Samaritan by Richard Price When Los Angeles writer Ray Mitchell moves back to his gritty New Jersey hometown and is found beaten almost to death inside his own apartment, it's up to his childhood friend Nerese Ammons, now a police detective, to solve the crime.
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett In Dashiell Hammett's classic hard-boiled detective story, Sam Spade negotiates the seedy side of 1920s San Francisco to solve the mystery of the Maltese falcon.
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem A big-hearted detective with Tourette's Syndrome investigates the murder of his mentor in this dazzlingly inventive and emotionally charged novel.
Fearless Jones by Walter Mosley Both potboiler and study of beauty, this mystery intersects noir fiction and Greek mythology. Read our exclusive interview with Walter Mosley.
