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 THE MALTESE FALCON
by Dashiell Hammett
Here is a classic worth remembering. It was written in 1929, so some of the details are dated. But Hammett writes crisply, and his dialogue has a lot of polish. The plot is clever. The protagonist, Sam Spade, is entertaining but morally ambiguous. This is by far the best thing Dashiell Hammett ever wrote. It is the first really good “hard boiled” detective novel ever written. The 1941 movie with Humphrey Bogart is pretty good too.
 FAREWELL, MY LOVELY
by Raymond Chandler
I know this is heresy, but Raymond Chandler is over-rated. His plots are chaotic and his writing so stylized that it seems even older than it is. Having said that, I do enjoy this novel. The protagonist, Philip Marlowe, is at his best. The quirky metaphors are a constant source of entertainment—“she had a smile as wide as Mae West’s hips,” “the room went as black as Carrie Nation’s bonnet.”
I’ve tried to sell my students on this book, but they don’t like it much—of course they’ve never heard of Mae West or Carrie Nation either. The 1944 movie version, Murder, My Sweet is a film noir classic.
 THE GALTON CASE
by Ross MacDonald
Ross MacDonald doesn’t have the reputation of Raymond Chandler, but he is a better writer, though he grows out of the Chandler school. The Galton Case is a beautifully plotted novel featuring MacDonald’s fascination with psychological complexities within families. MacDonald’s protagonist, Lew Archer, is a more interestingly evolved version of Philip Marlowe. For what it’s worth, my students typically like this one.
 EARLY AUTUMN
by Robert B. Parker
Parker grows out of the Hammett, Chandler, MacDonald school, but is much more contemporary in his approach. This is an early volume of his famous “Spenser” series. Spenser befriends a hapless adolescent and gives him direction and self-esteem. Parker is noted for fast-paced plots, snappy dialogue and entertaining supporting casts. He was the first “hard-boiled” detective novelist to give his detective a domestic life beyond the case. In this and many of his books, the domestic plots are more interesting than the crime plots.
 "H" IS FOR HOMICIDE
by Sue Grafton
Let’s mention some women. Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone series is perhaps the most consistent series ever written. For years I avoided these books because the alphabetic titles seemed cheap and unimaginative. (It demonstrates again not to judge books by their covers.) Grafton’s protagonist blends warmth with prickliness. She is extremely feminine with a masculine streak. Most importantly, Grafton is excellent with plots and well drawn minor characters. In this highly entertaining novel, Millhone goes undercover to crack an insurance scam.
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