THE GODWULF MANUSCRIPT by Robert B. Parker (1973)
‘`The Golwulf Manuscript’ is the first in Robert B. Parker’s much-lauded and immensely popular Spenser series. Written in 1973 when Parker was still teaching literature for a day job, it introduces the world to his wise-cracking hard-as-nails sleuth Spenser (spelled with an ‘S’, like the English poet).
SHOEDOG by George Pelecanos (1994)
George Pelecanos’ classic ‘thieves falling out’ piece of urban noir.
‘THE NEON RAIN’ by James Lee Burke, (1987)
‘The Neon Rain’ is the first in a long-standing series of crime books featuring Dave Robicheaux, one of my all-time favourite troubled investigators.
‘DOG EAT DOG’ by Edward Bunker (1997)
For those who don’t know of Edward Bunker, he was, alongside Chester Himes, perhaps the quintessential example of how the school of hard-knocks can produce some of the finest examples of convincing noir writing in the genre.
‘PIERCING’ by Ryu Murakami (1995)
Ryu is a heralded Japanese cult novelist known for his strange, disturbing tales of violence and insanity, all set to a backdrop of late-night, neon-tinted Tokyo