Library of America presents a deluxe edition of unforgettable crime
thrillers of the 1960s
Here in two volumes are 9 timeless novels, including 4 lost classics now
restored to print
In the 1960s a number of gifted writers--some at the peak of their
careers, others newcomers--reimagined American crime fiction. Here are
nine novels of astonishing variety and inventiveness that pulse with the
energies of that turbulent, transformative decade:
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Fredric Brown's The Murderers (1961), a darkly comic look at a
murderous plot hatched on the hip fringes of Hollywood.
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Dan J. Marlowe's terrifying The Name of the Game Is Death (1962),
about a nihilistic career criminal on the run
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Charles Williams's Dead Calm (1963), a masterful novel of natural
peril and human evil on the high seas.
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Dorothy B. Hughes's The Expendable Man (1963), an unsettling tale
of racism and wrongful accusation in the American Southwest.
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Richard Stark's taut The Score (1964), in which the master thief
Parker plots the looting of an entire city with the cool precision of
an expert mechanic.
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The Fiend (1964), in which Margaret Millar maps the interlocking
anxieties of a seemingly tranquil California suburb through the
rippling effects of a child's disappearance.
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Ed McBain's classic police procedural Doll (1965), a breakneck
story that mixes murder, drugs, fashion models, and psychotherapy with
the everyday professionalism of the 87th Precinct.
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Run Man Run (1966), Chester Himes's nightmarish tale of racism and
police violence that follows a desperate young man seeking safe haven
in New York City while being hunted by the law.
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Patricia Highsmith's ultimate meta-thriller, The Tremor of Forgery
(1969), a novel in which a displaced traveler finds his own
personality collapsing as he attempts to write a novel about a man
coming undone.
Each volume features an introduction by editor Geoffrey O'Brien
(Hardboiled America), newly researched biographies of the writers and
helpful notes, and an essay on textual selection.
