lawrence Block, Grifter's Game

Raymond Chandler
He was a guy who talked with commas, like a heavy novel. Over the phone anyway.
Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye

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