Elsewhere I recently became embroiled in a discussion where a reviewer of a film noir who had not the read the novel was admonished for not crediting the significant contribution of the writer of the original novel.

This has spurred me to put together a list of the major “noir” novelists whose works underpinned the genesis and flowering of film noir in the 1940s and 1950s.

The list is not exhaustive and features works that were adapted for the screen in notable films noir.

A.I. Bezzerides 1908-2007
They Drive by Night (1940) – screenplay of his novel Long Haul
Desert Fury (1947) – co-wrote screenplay of Ramona Stewart novel Desert Town
Thieves’ Highway (1949) – screenplay of his novel Thieves Market
On Dangerous Ground (1952) – screenplay of the novel “Mad with Much Heart” by Gerald Butler
Kiss Me Deadly (1955) – screenplay of Mickey Spillane novel

W. R. Burnett (1899–1982)
Little Caesar (1931)
High Sierra (1941)
Nobody Lives Forever (1946)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

James M. Cain (1892–1977)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
Time to Kill (1942) – based on the novel The High Window
Double Indemnity  (1944) – co-scripted screenplay based on the James M. Cain novel
The Big Sleep (1946)
The Blue Dahlia (1946) – original  screenplay
Farewell, My Lovely (aka Murder, My Sweet) (1944)
The Brasher Doubloon (1947)  – based on the novel The High Window
Lady in The Lake (1947)
Strangers on a Train (1951)  – original  screenplay
Playback (1949) – un-produced screenplay
Playback  (1959) – novelisation of un-produced screenplay
The Long Goodbye (1973)

Steve Fisher (1912–1980)
I Wake Up Screaming (1941)
Johnny Angel (1945) –  original  screenplay
Lady in the Lake (1947) –  original  screenplay
Roadblock (1951) –  original  screenplay
City That Never Sleeps (1953) – original  screenplay
36 Hours (1953) –  original  screenplay

David Goodis (1917–1967)
Dark Passage (1946)
The Unfaithful (1947) –  original  screenplay
Nightfall (1957)
The Burglar (1953)
Shoot the Piano Player (1960) – based on the novel Down There

Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961)
The Glass Key (1935)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Glass Key (1942)

Jonathan Latimer (1906–1983)
The Glass Key (1942) –  original  screenplay
Nocturne (1946)
They Won’t Believe Me  (1947)
The Big Clock (1948) – screenplay based on the Kenneth Fearing novel
Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948) – screenplay based on the Cornell Woolrich novel
The Unholy Wife (1957)

Horace McCoy (1897–1955)
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950)
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969)

William P. McGivern (1918-1982)
The Big Heat (1953) – based on Saturday Evening Post serial
Shield for Murder (1954)
Rogue Cop (1954)
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)

Cornell Woolrich (1903–1968)
Street of Chance (1942) – based on the novel titled The Black Curtain
The Mark of the Whistler (1944) – based on the short story Dormant Account
The Leopard Man (1943) – based on the novel Black Alibi
Phantom Lady (1944)
Deadline at Dawn (1946)
Black Angel (1946)
The Chase (1946) – based on the novel The Black Path of Fear
Fall Guy (1947)  – based on the short story C-Jag
Fear in the Night (1947) –  based on the short story And So to Death (Nightmare)
The Guilty (1947) –  based on the short story He Looked Like Murder
I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes (1948)
Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948)
The Window (1949) – based on the short story The Boy Cried Murder
Convicted (1950) – based on the novel Face Work
No Man of Her Own (1950) – based on the novel I Married a Dead Man
Nightmare (1956) –  based on the short story And So to Death (Nightmare)
The Bride Wore Black (France 1968)