Book picks similar to
Too Hot to Handle by Orrie Hitt


pulp
crime-and-western
hard-boiled-a-l
novels

Branded Woman (Hard Case Crime #11)


Wade Miller - 1952
    Until the day a shadowy rival known only as The Trader has her abducted and scarred for life as a warning to stay out of his way.Now Cay’s on her way to Mazatlan, where one of The Trader’s men has been spotted. There’s a big deal going down – but she’s not there to make a score. Just to settle one.

Shooting Star / Spiderweb (Hard Case Crime #42)


Robert Bloch - 1958
    In 'Spiderweb', Eddie Haines is collecting secrets from his wealthy clients in order to blackmail them.

Rough Trade


Todd Robinson - 2016
    So when Byron is found dead, they’re shocked. They’re even more shocked when they learn that nothing is what they originally thought, and they’re being held accountable in the man's death.With Junior called in for questioning, Boo is determined to clear their names by finding Byron’s true killer. It’s a quest in which Boo will have to face down crooked cops, crazed guard dogs, a rival security crew, the Irish mob and—worst of all—his own ingrained prejudices.Action-packed, outrageously funny, and brutally honest, Rough Trade brings back crime fiction’s favorite bouncers and takes them well out of their comfort zone in a novel that’s whip-smart, hilarious, gritty and above all human, proving that Todd Robinson is one of the most important voices in crime fiction.

Build My Gallows High


Geoffrey Homes - 1946
    Living in Nevada, bothered by nobody, he runs a little gas station, gets in a lot of fishing, and might even be falling for a local girl. Then, out of the blue, his past comes back to haunt him. Blackmailed into doing just one more job, he's forced to revisit the life he fled—in particular, the seductive Mumsie McGonigle. It's not long before Bailey realizes that a trap has been set for him. The novel, scripted by the author, went on in the hands of Jacques Tourneur to become the cinema's most celebrated work of "film noir," starring Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, and Jane Greer.The Film Ink series presents the novels that inspired the work of some of the most celebrated directors of our time. While each novel is first and foremost a classic in its own right, these books offer the dedicated cinephile a richer understanding of the most illustrious films of American and European cinema.

The Murderer Vine (Hard Case Crime #43)


Shepard Rifkin - 1970
    They were never seen again. The father of one of the boys has hired New York private eye Joe Dunne to find the men responsible and kill them.

If You Can't Stand the Heat


Lawrence Block - 2013
    

Drive


James Sallis - 2005
    Sallis combines murder, treachery and payback in a sinister plot with resonances of 1940s pulp fiction and film noir. Told through a cinematic narrative that weaves back and forth through time and place, the story explores Driver's near existential moral foundations, intercut with moments of bloody violence.

Maybe I Should Just Shoot You In The Face


Brian PanowichMark Krajnak - 2014
    This collection features new stories from all the Zelmer Pulp regulars as well as stunning noir photography from Mark Krajnak and an introduction by Brit Grit Godfather Paul D. Brazill.Zelmer Pulp arrives with both guns out in this Volume 1 noir collection.

Rough Men


Aric Davis - 2013
    Worse, Alex wasn’t an innocent bystander but part of the gang that raided the vault and left behind numerous bodies.Simmering with rage over his loss, Will tries to let the police handle the matter. But as Alex’s killers remain at large, Will decides that it’s up to him—and a few old friends—to enact revenge in a most brutal manner.Now he’s calling on dangerous connections that have been buried for years—and should’ve stayed that way. But Will vows to do whatever it takes to see Alex’s killers repay their sins in blood, even if it means his own damnation.

Conan the Destroyer


Robert E. Howard - 2011
    

Queenpin


Megan Abbott - 2007
    Notoriously cunning and ruthless, Gloria shows her eager young protégée the ropes, ushering her into a glittering demimonde of late-night casinos, racetracks, betting parlors, inside heists, and big, big money. Suddenly, the world is at her feet--as long as she doesn't take any chances, like falling for the wrong guy. As the roulette wheel turns, both mentor and protégée scramble to stay one step ahead of their bosses and each other.

Kiss Me, Judas


Will Christopher Baer - 1998
    Red dress, black hair, body like a knife. He takes her back to his room and wakes the next morning in a bathtub full of blood and ice, missing a kidney.Dragging himself from a hospital bed, Phineas discovers he wants to be with Jude like a hunger -- and he wants to find her and kill her. Falling for her is the start of a twisted love story that takes him from the snowy streets of Denver to the high plains of Texas where the boundaries between torturer and victim, killer and accomplice, become nightmarishly distorted.

American Static


Tom Pitts - 2017
    When a mysterious stranger named Quinn offers a hand in exchange for help reuniting with his daughter in San Francisco, Steven gets in the car and begins a journey from which there is no return.Quinn has an agenda all his own and he’s unleashing vengeance at each stop along his path. With a coked-up sadist ex-cop chasing Quinn, and two mismatched small town cops chasing the ex-cop, Steven is unaware of the violent tempest brewing. Corrupt cops and death-dealing gangsters manipulate the maze each of them must navigate to get to the one thing they’re all after: Teresa, the girl holding the secret that will rip open a decades-old scandal and scorch San Francisco’s City Hall.Steven finds Teresa homeless and strung out as their pursuers close in and bodies begin to pile high on the Bay Area’s back streets. Hand in hand Steven and Teresa lead the mad parade of desperate men to edge of the void.American Static is a fast paced crime thriller with a mystery woven in. It’s played out against the backdrop of Northern California’s wine country, Oakland’s mean streets, and San Francisco’s peaks and alleys, written by one of its favorite sons, a man who knows the underbelly of the city like no one else. American Static’s prose has been compared to Elmore Leonard, Richard Price, and Don Winslow.Advance Praise for American Static:“American Static is a stunning achievement and nobody could have written it but Tom Pitts. Pitts ain't just the real deal: he set the mold for what the real deal is, and the rest of us are just plastic copies.” —Benjamin Whitmer, author of Pike and Cry Father.“American Static grabs you by the collar and drags you through a dirty, dangerous tour of San Francisco. Tom Pitts serves up noir just the way you want it—dark, relentless, and inevitable.” —Rob Hart author of New Yorked, City of Rose, and South Village.“American Static is a remarkable novel, a ride with brilliant twists and turns and a relentless momentum, racing to an ending both unavoidable and unexpected.” —Steve Weddle, author of Country Hardball.“American Static is a hot dose of pure adrenaline that will leave you gasping for breath and begging for more.” —Owen Laukkanen, author of The Forgotten Girls.

Kong: King of Skull Island


Joe DeVito - 2005
    A prequel and sequel to the 1933 novel that introduced King Kong blends the talents of a renowned fantasy artist with those of a top science fiction writer to create a worthy and long-awaited successor to the Depression-era fantasy that spawned numerous feature-length films.

Heartbreaker


Robert Ferrigno - 1999
    Meanwhile, an L.A. playboy beds a gorgeous redhead and wakes up with a psychopath trying to kill him. Neither Val nor Kilo know it yet, but they are on a collision course with a sexy marine biologist and one lethally dysfunctional family in this "dark, comic tour de force" (James Ellroy).