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Point Blank: Hardboiled, Noir, & Detective Fiction

Dec 7, 2021

Hey Blankers - 

Kurt & I finally got around to recording Episode 62. This time we take a walk down the mean streets of Isola with Ed McBain's Cop Hater. The first novel in the acclaimed 87th Precinct series, Cop Hater (1956) set the blueprint for modern police procedurals. Does it hold up? Tune in & find out!

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Oct 13, 2021

What in the world is eco-noir? 

We attempt to answer that question by looking at a few texts that might be ecological noir. In the discussion, we mention:

The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abby

Animals by Will Staples

Zodiac by Neal Stephenson

The Glass Factory by Kenneth Wishnia

Nature Noir by Jordan Fisher...


Aug 17, 2021

Blankers! 
 
Find your sun hat, stab that beach umbrella into the sand, and break out the Banana Boat -- this is Five Round Reviews: Summer Edition.
 
We have 13 short reviews for you--from Jim Harrison & Dorothy B. Hughes to David Heska Wanbli Weiden & Nick Kolakowski. (See the full list below.)


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Jul 26, 2021

Throw on your white blazer, power up the speed boat, and cut yourself a line. We're head to '80's  Miami for Charles Willeford's 'Miami Blues." 

In what can only be described as a "weird and unsettling novel," we join Hoke Moseley, Frederick J. Frenger Jr, and Susan Waggoner for a bizarre tale of Floridian crime.

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Jun 22, 2021

Blankers!

Zip up your windbreakers and don’t forget change for the highway tolls — in Episode 58 we head to Chicago to wrap our heads around Chicago Noir.

We talk about Chicago as a city for noir, and we look at crime fiction by Nelson Algren, Howard Browne, Frederic Brown, Sara Paretsky, Michael Harvey, Danny...