This post was originally published on Audible.com.
What do you love most in your mystery listens? Is it dark, moody settings and gritty storylines? Is it morally ambiguous main characters with complex inner lives? If so, noir is your kind of fiction.
As a literary genre, noir can be difficult to nail down because so much of it is based on a general feeling of darkness and danger. Noir fiction was inspired by film noir, and film noir traces its roots to hard-boiled detective novels. The characters are never completely good or utterly bad, and there’s usually an internal struggle. Noir is also distinguished by its gloomy and gritty settings. Whereas in other mysteries, the protagonist often comes out on top, there's no clear win in a noir story. Even if the lead character ultimately reaches their goal, they are forever changed by the events they've witnessed and experienced.
If you’d like to check out the world of noir fiction but aren’t sure where to start, here are just a few of the best noir audiobooks that you can listen to right now.
