David Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and 50s (hardcover, $35)

Mokes, cons, dames. Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall. Noir from the 40s and 50s. This is the stuff from which classic dreams are made.

David Goodis was prolific. He died young (age 49 in 1967) but left a large body of work, only a fraction of which has been widely circulated and preserved. The Library of America is doing its part to spread the word.

Dark Passage, the book, was written in 1946. Bogart starred in the movie in 1947. "The Fugitive" went on television in 1963. Goodis began a lawsuit against United Artists and ABC, claiming "The Fugitive" violated his copyright of Dark Passage. The case was not resolved until after Goodis died, and then only for a pittance paid to his heirs.

In his lifetime, Goodis wrote primarily for pulp magazines. Dark Passage was one of his first books. Although many of his books sold very well when they were first published, it has not been until the last decade or so that interest has piqued again in him as representative of the golden age of noir.

Film noir immediately brings to mind high-contrast back-and-white images, dark tales of men and women whose morality is muddied and who seem only to get more desperate. A happy ending certainly isn't guaranteed. But, man, oh, man, they had style and a high cool factor.

This is about a story. A dark story. Dark Passage by David Goodis. It starts with a man. This is how it begins:

"It was a tough break. Parry was innocent. On top of that he was a decent sort of guy who never bothered people and wanted to lead a quiet life. But there was too much on the other side and on his side of it there was practically nothing. The jury decided he was guilty. The judge handed him a life sentence and he was taken to San Quentin."

Vincent Parry makes a break for it one day. Then he's on the lam and luck finds him in the shape of the shapely and rich Irene Janney. But it's not even about Parry and Irene. It's not about whether Parry's wife was murdered. It's not about how Parry survives while on the run. All those things are interesting and essential to the story, but what is most important is how Goodis tells these things.

Here are a few quotes. Listen to the rhythm and humor and leanness.

"Parry had jumped at the job in the investment security house when he learned it was the kind of job where he could smoke all he pleased. He was a three-pack-a-day man."

"He wore a felt hat that had been dead for years."

"It was bad because it was soft and if there was anything he couldn't afford now it was softness. The lukewarm and weak brand of softness. Everything had to be ice, and just as hard, and just as fast as a whippet and just as smooth."

"A small studio orchestra was trying to do something with Holiday for Strings but there weren't enough strings. Toward the middle most of the orchestra seemed to be taking a holiday."

"He touched the door. He touched the knob. He handled the knob, turned it. He opened the door."

What a voice Goodis had! What a wonderful, wry, dark voice. It was full of emotional stasis and arrested movement while charging forward at the same time. Goodis is an undisclosed party in his scenes -- his aesthetic, his punchlines, his poetry, his deliberate style.

Humphrey Bogart's laconic portrayal of Parry matches Goodis' writing exactly. Game, set, match.

There are five books within this volume, including Dark Passage. It's a deal at $35.

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The Devotion of Suspect X, by Keigo Higashino ($14.99)

Keigo Higashino has created a stunning and moving mystery. His characters are interesting and his plot is a return to a traditional whodunnit format in which there are two masterminds, one to create the clues and the other to unravel them.

Yasuko Hanaoka, a hard-working single mother, kills her ex-husband in self-defense. Shinji Togashi was loathsome and a villain whose death (because it's fictional) we can cheer. What can she and her teenage daughter do now with the dead body in their living room? Yasuko's next-door neighbor, Tetsuyo Ishigami, is a brilliant mathematician, whose academic light has been hidden under a bushel for many years. He will take care of everything, he says. Not to worry, Yasuko.

Detective Kusanagi cannot find any better suspect than Yasuko. It doesn't matter that she has been divorced from Togashi for five years and hasn't seen him at all during that time -- except, as we know, for the fateful night -- and there's really nothing linking her to the victim, whose body, by the way, was found far away on a riverbank. Kusanagi just has finely tuned intuition and that is apparently enough to keep him on Yasuko's trail.

Alas for Ishigami, Kusanagi has asked Manabu Yukawa, an assistant professor of physics at a highly-regarded university -- from which all of them have matriculated  -- to help him figure out what's wrong with the murder picture. Kusanagi jokingly calls Yukawa, "Professor Galileo." Yukawa, it turns out, was one of Ishigami's only friends at college and greatly prizes their acquaintance. It is a joyous boon for Yukawa that he has been reunited with Ishigami. Not so much for Ishigami.

It doesn't matter that fiendish Togashi slapped Yasuko's daughter repeatedly on the face and there's no mention of bruising. It doesn't matter that it makes no sense to single out Yasuko when Togashi was a gambler, alcoholic, and general wastrel with, no doubt, plenty of shady characters in his life. It doesn't matter because it's all about the puzzle and how two geniuses respect each other enough not to underestimate the other's intelligence.

Go along for the ride and gasp at the ending. Then you'll see why this book has been nominated for an Edgar Award, and received stars and recommendations from just about every reviewer around.

The Night She Disappeared, by April Henry (hardcover, $16.99)

We know Portland author April Henry from her adult books and because of her makes-us-laugh sense of humor. She has co-authored other young adult books, but this is her first solo YA venture.

This is a different kettle of fish than Henry's adult books. It's serious and thriller-intense. Kayla Cutler, a 17-year-old girl, disappeared while delivering pizza. Her coworkers and classmates, Andrew "Drew" Lyle and Gabriella "Gabie" Klug, become involved even though they know next to nothing about either Kayla or her disappearance.

Drew is trying to earn enough money to keep a roof over his head. In the brief scenes in which she is introduced, it's obvious that something is wrong with Drew's mother, and his father is nowhere to be seen. Henry draws out Drew's story over the course of the novel, until his plight is finally revealed. It could be maudlin, but Henry does a good job making it moving instead.

Gabie is the daughter of two high-powered surgeons. She's smart, independent by necessity, and down-to-earth. Gabie had switched shifts at Pete's Pizza with Kayla. It was Kayla who was working the night that Drew took a phone order from a man who wanted to know if Gabie was working that night. Drew didn't answer his question, and Kayla took the delivery. And disappeared. The police and Kayla's family do everything they can to find her body and her killer. Gabie, on the other hand, has a vague feeling that Kayla is still alive.

Gabie and Drew struggle to come to terms with Gabie's intuition and the opposing evidence the police have found, including a young man they suspect of being the killer.

It's not just a book for young adults, old adults can enjoy the tension and characterizations as well. Henry is a good storyteller, and she fashions her plot well.