David Goodis is known for authoring novels about the depressing, hopeless side of life. Night Squad, first published in 1961, is no exception. Corey Bradford has lived his entire life in a rundown, rat infested neighborhood called The Swamp. This is a place devoid of hope. Alcoholism, poverty and crime are rampant.

In David Goodis's bruising crime novel The Secret Squad, Corey Bradford is on the skids and on a quick trip to boozeland. He was a plainclothes cop who got caught with his hands in pockets where they didn't belong and he was pushed out the precinct door. But he was still just as fast with his mitts as he was his wits, and others took notice. Such as mob kingpin Walter Grogan, a man who didn't take no for an answer. But Bradford is also recruited by the notorious Night Squad, a secret arm o...

In Street of No Return (1954), David Goodis presents a skid row odyssey in which a famous crooner scarred by violence descends into dereliction. From its opening in the freezing wind of a November street corner through its explosive ending,

David Goodis (1917–1967) was an American crime fiction writer noted for his noir novels and short stories. His 1951 novel CASSIDY'S GIRL draws on his life in Philadelphia, where he prowled the underside of city life, frequenting nightclubs and seedy bars. He translated his experiences into a string of dark crime novels. CASSIDY'S GIRL sold more than a million copies upon its release.

This David Goodis masterpiece should be on everyone's shelf of classic noir. A short and in some ways simple tale, it carries a very heavy punch. Eddie Lynn is a piano player in a Philly dive, trying to eke out a living playing in the shadows.David Goodis made it a practice to routinely visit the bars and hangouts and hotspots in Philadelphia's rat-infested, poverty-stricken slums. As a writer and artist, he opened himself to life as it was lived in the urban underbelly of the 1940...

Hailed as one of Goodis's best works, this is a gripping crime novel about a disgraced airline pilot who has sunk to the lower depths of existence. Disaster trails the forlorn Cassidy like a hellhound. His self-destructive pattern results not only in self-torment but drags two women, Mildred and Doris, down into the gutter with him. Set in the hard streets of Philadelphia, Goodis's home ground, Cassidy's Girl entails blackmail, murder and the usual rough stuff, endowing his icy streets and...

This week, we have original tales from Veronica Leigh (thanks to Acquiring Editor Michael Bracken) and Phyllis Ann Karr, plus great modern tales from Simon Wood (thanks to Acquiring Editor Barb Goffman) and Norman Spinrad. Plus the usual range of classics which you (hopefully) haven’t seen before. Good stuff!

When Hart, a desperate man running from the law, finds a man in the street dying of a gunshot wound, things only go from bad to worse. He is taken in by the gang who murdered the man. As as the cops close in, he finds himself is trapped in a small house with these violent men and vicious women.

The Burglar by David Goodis is a direct transport vehicle into the minds of characters seen in film noir movies like the Maltese Falcon and Double Indemnity. That mindset values a clarity that can be brutal but also beautifulDavid Loeb Goodis was an American writer of crime fiction noted for his output of short stories and novels in the noir fiction genre. Born in Philadelphia, Goodis alternately resided there and in New York City and Hollywood during his professional years.

For the first time, the best work of a distinctive master of American noir is available in authoritative e-book editions from The Library of America. David Goodis experienced a brief celebrity when his novel Dark Passage (1946) became the basis for a popular movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. The story of a man railroaded for his wife’s murder and forced to assume a different identity after escaping from prison becomes in Goodis’s hands a lyrical evocation of urban ...

For the first time, the best work of a distinctive master of American noir is available in authoritative e-book editions from The Library of America. In Nightfall (1947), David Goodis explores the theme of the innocent pursued, as artist Jim Vanning becomes accidentally embroiled in a violent robbery and must evade criminals and police alike. Other David Goodis novels available as Library of America E-Book Classics include: Dark Passage, The Burglar, The Moon...

This time, we have a rare mystery from Hulbert Footner (whose Madame Storey mysteries I greatly enjoy). His novel Queen of Clubs in this issue is a jazz-age mystery that—well, I don’t want to spoil the surprises. Read it and see for yourself!Also on the mystery front, we have original tales by Andrew Welsh-Huggins and Robert Lopresti (thanks to our Acquiring Editors, Michael Bracken and Barb Goffman), a classic crime story by David Goodis, and, of course, a solve-it-yourse...