American crime noir is a fascinating genre that has lost much of his reputation and popularity. The number of novels that some of these forgotten novelists have published is staggering. As was their mostly lasting poverty. The grit and uncertainty of this specific time period, and in many cases, the naivety of its young culture create a unique brand of flabbergasting murder mysteries.
I recently came across a Library of America collection of noir novels of the 1930’s and 40’s, including names such as: James M. Cain’s “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” Edward Anderson’s “Thieves Like Us,” and William Lindsay Gresham’s, “Nightmare Alley.” Fun reads all, as they were went to be, wedged away on the high shelf with the other gaudy covers.
Scott Armstrong lives in Ottawa with his beautiful family of five. He has published over a dozen short stories in various Canadian literary journals over the last decade.
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