Queenpin

One of Megan Abbott’s early gems, this book dragged me down into the muck of midcentury noir, and I LOVED IT. When I was first diving into the genre of noir, I was aching for more female representation (besides the evil femme fatale or the Girl Friday you see pop up in so much of the classic noir literature).

This book feels both modern and like a throwback, with women in the driver’s seat for once. This is a book I reread when I need a boost as a writer to remember why I love writing and why I love… show more.

Megan Abbott writes traditional, contemporary crime fiction, but also occasionally takes a deep and dark dive into the pulpy past. Of the latter, this is where I come in.

This book uses noirish tropes and writing traditions–whip-smart dialogue, 1940s American slang and settings, femmes fatale, gangsters, speakeasies, heists, double-crosses, all soaked through with hard liquor–but puts a twist on the old formula by having women as the central characters. 

In this, a young, unnamed ingenue is taken under the wing of Gloria Denton, a mob boss. The young woman wants to be somebody, and boy, Gloria Denton, is the somebody… show more.