James M Cain’s concise and gripping story about a wife who plots with an insurance agent to murder her husband for a death benefit.

Walter Huff was an insurance salesman with an unfailing instinct for clients who might be in trouble, and his instinct led him to Phyllis Nirdlinger. Phyllis wanted to buy an accident policy on her husband. Then she wanted her husband to have an accident. Walter wanted Phyllis. To get her, he would arrange the perfect murder and betray everything he had ever lived for.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote blazed the way for True Crime authors.

Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers of the Clutter family., In Cold Blood transcends its time, yielding poignant insights into American violence and the process of justice.

Dorothy Hughes ground breaking post war Los Angeles novel about a charismatic serial killer who poses as a writer.

Dix Steele is a grifter and cynical vet who nocturnally preys on women. Meanwhile Los Angeles police are frantically searching for a serial killer. Steele's friendship with Brub, an LAPD investigator, helps mask his deviance until his extreme narcissism and feeling of self-entitlement bring down his facade,

Raymond Chandler’s sixth Phillip Marlowe story that many argue is his most personal work. Marlowe befriends a down-on-his-luck war veteran and becomes implicated in his friend’s wife’s murder.

The Long Goodbye detours from traditional Chandler writing with deep introspection and commentary on social class. Chandler befriends a drunk named Terry Lennox who has a wealthy and promiscuous wife. The wife is murdered and Marlowe is implicated in abetting Terry Lennox's escape. Seemingly in an unrelated matter, Marlowe is hired to watch over disillusioned alcoholic author, Roger Wade, who dies under mysterious circumstances. Marlowe connects these events and exposes the decadence of the idle rich.

Patricia Highsmith’s psychological dark thriller about two men entangled in two murders.

Guy Haines meets con-man Charles Bruno on a train. Both have inconvenient persons who they wish gone. Bruno suggests they "trade murders" and Bruno carries out part of the bargain expecting Guy to do the same. Highsmith's masterpiece depicting ordinary people drawn into darkness ranks as one of the all time great crime thrillers.

Sara Paretskiys tough as nails female detective, V.I. Warshawsky battles corruption in the prison system in a  suspenseful novel that resonates brilliantly in today’s society.

Private Investigator V.I. Warshawsky comes across a dying woman lying in the road and stops to help. Her compassion lands her in a prison that is corrupt and she battles from within to save her life. Perhaps the finest female PI novel written in modern times.

Author Joseph Wambaugh telling of the tragic murder of LAPD officer Ian Campbell in an onion field in 1963.

In the book LAPD Detective Joseph Wambaugh was born to write; two undercover LAPD officers pull over two criminals in a routine traffic stop. Officer Ian Campbell is disarmed of his weapon and his partner hands over his, believing it would save his partner's life. The trial and aftermath scar everyone involved.

James M. Cain , the author of “Double Indemnity” penned this dark and straight forward story of lust and marital betrayal.

Drifter Frank James wanders into a California diner where he meets Cora, the diner owner's younger wife who talks Frank into killer her husband "by accident." Published in 1934 and banned in Boston, "The Postman Always Rings Twice" cemented Cain's reputation and propelled his career to writing Hollywood screenplays.

“Easy” Rawlins is a 1940’s  African American detective featured in Walter Mosely’s epic Los Angeles crime novel which won a 1991 “Shamus Award” for the best PI Novel.

First in the prolific "Easy" Rawlins series written by living author, Walter Mosely. "Easy" is an African American pulled into detective work by economic circumstances who reluctantly takes a missing persons case involving a white woman named Daphne Monet. Rawlins is drawn into a maze of violence and duplicitous intrigue. "Devil in a Blue Dress" was adapted into a 1995 film starring actor Denzel Washington.

Raymond Chandler’s first full length book featuring iconic detective Phillip Marlowe that is consistently ranked among the best of crime fiction.

Phillip Marlowe is summoned to the home of General Sternwood for a blackmail attempt against his youngest daughter, Carmen by a bookstore owner named Geiger. Did I say there were pictures involved? Marlowe is taken with another daughter, Vivian Rutledge whose husband has mysterious disappeared. Geiger is murdered and Marlowe is swept into Vivian's criminal acquaintances in pursuit of the truth.