Chester Himes

             He had a broad flat face, rough reddish skin and little reddish eyes from which tears leaked continuously. He was called Red Johhny. He might have been related to Pinky.

              He wore a white silk shirt open at the throat, gren-and-red checked suspenders, tan gabardine pants, white and tan wing-tipped shoes, and the usual heavy gold jewellery denoting a successful pimp; gold ring with a huge milky stone of unknown origin, gold ring with three-quarter-carat yellow diamond, and a gold lodge ring with the outline of an owl with two ruby eyes.

            He crossed glances with Red Marie, standing to the left and behind Coffin Ed, then he spread his thick fingered hands and looked at the gun bulge on Coffin Ed's shoulder.

Chester Himes

The Heat's On

1961

  

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Every Sinner ............

Killers Kiss

The Missing Person

 A Man Escaped

Straight Time

Hard Eight

Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future.

Unknown

Plein Soleil

Blue Dahlia

There Was No Answer

           She disappeared. I got up and put my clothes on and listened before I went out, but there was no answer. When I reached the sidewalk in front of the house the taxi was just pulling up. I looked back. The house seemed completely dark.

Raymond Chandler

Playback

1958

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Daylight Noir
Catherine Gorman

Stars Forget to Shine

Midnight Sun
(Burke/Hampton/Mercer)
Nancy Wilson

Make It Back Home

             Someone once said life is all conjunctions, just one damn thing after another. But so much of it's not connected. You're sliding along, hit a bump and come down in a life you don't recognize. Every day you head in a dozen different directions, become a dozen different people ; some of them make it back home that night, others don't.

James Sallis
Black Hornet
1996

Who was i ?

Bad Feelings

   
              You know it was a revelation for me to learn that I don't have to be comfortable. Nowhere is written that I must be comfortable. I also thought that if I felt nervous or anxious or unhappy I had to do something but that's not true. Bad feelings won't kill me. Alcohol will kill me but my feelings won't.

Lawrence Block
Eight Million Ways to Die
1982

Daniela Federici

Deep Shadows

Ken Schles

Our Own Appetite

              ''We will allow the rats to eat the fish'' Proctor said ''believe me when I tell you, that as far as I'm concerned the rats are welcome to that fish, because it stinks. Besides, rats have to eat. We have work for those rats to do and we want them nice and healthy and ready to run fast when we light them off, so we will transcend our own appetite for the fish and let them eat it''.

George V. Higgins
The Rat on Fire
1970

Everything But Me

My guitar brought us here to Bonmat Texas

     And i bought you everything your eyes could see

But the mansion couldn't hold you

Could nobody's arms to warm you

I guess i gave you everything but me

Better Off When I Was Hungry

(Kirby)

Merle Haggard

1974

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Viggo Mortensen

A History of Violence

Two Faces of January

 Eastern Promises

A Perfect Murder

Indian Runner

In the End You Wonder

        Every day you amass knowledge in a frantic race against death that death will win. You want to find out everything in the time you have : yet in the end you wonder why you bothered, it'll all be lost. I keep trying to explain this to anyone who will listen. 

Derek Raymond

He Died with His Eyes Open

1984

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Jack Vettriano

Better Not to Know

Took Over the Place

 

       'Thanks' I said. 'You're an oasis Charles, an Eight Avenue oasis'
       Someone in a booth had dropped a nickel in a juke slot. It was the only good record in the box, the Bechet version of  'Summertime'. The haunting tone of Sydney's clarinet took over the place. I looked around to see if it was Shirley. She was always playing it. She was sitting in a booth by herself, listening to the music.

Budd Schulberg
The Harder they Fall
1947

Will Steacy