Recommended reading - The Doomsters (1958):

The Doomsters

By Ross Macdonald.

ASIN: 0307279049

First published 1958.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 9780307279040

ISBN-13: 978-0307279040

Description:

“Most mystery writers merely write about crime. Ross Macdonald writes about sin.” – The Atlantic Monthly.

“Ross Macdonald should not be limited in audience to connoisseurs of mystery fiction. He is one of a handful of writers in the genre whose worth and quality surpass the limitations of the form.” – Los Angeles Times.

Hired by Carl Hallman, the desperate-eyed junkie scion of an obscenely wealthy political dynasty, detective Lew Archer investigates the suspicious deaths of Hallman’s parents, Senator Hallman and his wife Alicia. Arriving in the sleepy town of Purissima, Archer discovers that orange groves may be where the Hallmans made their mint, but they’ve has been investing heavily in political intimidation and police brutality to shore up their rancid riches. However, after years of dastardly double-crossing and low down dirty-dealing, the family seem to be on the receiving end of a karmic death-blow. With two dead already and another consigned to the nuthouse, Archer races to crack the secret before another Hallman lands on the slab.

Murder, madness and greed grace The Doomsters, where a tony façade masks the rot and corruption within.

“Ross Macdonald is one of the best writers of the whipcord thriller.” – The Bookman.

Recommended reading - Early Film Noir: Greed, Lust and Murder Hollywood Style (2003):

Early Film Noir:
Greed, Lust and Murder Hollywood Style

By William Hare.

Published by McFarland & Company.

Paperback.

Published 2003.

ISBN-10: 0786416297

ISBN-13: 978-0786416295

Description:

The name is French and it has connections to German expressionist cinema, but film noir was inspired by the American Raymond Chandler, whose prose was marked by the gripping realism of seedy hotels, dimly lit bars, main streets, country clubs, mansions, cul-de-sac apartments, corporate boardrooms, and flop houses of America.

Chandler and the other writers and directors, including James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett, Jane Greer, Ken Annakin, Rouben Mamoulian and Mike Mazurki, who were primarily responsible for the creation of the film noir genre and its common plots and themes, are the main focus of this work. It correlates the rise of film noir with the new appetites of the American public after World War II and explains how it was developed by smaller studios and filmmakers as a result of the emphasis on quality within a deliberately restricted element of cities at night. The author also discusses how RKO capitalized on films such as Murder, My Sweet and Out of the Past – two of film noir's most famous titles – and film noir's connection to British noir and the great international triumph of Sir Carol Reed in The Third Man.

Contents: Foreword; Introduction; Film Noir: Chandler and the American Institution with a French Name; A Blend of Three Great Talents: Double Indemnity (1944); Women of Danger and RKO's Noir Factory; Dmytryk and the RKO Team; Jane Greer: Hollywood's Unforgettable Femme Fatale; Laura (1944); An Obsession in White and a Final Reckoning: The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946); British Noir: The Third Man (1949) and Across the Bridge (1957); Synopses of Major Films; Bibliography; Index.

Recommended reading - Ham on Rye (1982):

Ham on Rye

By Charles Bukowski.

Published by Ecco.

Published 1982.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 006117758X

ISBN-13: 978-0061177583

Description:

In what is widely hailed as the best of his many novels, Charles Bukowski details the long, lonely years of his own hardscrabble youth in the raw voice of alter ego Henry Chinaski. From a harrowingly cheerless childhood in Germany through acne-riddled high school years and his adolescent discoveries of alcohol, women, and the Los Angeles Public Library's collection of D.H. Lawrence, Ham on Rye offers a crude, brutal, and savagely funny portrait of an outcast's coming-of-age during the desperate days of the Great Depression.

Recommended reading - Seed to Table: A Seasonal Guide to Organically Growing, Cooking, and Preserving Food at Home (2023):

Seed to Table:
A Seasonal Guide to Organically Growing, Cooking, and Preserving Food at Home

By Luay Ghafari.

Published by Yellow Pear Press.

Hardcover.

Published 2023.

ISBN-10: 1684811627

ISBN-13: 978-1684811625

Description:

A Seasonal Guide for Growing & Cooking Foods Right at Home.

“Luay makes growing your own food, even if just a small amount, into an achievable endeavor.”—Niki Irving of Flourish Flower Farm, flower farmer, florist, author of Growing Flowers.

#1 Best Seller in Organic Gardening.

Learn to garden in any space with Seed to Table, grow and cook nutrient-dense foods to take your gardening and cooking to the next level!

Gardening, cooking, and eating done right! Seed to Table focuses on how to feed your family with nutritious foods from your own outdoor, home and/or kitchen garden. Whether you live in a city or in the country, this book gives you tools on effective growing techniques, seed starting methods, and garden maintenance.

Organic gardening for every individual style! Have fun while you create your own gardening system whether it be for a container garden or a kitchen garden. Try out big and small garden ideas to stock up your fridge with delicious fruits, vegetables, and herbs to grow your self-sufficiency. Maximize your minimal or large space with impactful practices that are perfect for anyone on a sustainability and self-sufficiency journey.

Inside Seed to Table, you’ll find:

A full and in-depth guide on preserving foods while cultivating homegrown foods.

Easy and delicious vegetable-forward recipes and preservation techniques to feed your whole family.

Effective urban gardening tools to create a garden in a patio garden, rooftop space, or any space.

If you're looking for books on urban gardening or gardening in any space, add this book to your collection! If you liked Plants-Only Kitchen, Holistic Homesteading, or Raised-Bed Gardening for Beginners, then you’ll love Seed to Table.

Recommended reading - The Age of Dimes and Pulps: A History of Sensationalist Literature, 1830-1960 (2018):

The Age of Dimes and Pulps:
A History of Sensationalist Literature, 1830-1960

By Jeremy Agnew.

Published by McFarland.

Published 2018.

Illustrated edition.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 1476669481

ISBN-13: 978-1476669489

Description:

From the dime novels of the Civil War era to the pulp magazines of the early 20th century to modern paperbacks, lurid fiction has provided thrilling escapism for the masses. Cranking out formulaic stories of melodrama, crime and mild erotica – often by uncredited authors focused more on volume than quality – publishers realized high profits playing to low tastes. Estimates put pulp magazine circulation in the 1930s at 30 million monthly.

This vast body of "disposable literature" has received little critical attention, in large part because much of it has been lost – the cheaply made books were either discarded after reading or soon disintegrated. Covering the history of pulp literature from 1850 through 1960, the author describes how sensational tales filled a public need and flowered during the evolving social conditions of the Industrial Revolution.

Recommended reading - Danse Macabre (2012):

Danse Macabre

By Stephen King.

Published by Hachette Book Group.

Paperback.

Published 2012.

ISBN-10: 9781444723267

ISBN-13: 978-1444723267

Description:

From the author of dozens of #1 New York Times bestsellers and the creator of many unforgettable movies comes a vivid, intelligent, and nostalgic journey through three decades of horror as experienced through the eyes of the most popular writer in the genre. In 1981, years before he sat down to tackle On Writing, Stephen King decided to address the topic of what makes horror horrifying and what makes terror terrifying. Here, in ten brilliantly written chapters, King delivers one colorful observation after another about the great stories, books, and films that comprise the horror genre—from Frankenstein and Dracula to The Exorcist, The Twilight Zone, and Earth vs. The Flying Saucers.

With the insight and good humor his fans appreciated in On Writing, Danse Macabre is an enjoyably entertaining tour through Stephen King’s beloved world of horror.

The author whose boundless imagination and storytelling powers have redefined the horror genre, from 1974’s Carrie to his new epic Under the Dome, reflects on the very nature of terror – what scares us and why – in films (both cheesy and choice), television and radio, and, of course, the horror novel, past and present.

Informal, engaging, tremendous fun, and tremendously informative, Danse Macabre is an essential tour with the master of horror as your guide; much like his spellbinding works of fiction, you won’t be able to put it down.

Recommended reading - On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000):

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

By Stephen King.

Published by Scribner.

Published 2000.

This edition published in 2020.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 1982159375

ISBN-13: 978-1982159375

Description:

"A one-of-a-kind classic." – The Wall Street Journal.

"On Writing had more useful and observant things to say about the craft than any book since Strunk and White's The Elements of Style." – Roger Ebert.

"This is a special book, animated by a unique intelligence, and filled with useful truth." – Michael Chabon.

“The best book on writing. Ever.” – The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

“Long live the King” hailed Entertainment Weekly upon publication of Stephen King’s On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King’s advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported, near-fatal accident in 1999 – and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower and entertain everyone who reads it – fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told.

Recommended reading - Pulp Masters (2001):

Pulp Masters

Edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg.

Published by Carroll & Graf.

Published 2001.

First Edition.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0786708735

ISBN-13: 978-0786708734

Description:

A pulp-packed volume of hard-boiled crime fiction from the writers who made the mold and mastered the form.

John MacDonald, James M. Cain, Donald Westlake, Lawrence Block, Mickey Spillane, and Harrington Whittington – these six masters of pulp fiction at its suspenseful best distinguish this new anthology compiled by the award-winning editors of its two popular predecessors, American Pulp and Pure Pulp. Like its two popular predecessors, Pulp Masters culls its tales – in this case, five classic “novelettes” and one complete novel – from the golden age of magazine fiction in the first half of the twentieth century.

All six writers included in Pulp Masters in time emerged as giants in the field of crime fiction, and the stories in this volume demonstrate why. Their voices fresh, their talents raw and original, with titles like "Ordo," “College-Cut Kill,” "Stag Party Girl," "The Embezzler," and "Everybody's Watching Me," Westlake, Block, Cain, and Spillane heralded and shaped the crime story as we know it today. So did "the King of the Paperback Original" – Harrington Whittington – represented here by the novel based on his pulp short story "So Dead, My Love."

Recommended reading - American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America (2012):

American Grown:
The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America

By Michelle Obama.

Published by Crown.

1st edition.

Hardcover.

Published 2012.

ISBN-10: 0307956024

ISBN-13: 978-0307956026

Description:

The former First Lady, author of Becoming, and producer and star of Waffles + Mochi tells the inspirational story of the White House Kitchen Garden and how gardens can transform our lives and the health of our communities.

Early in her tenure as First Lady, despite being a novice gardener, Michelle Obama planted a kitchen garden on the White House’s South Lawn. To her delight, she watched as fresh vegetables, fruit, and herbs sprouted from the ground. Soon the White House Kitchen Garden inspired a new conversation all across the country about the food we feed our families and the impact it has on the nutrition and well-being of our children.

In American Grown, Mrs. Obama invites you inside the White House Kitchen Garden, from the first planting to the satisfaction of the seasonal harvest. She reveals her early worries and struggles – would the new plants even grow? – and her joy as lettuce, corn, tomatoes, collards and kale, sweet potatoes and rhubarb flourished in the freshly tilled soil. She shares the stories of other gardens that have moved and inspired her on her journey across the nation. 

And she offers what she learned about planting your own backyard, school, or community garden.

American Grown features:

A behind-the-scenes look at every season of the garden’s growth.

Unique recipes created by White House chefs.

Striking original photographs that bring the White House garden to life.

A fascinating history of community gardens in the United States.

From a modern-day vegetable truck that brings fresh produce to underserved communities in Chicago, to Houston office workers who make the sidewalk bloom, to a New York City school that created a scented garden for the visually impaired, to a garden in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, that devotes its entire harvest to those less fortunate, American Grown isn’t just the story of a single garden. It’s a celebration of the bounty of our nation and a reminder of what we can all grow together.

Recommended reading - The Barbarous Coast (1956):

The Barbarous Coast

By Ross Macdonald.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Published 1956.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0307279030

ISBN-13: 978-0307279033

Description:

“Ross Macdonald writes like a son of a bitch.” – Anthony Boucher.

“Not since the novels of Nathanael West has the theme of American innocence grinding to a stop at the polluted waters of the Pacific so consistently reverberated through a body of writing.” – Detroit News.

The beautiful, high-diving blonde had Hollywood dreams and stars in her eyes but now she seems to have disappeared without a trace. Hired by her hotheaded husband and her rummy “uncle,” Lew Archer sniffs around Malibu and finds the stink of blackmail, blood-money, and murder on every pricey silk shirt. Beset by dirty cops, a bumptious boxer turned silver screen pretty boy, and a Hollywood mogul with a dark past, Archer discovers the secret of a grisly murder that just won't stay hidden.

Lew Archer navigates through the watery, violent world of wealth and privilege, in this electrifying story of obsession gone mad.

“Macdonald makes a routine story of ocean-side murder among the rich take on a hard-edged, glistening solidity.” – AudioFile.

Recommended reading - Pulp Fiction: The Crimefighters (2006):

Pulp Fiction: The Crimefighters

Edited by Otto Penzler.

Published by Quercus.
Hardcover.
Published 2006.

ISBN-10: 1905204566
ISBN-13: 978-1905204564

Description:

“These stories still cut, still tear, still even shock …

These guys went places maybe they shouldn’t and we love them for it.”

– Harlan Coben.

Some writing has an edge that time just can’t dull.
Welcome to the world of pulp fiction.
Within these pages are the very best crime stories from the pulp magazines of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.
These are stories of the mean streets of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
These are stories in which danger and death are always just around the corner.
These are the stories which created crime fiction as we know it today.

Recommended reading - Pulp Fiction to Film Noir: The Great Depression and the Development of a Genre (2012):

Pulp Fiction to Film Noir:
The Great Depression and the Development of a Genre

By William Hare.

Published by McFarland.

Paperback.

Published 2012.

ISBN-10: 0786466820

ISBN-13: 978-0786466825

Description:

During the Great Depression, pulp fiction writers created a new, distinctly American detective story, one that stressed the development of fascinating, often bizarre characters rather than the twists and turns of clever plots. This new crime fiction adapted brilliantly to the screen, birthing a cinematic genre that French cinema intellectuals following World War II christened "film noir." 

Set on dark streets late at night, in cheap hotels and bars, and populated by the dangerous people who frequented these locales, these films introduced a new antihero, a tough, brooding, rebellious loner, embodied by Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon and Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep. This volume provides a detailed exploration of film noir, tracing its evolution, the influence of such legendary writers as Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, and the films that propelled this dark genre to popularity in the mid-20th century.

Recommended reading - The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes and Impossible Mysteries (2006):

The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes and Impossible Mysteries

Edited by Mike Ashley.

Published by Running Press.

Published 2006.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0786718935

ISBN-13: 978-0786718931

Description:

Mystery conundrums from crime's finest storytellers.

This ingenious new anthology from Mike Ashley presents nearly 30 impossible mysteries and bizarre crimes guaranteed to fascinate and intrigue. Among them are some crimes so impossible that they’re near perfect, and others so perfect that they’re impossible to solve.

In all, the delight is in unravelling the puzzle and trying to work out what on earth happened.

Cases include:

A man in an all-glass phone booth, clearly visible and with no one near him, is killed by an ice pick.

Someone sitting alone in a room is shot by a bullet fired only once and that was over 200 years ago.

A man enters a cable-car carriage alone and is visible the entire journey but is found dead when he reaches the bottom.

A man vanishes at the top of the Indian rope trick and is found dead miles away.

A dead man continues to receive mail in response to letters apparently written by him after he'd died.

The stories include several brand new masterpieces as well as lesser known rare gems – from such names as Robert Randisi, Edward D. Hoch, Joseph Commings, Peter Tremayne, Bill Pronzini and Gillian Linscott.

Recommended reading - The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories (1988):

The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories

Edited by Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg.

Published by Running Press.

First published 1988,

This revised edition published in 2004.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0786713712

ISBN-13: 978-0786713714

Description:

The very best in hardboiled fiction, from such masters as Ross Macdonald, Raymond Chandler, Marcia Muller, Michael Collins, Ed McBain, William Campbell Gault and many more.

With its roots in the American private detective fiction of the 1920s but traceable back as far as Sherlock Holmes, the private eye story remains as popular as ever. Here are 24 of the finest short novels and stories from the hardboiled world of the private eye. The characters in this collection range from the tough, cynical, hard-drinking Philip Marlowe type to hard-hitting female private eyes and the one-armed intellectual Dan Fortune – from masters of the genre past and present.

Recommended reading - The Beekeeper's Bible: Bees, Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses (2011):

The Beekeeper's Bible:
Bees, Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses

By Richard A. Jones and Sharon Sweeney-Lynch.

Published 2011.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 1584799188

ISBN-13: 978-1584799184

Description:

The Beekeeper’s Bible is the essential and comprehensive handbook for every active or aspiring beekeeper.

Part history book, part handbook, part cookbook, this illustrated tome covers every facet of the ancient hobby of beekeeping, from safe hive management to the culinary, medicinal, cosmetic, and domestic uses of honey, beeswax, and pollen. With stunning illustrations and step-by-step photography, The Beekeeper’s Bible is the indispensable guide to beekeeping.

Complete practical beekeeping.

Bee history, trivia, and lore.

Uses for honey, beeswax, and pollen.

Recipes and craft projects.

Home remedies and beauty products.

Recommended reading - The Embezzler (1940):

The Embezzler

aka Money and the Woman.

By James M. Cain.

Published by‎ Avon Books, Inc.

Published 1940.

Paperback novella.

ASIN: B002MICS6C

Description:

A bank employee’s wife teams up with his boss – with fatal results – in this noir novella by the legendary author of The Postman Always Rings Twice.

Despite an ulcer that requires surgery, workaholic Charles Brent doesn’t want to take time off from his job as a head teller at the bank. What eventually convinces him to give in and take a break is the prospect of his young wife, Sheila, temporarily taking over his responsibilities. Then, in Charles’s absence, his wife and his boss discover the embezzlement he’s been hiding—and the reason behind it. But instead of reporting Charles, the two form a pact . . .

Originally published under the title Money and the Woman, The Embezzler is a standout novella from James M. Cain, celebrated crime writer and master of the noir thriller.

“James M. Cain is one novelist who has something to teach just about any writer, and delight just about any reader.” – Anne Rice, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Interview with a Vampire.

“One of the greats of American noir.” – The Guardian.

Recommended reading - The Essential Elements of the Detective Story, 1820-1891 (2017):

The Essential Elements of the Detective Story, 1820-1891

by LeRoy Lad Panek and Mary M. Bendel-Simso.

Published by McFarland & Company.

Paperback.

Published 2017.

ISBN-10: 9781476666990

ISBN-13: 978-1476666990

Description:

Until recently, only a privileged few could read the rare, early writings that formed the basis of detective fiction in America and made it one of the most popular literary genres of the 19th century. Drawing on the unprecedented access provided by digital collections of period newspapers and magazines, this book examines detective fiction during its formative years, focusing on such crucial elements as setting, lawyers and the law, physicians and forensics, women as victims and heroes, crime and criminals, and police and detectives.

Recommended reading - The Bearded Lady (1955):

The Bearded Lady

By Ross MacDonald.

Published 1955.

ASIN: B097265SP9

Description:

In this short story from Ross Macdonald’s The Archer Files, detective Lew Archer stops in town to look in on an old army buddy, an artist, only to find that he has mysteriously disappeared. Seemingly the only clue is a disturbing charcoal sketch of a woman with a thick beard sitting in his studio. As Archer finds himself drawn into the investigation, it soon becomes clear that things are not what they seem. And that no one is above suspicion.

A Vintage Short.

Recommended reading - Mildred Pierce (1941):

Mildred Pierce

By James M. Cain.

Published by Vintage Crime / Black Lizard.

Published 1941.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0679723218

ISBN-13: 978-0679723219

Description:

Mildred Pierce had gorgeous legs, a way with a skillet, and a bone-deep core of toughness. She used those attributes to survive a divorce and poverty and to claw her way out of the lower middle class. But Mildred also had two weaknesses: a yen for men and an unreasoning devotion to a monstrous daughter. Out of these elements James M. Cain created a novel of acute social observation and devastating emotional violence, with a heroine whose ambitions and suffering are never less than recognizable.

Recommended reading - Pittsburgh Film History: On Set in the Steel City (2012):

Pittsburgh Film History: On Set in the Steel City

By John Tiech.

Published by The History Press.

Published 2012.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 1540207331

ISBN-13: 978-1540207333

Contents: The Genesis of Pittsburgh Film; Pittsburgh Classics; Chilly Billy; Fred Rogers and His Legacy; Night of the Living Legends; The Straggling Seventies; Dawn of the Pittsburgh Film Industry; Diverse Filmmaking; Day of the Dead; Hollywood of the East; Demme God; The Remake; The Pittsburgh Film Office; Five Years of Full Time; The Canadian Effect; Lights! Camera! Life Support!; Perseverance; Pittsburgh Rises.

Description:

Pittsburgh has been part of the film industry since the days of silent film. Yet, it was not until the 1951 classic Angels in the Outfield – set at Forbes Field – that the Steel City had its first major role on the silver screen. Greater Pittsburgh’s film and television industry has since produced everything from the beloved children s program Mister Roger’s Neighborhood to the cult classic Night of the Living Dead. Most recently, Christopher Nolan has chosen to set the conclusion to his Batman trilogy in the city. From the first nickelodeon and “film row” of those early days to the locations and cutting-edge sets of today, local author John Tiech takes a behind-the-scenes tour of Pittsburgh cinema.