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Otto Penzler

The Best American Noir of the Century (The Best American Series ®) Hardcover – October 5, 2010

by Otto Penzler (Editor), James Ellroy (Editor)

4.5 445 ratings

Part of: The Best American: Noir (1 books)

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In his introduction to the The Best American Noir of the Century, James Ellroy writes, “noir is the most scrutinized offshoot of the hard-boiled school of fiction. It’s the long drop off the short pier and the wrong man and the wrong woman in perfect misalliance. It’s the nightmare of flawed souls with big dreams and the precise how and why of the all-time sure thing that goes bad.” Offering the best examples of literary sure things gone bad, this collection ensures that nowhere else can readers find a darker, more thorough distillation of American noir fiction.

James Ellroy and Otto Penzler, series editor of the annual The Best American Mystery Stories, mined one hundred years of writing—1910–2010—to find this treasure trove of thirty-nine stories. From noir’s twenties-era infancy come gems like James M. Cain’s “Pastorale,” and its post-war heyday boasts giants like Mickey Spillane and Evan Hunter. Packing an undeniable punch, diverse contemporary incarnations include Elmore Leonard, Patricia Highsmith, Joyce Carol Oates, Dennis Lehane, and William Gay, with many page-turners appearing in the last decade.

Part of series

The Best American: Noir
Print length

624 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date

October 5, 2010
Dimensions

6.75 x 2 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

0547330774
ISBN-13

978-0547330778
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Surprisingly, 20 of the 39 well-chosen stories published between 1923 and 2007 in this impressive crime anthology date to the last two decades, which may sound counterintuitive to casual readers who associate noir with the 1940s and 1950s. All the contributors excel at showing the omnipresence of the dark side of humanity in many different times and locales. In addition to names synonymous with noir such as Cornell Woolrich and Jim Thompson, Ellroy (Blood’s a Rover) and Penzler (The Best American Mystery Stories) offer depressing fare from writers better known for other work, like David Morrell, whose first published story, “The Dripping,” about the disappearance of a man’s wife and daughter, is one of the book’s best. Lesser-known authors also distinguish themselves, like Christopher Coake, whose reverse chronology in ‘All Through the House” serves to heighten the suspense rather than dissipate it. (Oct.)”
---Publishers Weekly, STARRED

"This generous, flavorful collection of noir-tinged tales comes cherry-picked by Ellroy and Penzler, who exclude Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler as authors of "private detective stories." Most of the 39 tales here appeared originally in magazines, not only in pulps like Manhunt and Black Mask but also in the more literary American Mercury, Southern Review, and Omni. Each story is introduced with a brief author biography. These pay respect to the careers of these professional scribblers, who managed (with the aid of multiple pseudonyms) to keep body and soul together writing and writing still more. The collection opens with Tod Robbins's "Spurs" (1923), a beauty-and-the-beast tale that questions which is which; it was the basis for Tod Browning's chilling movie Freaks. The collection closes with Lorenzo Carcaterra's "Missing the Morning Bus" (2007), in which, amid half-emptied bowls of peanuts and salsa, Death takes a seat at a weekly card game. In between come memorable but lesser-known tales by, among others, Dorothy B. Hughes, Jim Thompson, Cornell Woolrich, Patricia Highsmith, and Bradford Morrow. Verdict Rooting around in the rich soil amassed by almost a century of noir, Ellroy and Penzler unearth dark, pungent, and flavorful truffles that will satisfy fans and may well whet the appetites of new readers." —Library Journal

About the Author

OTTO PENZLER is a renowned mystery editor, publisher, columnist, and owner of New York’s The Mysterious Bookshop, the oldest and largest bookstore solely dedicated to mystery fiction. He has edited more than fifty crime-fiction anthologies. He lives in New York.

James Ellroy was born in Los Angeles in 1948. His L.A. Quartet novels—The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, and White Jazz—were international bestsellers.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Reprint edition (October 5, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 624 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0547330774
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0547330778
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 2 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #864,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,606 in Hard-Boiled Mystery
- #7,992 in Short Stories Anthologies
- #43,646 in American Literature (Books)

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4.5 445 ratings

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Otto Penzler

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Otto Penzler is the proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop (www.mysteriousbookshop.com) in New York City and is regarded as the world's foremost authority on crime, mystery and suspense fiction. He founded The Mysterious Press in 1975, which he later sold to Warner Books (1989). He reacquired the imprint in 2010 and it now publishes original books as an imprint at Grove/Atlantic, and both original works and classic crime fiction through MysteriousPress.com (www.mysteriouspress.com), in partnership with Open Road Integrated Media.

Penzler is a prolific editor, and has won two Edgar Awards, for Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection in 1977 and The Lineup in 2010. The Mystery Writers of America awarded him the prestigious Ellery Queen Award in 1994 and the Raven--the group's highest non-writing award--in 2003.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5

445 global ratings

5 star		64%
4 star		24%
3 star		8%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Susan Mabus

Five stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 12, 2023

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Fast delivery and the book is in great condition

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Arthur H. Weintraub

Great dark and menacing short fiction by a who's who of noir and some talented newbies.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 2, 2022

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Great reading for those of us who love noir fiction, many turned into screenplays. Lots of bad guys, losers, calculating femme fatales and inventive plots. Just what you need for fun reading at bedtime or anytime. Plenty of pages to last a while. Short bios of the authors proceed each story which are often revealing and interesting.

One person found this helpful

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Josh Mauthe

A fantastic series of stories that go as dark as they possibly can

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 7, 2012

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In their introductions to this superb volume of noir fiction, Penzler and Ellroy point out that crime fiction and noir, while often sharing some characteristics, couldn't be more different from each other, and set out to remind the reader that true noir fiction is about as pitch-black and bleak as you can possibly imagine, without even the hope of justice being served. And over the course of the 700+ pages of this anthology, they'll give you a master's level course in just how dark writing can get. I had assumed that this volume would focus more on the noir written during the first half of the century, and to be sure, you get a dizzying array of stories from some of the masters of the genre - Cain, Spillane, Thompson, and more - as well as some less well-known but equally superb stories ("Gun Crazy" and "You'll Always Remember Me" are two of my favorites in the early going). But there's no shortage of more modern works here, with incredible contributions ranging from known authors like Deaver, Lehane, Harlan Ellison, and more, as well as once again diving deeply into some more obscure stories to flesh out the volume. And Ellroy and Penzler have created an absolutely superb selection; in the nearly 40 stories they've chosen, the worst you can say about any of them is that they're pretty fantastic, while most of them are absolutely superb. More than that, it's given me a list of new authors to check out. I've got to read more by Chris Adrian, for instance, simply based off of the brilliant story of childhood trauma "Stab," and you can count me as ready to dive into more by James W. Hall after the twisted voyeuristic darkness of "Crack." And if that's not enough for you, how about superb stories by Elmore Leonard, or F.X. Toole, or Patricia Highsmith, or...look, the list could go on forever. Here's the essence of the thing: if you like your stories icy cold, vicious, and rough, this is a must read collection for you.

12 people found this helpful

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Fiona Webster

James Ellroy says "Doom is fun," and he's RIGHT!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 5, 2020

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Too bad the last story in this anthology was kind of a dud, because almost without exception, all the other nearly 40 tales (this is a BIG slug of fiction) are top-notch—better even than I expected. And I expected a lot, given the reputations of the editors. This book must have been a labor of love, because not only have Penzler and Ellroy combed through what must have been zillions of contenders to find the very best of the best, they have each written powerful front pieces (don't skip them!), and they provide meaty mini-bios for each of the featured authors, suggesting numerous other novels & story collections I plan to check out. I knew I was a crime buff, but little did I know how very much I like literary noir. I was pleasantly surprised, for one thing, that this fiction doesn't feel depressing to me. As I read along, James Ellroy's words, from his foreword/intro, kept echoing in my mind: "Doom is fun... Doom is fun." One suggestion: if you can make yourself do it, read all of these through in chronological order, because as the decades go by, each author is learning from his or her predecessors. It's fascinating to see the influences unfurl and blossom.

33 people found this helpful

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czz

Good collection of stories.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 8, 2019

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Honestly some stories are unreadable and others are wrong or bad or contrived, like implausable. Sometimes it feels a bit heavy on the scene without the sense of adventure or pursuit. Also, a bit too ... low life from time to time. Of course, it is difficult to describe all of the stories when each one is so very different. Thankfully, they are short so you can skip the ones you dislike. Unfortunately, you risk skipping 2/3rds of the book. Also, you can't unread the bad ones. Some of it is just not very good. For comparison, some television shows are just not very good: the mystery isn't mysterious at all, or the suspense is not very suspenseful. Or the quick thinking detective isn't so smart, only has a so-so intelligence, it is just that her adversary was brain dead, a little too formulaic -or anti-formulaic for the sake of being anti-formulaic. But I liked it, obviously. I wouldn't spend this much time reviewing something I didn't.

10 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Good quality

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 15, 2022

Gift

Many of these are very good.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 7, 2020

Verified Purchase

The editors did not quite choose the best but I certainly enjoyed some. My favorites were short stories by Joyce Carol Oates, David Goodis, Mickey Spillane, and Dorothy Hughes. Whereas most noir books and stories are written by men, this collection had some excellent ones by women. All the writers are good but some really keep things hopping and the book gave me much pleasure.

4 people found this helpful

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Bob B.

Sparkling Noir writing

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 21, 2018

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Best American Noir of the Century boasts sparkling writing for the most part. As with any collection of fiction, the reader surely will prefer some stories better than others. An oddity for me was that editors Ellroy and Penzler insisted in arranging the short stories chronologically. That meant leading off was a truly dreadful tale of revenge among circus sideshow performers: "Spurs" by Tod Robbins, 1923. I so disliked it that I considered pitching out the 731-page volume in disgust. But riding to the rescue came James M. Cain, MacKinley Kantor, David Goodis, Gil Brewer, Ed Gorman, and James Ellroy himself.

8 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Ben Kelly

Some of the best American Noir Fiction Ever Created

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 27, 2021

Verified Purchase

Bought this for my brother, who is an avid film noir fan. He wasn't disappointed, and the above title is his words.
If you're of the same thinking, then this collection is practically mandatory for you to own.

KH

Wonderful collection of stories

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 8, 2015

Verified Purchase

Wonderful collection of stories, some familiar writers and some new favourites. The introductions to the authors are interesting and just the right length (I normally skip these in other books). I'm already looking forward to re-reading this.

One person found this helpful

Maria Del Pilar Montilla

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 23, 2015

Verified Purchase

Interesting collection.

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 16, 2016

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As new

Warren Stalley

Born To Lose

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 20, 2014

Verified Purchase

The Best American Noir of the Century collects together a wide range of crime authors from the U.S. and is a great way to find interesting writers who you may not have come across before. Each story is preceded by a brief yet informative introduction to the author. All the pieces were interesting in one way or another but some of my personal favourites were as follows:

Nothing To Worry About – Day Keene
A teenage boy thinks he’s got away with murder but his homicidal tendencies may yet give him away. A slice of crime fiction from the Nineteen Forties era.

Man In The Dark – Howard Browne
A distraught husband tries to piece together the mystery of his wife’s disappearance and find out just who is the dead body in his wife’s burnt out car wreck? An engrossing mystery story from an author who was new to me.

The Lady Says Die! – Mickey Spillane
A wall street dealer tells the story of his friends’ demise to a police detective in a short but powerful piece of work from the legendary Mr Spillane. This is no Mike Hammer but still a solid enticing story.

Professional Man – David Goodis
Freddy Lamb is a lift attendant by day and hitman by night. He works for the owner of The Yellow Cat nightclub Herman Charn but his boss has eyes for Freddy’s girlfriend Pearl. This can only lead to trouble for the professional man. A riveting and emotional story plus a stand out piece in this collection from one of the truly great noir writers David Goodis.

The Last Spin – Evan Hunter
Two rival gang members try to settle a dispute over a tense game of Russian roulette in this powerful and harrowing tale that really delivers a punch. A true American classic.

Slowly, Slowly In The Wind – Patricia Highsmith
A retired businessman moves to the country for the sake of his health but ends up fighting with a local land owner in this impressive and chilling tale from a superb author.

Iris – Stephen Greenleaf
A travelling businessman thinks he’s picking up a quirky hitchhiker called Iris but ends up holding the baby and a whole lot more in this engrossing and hypnotic piece with a killer ending. Bleak just like good noir should be.

A Ticket Out – Brendan Dubois
Brad and Monroe two teenage boys dream of going to college and escaping/leaving their small town of Boston Falls. But the need for money and a dangerous robbery leave one of the boys scarred for life in this moving, evocative story.

Since I Don’t Have You – James Ellroy
A fixer who works for both Howard Hughes and gangster Mickey Cohen is tasked with tracking down a mysterious girl who both his bosses want back. But who is smarter the dame with the brains or the fixer in the mix? Written in a highly stylised way this is a tough talking and gripping crime piece from a well known author.

Texas City, 1947 - James Lee Burke
A young boy and his siblings suffer poverty and cruelty from their father’s girlfriend in this evocative and moving story that squeezes the heart and stays with you long after finishing. Truly memorable.

Mefisto In Onyx – Harlan Ellison
A man with psychic powers finds himself face to face with a death row serial killer but did the prisoner really commit the hideous crimes? A lengthy mystery story but worth sticking with for the killer payoff.

Out There in the Darkness - Ed Gorman
Four friends who have a regular poker night capture an intruder and suffer the consequences of rough justice in this gripping, involving story from the modern age of crime.

Hot Springs - James Crumley
Benbow and Mona Sue, a couple on the run hide out in a mountain lodge at Hidden Springs Canyon. Even with a familiar noir plot the talented writer James Crumley creates a rich and colourful tale that heads to a dark and graphic conclusion.

The Weekender - Jeffery Deaver
On the run from a drugstore armed robbery two criminals Jack Prescot and Joe Roy Toth hideout in a remote town called Winchester. They have a hostage Randall Weller who tries to plea for his freedom and life in a compelling story with a true noir kick in the guts ending. Great work from a well known author.

Like a Bone in the Throat - Lawrence Block
William Croydon, a killer on death row strikes up an unlikely friendship with Paul Dandridge, the brother of a young woman Croydon murdered. But who is kidding who in this riveting slice of gritty crime drama with a twisted ending.

Crack - James W. Hall
A University teacher living near Bilbao, Spain discovers a crack in the wall between his home and his neighbours, so begins a downward spiral of voyeurism, obsession and doom as he spies on the young girl next door. A short yet hypnotic piece that stays long in the memory.

Running Out of Dog - Dennis Lehane
In the small Southern town of Eden a dangerous equation of people exists – Elgin, his partner Shelley Briggs, his girlfriend Jewel Lut, her husband Perkin Lut and Elgin’s odd friend Blue. What follows is a mixture of friendship, love, lust and madness superbly told by Dennis Lehane. You can feel the dust at the back of your throat with this story, another stand out piece in this collection.

Midnight Emissions - F. X. Toole
A masculine story of promising heavyweight boxer Kenny Coyle and the trainers and business people around him. Full of sweat, grit and greed this is a lengthy developed story full of realistic details yet still noir at its core.

When the Women come Out to Dance - Elmore Leonard
Lourdes is hired as a personal maid to Mrs Mahmood, soon after they’re talking about murder. Events lead to a dark conclusion in this classic smooth piece of storytelling from one of the masters of crime fiction.

Controlled Burn - Scott Wolven
Bill Allen is hiding out after an armed robbery that went wrong. While working at a remote woodlot he goes on a job to burn some fields then disappears on the run again in a poetic reflection of one man’s troubled life on the run.

What She Offered - Thomas H. Cook
An author meets Victoria, a strange woman in a bar with an offer that’s both unusual and enticing to him in this original story.

Her Lord and Master - Andrew Klavan
Susan and Jim are having a masochistic relationship that leads them to dark things in this original yet highly controversial and thought provoking story.

Stab - Chris Adrian
Someone is murdering small animals in the quiet neighbourhood of Severna Forest. Calvin, a young boy who mourns the loss of his identical twin discovers who is behind the stabbings but can he stop them? A truly haunting tale of the loss of childhood innocence and mortality.

The Hoarder - Bradford Morrow
In Bayside Park a young man gets a job at a rundown miniature golf course. As he begins spying on the players he becomes obsessed with Penny, his brother’s girlfriend which leads to a heart of darkness in this hypnotic and poetic story of desire.

Missing the Morning Bus - Lorenzo Carcaterra
A husband uses his weekly poker evening to try to find out which of his card buddies is responsible for the death of his wife in this friendship story with a surprising twist in the tale.

To summarise you may not like all the stories contained within The Best American Noir of the Century but you’re sure to find something that will spark your interest among the wide variety of authors featured in the book. Enjoy.

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The Best American Noir of the Century (The Best American Series ®) Hardcover – October 5, 2010

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