We're joined by novelist and high-school music teacher Daniel DiFranco (Panic Years, Devil on My Trail) to discuss the Margaret Millar novel Do Evil in Return, a staple of the noir genre. We talk about the line between serious and campy, how to move plot forward in a novel, and the difficulty of endings.

For more about our guest, including where to find his books, check out his website: http://www.danieldifranco.com/

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Note: This episode is part of our ongoing season on noir novels, but you don't need to listen to the episodes in order, and you don't need to read the books to enjoy the discussion.

We welcome Joanna Pearson (author, most recently, of Bright and Tender Dark), who makes the case that we should put Mary Gaitskill's short stories in the "noir" category--or at least mark them as noir-adjacent. We discuss two specific Gaitskill stories, "The Other Place" and "The Girl on the Plane," as well as the particular darkness of the Gaitskill universe.

We also talk with Joanna about readers' expectations for genre books, and what it's been like to have her own novel placed in various genre boxes. Plus: what's the right way to organize one's bookshelves?

To learn more about Joanna, and her work, visit her website: https://www.joanna-pearson.com/

If you like the podcast, and would like more of it in your life, subscribe to our Patreon ($5) to get two bonus episodes each month: https://www.patreon.com/c/BookFight

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We're joined by Steph Cha (author of Your House Will Pay) to talk about a famous California hardboiled novel none of us had ever read. What will it took us about tramps, insurance fraud, and the relative difficulty of staging a fake car-related murder? And what's the deal with that postman, with his infernal ringing?

Steph, who has written several acclaimed crime novels herself, helps us to understand the genre we're exploring this season, and its evolution over time.

To learn more about our guest, and her work, check out her website: http://stephcha.com/

If you like our podcast, and would like to help support it--plus get access to two bonus episodes every month--check out our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/BookFight

Thanks for listening!

(Note: this is the 4th episode in our Noir season, but there's no reason you need to listen to them in order. Also, you don't need to read the book to enjoy the show.)