Point Blank: Hardboiled, Noir, & Detective Fiction

Welcome to Point Blank! In this episode we travel down to the beautiful beaches, massive cities, and humid jungles of Brazil to explore Brazilian Noir.  We'll introduce Leighton Gage's 'Blood of the WIcked' the first Chief Inspector Mario Silva investigation. We'll take a look at some of the crime fiction books of the decade, and see if 'Carny Kill' is really a forgotten classic. We also ask, "Jus...

Welcome to the second part of our feature on Natsuo Kirino's noir classic Out. We dive deep into the text and discuss the good and the less good. Warning: spoilers aplenty so read ahead.  We also review Akira Kurosawa's film noir classic Stray Dog, look back at Black Mask's lesser known young sibling, Manhunt Magazine, and give you five kill shots in Five Round Burst. Get in touch with the show! p...

In Episode 36, we head as far east as we're going to go on on our Noir Trip Around the World as we take you to the industrial wastelands of working class Tokyo with our introduction to Natsuo Kirino's very popular and controversial crime noir, Out. In Subject Unknown, we chat about Japanese Noir, and Kurt shares a Dog Eared Classic.  Get in touch with the show. pointblanknoir@gmail.com Twitter: @p...

Welcome to Point Blank Podcast! In Episode 35, we take a close look at two sisters; ones a killer, the other cleans up the mess. We travel to Lagos, Nigeria a place think with a gritty noir feel where we cover Oyinkan Braithwaite's wildly popular "My Sister, The Serial Killer." We look at the work of a nearly forgotten female mystery writer from the 1950s, Helen Nielsen. In my opinion her work des...

Welcome to Point Blank Podcast! In Episode 34, we are off to Nigeria for a look at the riveting tale of two sisters, "My Sister, the Serial Killer" by Oyinkan Braithwaite From the title you'd probably guess one is in fact a killer, and the other gets really good at cleaning up the mess. We introduce Braithwaite's novel and review a Halloween Treat, "Blood Sugar" by Daniel Kraus. "Blood Sugar" offe...

Welcome to Point Blank Podcast! In Episode 33, we take a deep dive into the cold blue waters of Jean-Claude Izzo's stunningly fresh and sensual hardboiled classic, Total Chaos. We review a couple films from Guild Cinema's 16th Annual Film Noir Fest. And, yes, we also pull the trigger on 5 Round Burst.  Get in touch with the show! pointblanknoir@gmail.com Twitter: @pointblanknoir Facebook: Point Bl...

We've packed our bags and hopped the pond to explore the noir of the Mediterranean focusing in on Marseilles, France. We introduce 'Total Chaos' by Jean-Claude Izzo and the broader topic of Mediterranean Noir. In 'Well Thumbed Classics' we cover two collections one featuring the Western Noir of Harry Whittington and the other the work of Bernice Carey. We also take a closer look into the life of J...

Gather 'round for part 2 of our episode on Cormac McCarthy's border noir classic, No Country for Old Men.  In Well Thumbed Classics, Kurt reviews Black Wings Has My Angel by Elliott Chaze. In Five Round Burst, we review 5 strong books, including two by Gabino Iglesias.   Get in touch with the show: Facebook: Point Blank: Hardboiled, Noir, and Detective Fiction Email:  pointblanknoir@gmail.com Twit...

Welcome back to Point Blank! In this episode we introduce 'No Country For Old Men' and Cormac McCarthy. We also discuss the broad topic of Western and Border Noir. Justin reviews 'Mystery Tribune.'   Get in touch with the show: Facebook: Point Blank: Hardboiled, Noir, and Detective Fiction Email: pointblanknoir@gmail.com Twitter: @pointblanknoir Don't forget to check us out on Goodreads or visit o...

Just a quick update on the show. We need a short early summer break and we can all do some summer reading.

We dive deep into Ernest Hemingway's To Have and Have Not. Did we love the book? Well, that's complicated. Kurt offers a Dog-Eared Classic review: The Men From the Boys by Ed Lacy (Stark House Press) We also offer up six selections in 5 Round Burst, including Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana and Ann Aptaker's Flesh and Gold  Find Us: Facebook: Point Blank: Hardboiled, Noir and Detective Fiction E...

Hemingway. In this episode we tackle a big author and one of his lesser known books. We introduce To Have and Have Not , discuss Hemingway's life and address the racist language found in this work. "Milwaukee Noir," edited by Tim Hennessy and published by Akashic Books, is our featured review this episode. We return to the Midwest for some rust belt noir from the land of beer, cheese, and motorcyc...

Are you ready for our deep discussion of Horace McCoy's existential noir classic, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?? We sure are.  We dig into the text, discuss Sartre, Camus, de Beauvoir, talk about existentialism in the context of writers like Woolrich and Goodis, and share our latests reads in Five Round Burst.  Join our Goodreads group. Find us on Facebook: Point Blank: Hardboiled, Noir, and Dete...

In this episode we introduce They Shoot Horses, Don't They? It's also time for Philosophy 101 with Justin and Kurt as we attempt to look at Existentialism in crime fiction. Our newest segment, Dog Eared Classics looks at No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase and we explore the life of Horace McCoy. Join our Goodreads group. Find us on Facebook: Point Blank: Hardboiled, Noir, and Detec...

We might be discussing In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B Hughes, but this episode is anything but lonely. We simply loved this book and have a great time discussing it in detail. We cover quite a few reviews as well, taking a look at both books and television this time around. TV Reviews: The Expanse, Damnation, Happy!, Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened Book Reviews: "A Walk Among The Tomb...

Greetings! We introduce Dorothy Hughes' noir classic In A Lonely Place,  discuss alcoholism in detective fiction for Subject Unknown, and dig up what we can about who Dorothy Hughes was and what made her tick.  Join our Goodreads Group:  www.goodreads.com/group/show/747867-point-blank Visit our Patreon:  http://www.patreon.com/pointblankcrime Contact Us Facebook:  Point Blank: Hardboiled, Noir and...

Welcome back and happy 2019! This time we look at "Devil in a Blue Dress" by Walter Mosely, we do some reviews and we get into a bit of a controversial topic regarding the Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Award. *Sorry for the Delay with this episode. 2019 came with a lot of chaos on my end. Good and Bad. Kurt* Books Reviewed: "Pirata" by Patrick Hasburgh "The Dain Curse" by Dashiell Hammett...

Hello Again. This time we introduce Walter Mosley's "Devil in a Blue Dress." In Subject Unknown we look at the state of the podcast and where we are going, and we also have a few featured reviews. Join our Goodreads Group: www.goodreads.com/group/show/747867-point-blank Visit our Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/pointblankcrime Contact Us: Facebook: Point Blank: Hardboiled, Noir and Detective Ficti...

"A Flash of Green" by John D MacDonald. Well...we sure didn't love it, but that doesn't mean we don't have something to say. We dig deep to find out what does and does not work in this novel. Justin brings us another really stupid mystery. Where we are forced to ask what lurks in the shadows around Walden Pond. Of course there's also reviews!! 5 Round Burst: "Silencer" Thorn Mystery #11 by James W...

Hello again from Point Blank! Join us as we head on down to Florida to introduce "A Flash of Green" and John D MacDonald. We'll explore what's lurking in the shadows of the magic kingdom as we discuss Florida Crime Fiction and all that it entails. Our featured review this episode is Joe Clifford's hardboiled drug fueled tale "Junkie Love." We have a new  Goodreads discussion group  created by one...

Step right into the sauna as we discuss The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo our first look at Nordic Noir. We go back in time for a really stupid mystery series from the age of the Vikings. As bonus pillage you also get 5 reviews in 5 Round Burst: "Rhode Island Red" by Charlotte Carter "Noir" by Christopher Moore "Miami Purity" by Vicki Hendricks "Jar City" by Arnaldur Indridason "Roseanna" by Maj Sjo...

Cold, Rocky, Windswept. We discuss Nordic Noir, Stieg Larsson, and introduce "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo." Vikings, The Nordic Model, and exposing the extreme right. Grab some aquavit, lutefisk, and lefsa and join us for this trip to the north. Find Us On: Facebook: Point Blank: Hardboiled, Noir, and Detective Fiction Email: pointblankpodcast@gmail.com Twitter:@pointblanknoir

Welcome to our special summer episode. We joined forces in San Francisco to walk in the footsteps of Sam Spade and Dashiell Hammett.  This was an experimental episode for us, I hope you enjoy. View the photos on Facebook: Point Blank: Hardboiled, Noir, and Detective Fiction

All Abbott! All Queenpin! We discuss this wonderful neo-noir tale from one of the "Queens of Noir." There are spoilers, as we do discuss the whole book, but we believe this one is worth more than one read. Get in touch with the show: Email: pointblanknoir@gmail.com Facebook: Point Blank: Hardboiled, Noir, and Detective Fiction Twitter: @pointblanknoir

Discussion! Reviews! Antiheroes! We introduce Megan Abbott's "Queenpin," talk films, review a few books, and have an interesting talk about antiheroes thanks to a listener question.   Books Reviewed: "Paradise Travel" by Jorge Franco "Among the Thugs" by Bill Buford "She Rides Shotgun" by Jordan Harper "Lamentation" by Joe Clifford "Dark Harbor: The War for the New York Waterfront" by Nathan Ward...