The Noir Enthusiast Bundle: John D. MacDonald, Cain, Chandler, Hammett, & Chandler, PLUS the Greatest Mystery Novels Bookmark

Noir Box Set: Featuring Lost Gems by James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett

Issue 74

This holiday season, The Strand Magazine delivers a must-read collection of tales from literary icons and emerging voices. Leading the lineup is the rediscovered noir masterpiece, “The Accomplice” by John D. MacDonald. Unearthed from the University of Florida archives, this story brims with moral complexity and the tension that made MacDonald a legend in crime fiction.

Issue 69

Our 69th issue features an unpublished short story by James M. Cain. Here, James M. Cain serves up vintage noir—complete with gritty dialogue, a damaged war hero, and a young femme fatale—the story takes a twisty turn that only a noir master could pull off.

Issue 63
Next, Issue 63 of The Strand features Chandler’s humor—and his progressive side—in “Advice to a Secretary.” Published here for the first time, the article covers everything from his contempt for grammarians to his discomfort with the employer-employee relationship. Additionally, like his most famous protagonist, Chandler’s sympathies lay with those less powerful. Raymond Chandler scholar Professor Sarah Trott pens an introduction providing not only context but also an in-depth analysis of Raymond Chandler’s unpublished article.

Issue 61

(Strand Magazine: Unpublished Raymond Chandler and the first US appearance of Christmas Adventure by Agatha Christie. Fiction by John Floyd, David Marcum, Rob Witherspoon, and an exclusive interview with James Lee Burke.)

Next, Issue 61 of The Strand featured a humorous article by Raymond Chandler. Professor Sarah Trott provides an introduction and examines the biographical context of this gem. Chandler was a career oil executive before achieving fame as an author and suffered the loss of his job at age forty-four. “Advice to an Employer” shows a different side to Raymond Chandler. The wry humor is there, but the piece also reveals a silly, fun side to an author long associated with novels about the seamy side of LA.

Issue 36

The Strand’s summer 2012 issue featured a previously unpublished short story by James M. Cain, as well as fiction by Faye Kellerman, Charles Todd, and John Floyd. Next, we conducted exclusive interviews with Jonathan Kellerman and Jeff Lindsay. Titled “Mommy is a Bar-Fly,” the short story by James M. Cain is vintage noir, and it involves a wife cheating on her husband and her fear of his wrath. Atmospheric, cynical, and gritty, the story represents what we readers admire most about this titan of noir.

If you enjoyed the Noir Box Set featuring Cain, Chandler, and Hammett and want more, look no further than The Strand’s American Noir: 11 Classic Crime Novels of the 1930s, 40s, & 50s.