Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, might as well start with them because everyone who came after is just trying to sound like them. Specifically, The Big Sleep for Chandler and The Maltese Falcon of Hammett would be excellent introductions into the genre. Bonus, they were both adapted into pretty good Bogart movies.
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Anonymous2009-07-11 15:56
Jim Thompson. Jim MOTHERFUCKING THOMPSON. If you don't know who he is, he wrote The Killer Inside Me which is being adapted to a film next year, he also wrote The Grifters, which was made into a movie starring John Cusack and Angelica Huston, and The Steve McQueen movie The Getaway. His work features twisted psychological examinations of brutal men and manipulative women, graphic violence and murder scenes, and evil lawmen.