AUTHORS DIGEST

You will find here a list of HB authors we recommend

Any choice can be subjective, but some authors are so evidently gifted and efficient that selecting them do not require a lot of justifications.

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CATEGORIES

We will put recommended authors under 3 categories:
CLASSICS AND GREAT WRITERS
EXCELLENT WRITERS
WELL ABOVE AVERAGE

Alphabetical order under each category.


ORGANIZATION

If we recommend one or more works by an author listed here, you will find a link that will bring you to our 'Reviews' or to our 'Books Digest' accordingly, via
If we have a more detailed annalyse for an author, another link will bring you to our dedicated page, via
Comments about some of these authors can be found on the WEB through links listed in our WEBLINKS pages: Hard-Boiled Authors on the Web.

WARNING
As our site is not yet completed for all its chapters, some links could not be activated yet. It will be done progressively. Thanks for your understanding.

_{Golden years of Hard-Boiled: Black Mask reunion in 1936
Raymon Chandler (2nd top), Dashiell Hammettt (6th top), Horace Mc Coy (4th bottom)}

• JAMES M CAIN - One of the best to create opressive settings in everyday life without going to the thriller cheap shots... Cain can be very somber, using masterfully the weaknesses of the human nature to create dramas, most of the time close to tragedy.
  A classic.
  
  
  
• RAYMOND CHANDLER - One of the founders of the HB genre. Was a talented writer developing his own style of writing, realistic and lyric at the same time in apparently simplistic sentences. Chandler wrote some of the best opening paragraphs of novels or of some of the chapters, ever. His PI Philip Marlowe is the character that probably influenced the most the post-WW2 HB writers. His quality of writing made that his works could be on par with the top modern American writers of the literary domain. An absolute classic. An absolute must-read.
  
  
  
• DAVID GOODIS - Noir writer by excellence. Not to be missed even if not always optimistic. One of the bests of his generation.
  Hard-Boiled in some of his works make the central characters even more victimized by despair and ill-fate. A classic.
  
  
  
• DASHIELL HAMMETT - One of the founders of modern HB literature. His qualities in writing and telling stories apealed to a vast public. Hammett used most of the classic plots of HB in short stories and novels, and was an inspiration for lots of following writers in the USA and abroad.
  Most of his novels have an universal reach, being not felt as 'oldies' or as some historical curiosity by today readers. An absolute classic. A 'must read', and re-read!
  
  
  
• JONHATAN LATIMER - Hard-Boiled and Noir mixes very well in the novels of this brillaint author. In his earliest books and in the novels with his PI having drinking problems, are found all the best works he produced. Very well written and good plots. One of the greatest in HB. Some of his books are classics.
  
  
  
• HORACE Mc COY - One of the great authors of HB. He could bring some of his novels to the highest level of quality. Pessimistic views of humanity made him to use Noir typical moods in some of his works.
  Definitely a classic and a great American writer. This status could be confirmed easily by one of his books, 'They Shoot Horses, Don't They ?'.
  
  
  [TO BE CONTINUED SOON]

_{Copyright © 1997,1999 E.Borgers for texts and setup.
See front page of WEBORGERS - Hard-Boiled Mysteries for complete disclaimer.
Most recent revision: 6 February 1999}