AMERICAN NOIR

This is not really a reference tool (no publication dates for the books discussed, variable biographical information on the authors, no attempt at comprehensiveness) but rather a browsing book for readers exploring the contemporary crime fiction scene and looking for fresh examples. It's essentially a very good collection of well written, critically astute and almost always appreciative (even selling) book reviews. Author entries are alphabetical (Jeff Abbott to Anthony E. Zuiker), of varying lenght from a paragraph or two to multiple pages on certain major figures (e.g. James Ellroy, Thomas Harris, Patricia Cornwell). The emphasis is on 21st-century work, though still-active writers who made their most notable contributions before 2000 are included. The limitation to living writers, however, is absolute. Thus the late Ed Gorman has no entry, though much of his best work was done in this century. Forshaw, who has compiled similar guides on Nordic, Euro, and Brit Noir, admits that "several of the authors included here stretch the definition of 'noir' to the breaking point (and beyond)." Cozy writers, however, are unsurprisingly rare.
The 20 pages of film and TV annotations include years of original broadcast and are limited to 21st-century product. A selection drawn from Forshaw's interviews with Ellroy, Sara Paretsky, Scott Turow, Cornwell, and Kathy Reichs is followed by his choices of "The 30 Best Contemporary US Crime Novels" and "The Five Best US TV Crime Shows," all from cable networks and all, save Breaking Bad (AMC), originally presented on HBO.