Noir Fiction – A list

“Like art, love, and pornography, noir is hard to define, but you know it when you see it. For the purposes of the book and my longtime working understanding and definition of it, noir stories are bleak, existential, alienated, pessimistic tales about losers--people who are so morally challenged that they cannot help but bring about their own ruin.” — Otto Penzler

This is a list of noir books I've heard about. It will change often. The numbers by titles refer to links at the end from where I got the suggestion. Titles in red are ones I've read. A ? means is it noir or just noirish.

Modern (1990- )

Abbott, Megan – Die A Little (2005) 4
Abbott, Megan – Queenpin (2007) 3
Baer, Will Christopher – Kiss Me Judas (1998) 2
Cleveenger, Craig – Dermaphoria (2005) 2 looks like it has speculative elements
DeMarinis, Rick – Sky full of Sand (2011 e-edition) 2
Doolittle, Sean – The Cleanup (2006) 1
Evenson, Brian – The Open Curtain (2016, 2018 3-edition)1
Faust, Christa – Money Shot (2011) 3 Noirish, closer to hardboiled
Fitch, Stona – Senseless (2011) 2
Gran, Sara – Dope (2006) 1,3
Haywood, Gar Anthony – Cemetery Road (2009) 1
Hinkson, Jake – Hell on Church Street (2012) 1
Hollon, Frank Turner – The God File (2017) 2
Jerkins, Grant – A Very Simple Crime (2010) 1
Jones, Mathew F – Boot Tracks (2014) 2
Kostoff, Lynn – The Long Fall (2011) 2
Marten, Eugene – Waste (2008) 2
Mosley, Walter – Devil in A Blue Dress (1990) 3 ?
Nakamura, Fuminori – The Thief (2012) 3
Ottum, Bob — The Tuesday Blade
Phillips, Max – Fade to Blonde (2004) 1
Phillips, Scott – The Ice Harvest (2000) 1
Rector, John – The Cold Kiss (2010) 1
Starr, Jason – Twisted City (2004) 1
Whitmer, Benjamin – Pike (2010)2
Woodrell, Daniel – The Death of Sweet Mister (2001) 2
Zeltserman, Dave – Small Crimes (2008) 1, 6
Zeltserman, Dave — Pariah (2009) 6
Zeltserman, Dave — Killer (2010) 6
Zeltserman, Dave — Outsourced (2011) 6
Zeltserman, Dave — Fast Lane (2004) 6

Older (Pre-1990)

Chaze, Elliott – Black Wings Has My Angel (1953) 3
Highsmith, Patricia – Strangers on a Train (1950) 3
Himes Chester – A Rage in Harlem (1957) ? 3 Not Penzler noir
Hughes, Dorothy B – In a Lonely Place (1947) 3
Hughes, Dorothy B – Ride the Pink Horse (1946)
Simenon, Georges – Dirty Snow (1948)
Simenon, Georges – Monsieur Monde Vanishes (1945) 5
Simenon, Georges – Red Lights (1953) 5
Simenon, Georges – The Strangers in the House (1940) 5
Simenon, Georges – Tropic Moon (1940) 5
Simenon, Georges – The Widow (1942) 5

1 10 of the Best Noir Novels of the 21st Century – Criminial Element
2 My Top Ten Noirs of the Last Ten Years or So – Mulholland Books
3 Noir is the New Black: Nine Great Noir Books
4 The Most Amazing Noir Books You Have Yet to Read
5 Five Noir Reads by Georges Simenon Short Enough for the Plane, Train, or Automobile Ride
6 On Writing Noir by Dave Zeltserman. Dave identifies several of his books as noir in this article.