Genre Guide – Modern Noir & Crime Fiction

Driven by desperation, amid financial ruin and following a failed marriage, Mario, embraces the role of a hitman. After a life-altering tragedy pushes him to accept a near-suicidal assignment, he discovers the path to reward or ruin is a twisted and enigmatic journey. Traversing the relentless Texan landscape, Mario must confront nightmarish encounters and expose hidden motives, forever altering his destiny.

Centered on serial killer Ansel Packer and the women in his life, this crime novel contemplates alternate paths and the fates of his potential victims while challenging the exploitation of women’s suffering in crime stories. The beauty of this book shines when the protagonist’s ego begins to crumble beneath the uncompromising weight of reality.

Recently reissued, this novel is Southern Noir master S.A. Cosby’s gritty debut. Attempting to solve and avenge the murder of a local minister, ex-Marine Nathan Waymaker descends into the deeply corrupt Queens County, Virginia underground.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is one of the most exciting and versatile voices in modern fiction. Here she sets her sights on 1970s Mexico. A daydreaming secretary entranced by dime-store comics finds herself caught up in a hidden world of young radicals after investigating the disappearance of her friend and neighbor.

While investigating a murder linked to Japan’s underground BDSM scene, rookie cop Togashi finds himself drawn in by his own private desires.

A transgressive, queer cyberpunk detective story, this debut novel by trans New Zealand author Aubrey Wood promises to be a wild, cerebral ride through the “worst cyberpunk future” that too closely resembles our own modern world.

One of the last two novels that one of the greatest American authors of all time, Cormac McCarthy, published before his death was this ambling, subtly mysterious existential noir-of-sorts.

Erika T. Wurth’s novel is described as “a gritty, vibrant debut novel about an Indigenous woman who must face her past when she discovers a bracelet haunted by her mother’s spirit.” Part horror, part noir, altogether a thrilling read.

An investigative reporter can’t get over his hunch about an underground director’s misdeeds even though it’s already cost him his job and reputation, and finds himself back on the trail after the director’s daughter appears to the novel’s hero the night before her alleged suicide.