David Goodis Books in Order

Goodis's first novel is a broader, less noir tale of tangled couples, frustrated ambition, and restless longing. Set around New York on the edge of war, it follows people whose bad loves and big dreams keep pushing them off course.

Vincent Parry escapes San Quentin after being wrongly convicted of killing his wife. Hunted across San Francisco and helped by a woman who believes him, he races to expose the real murderer before he is framed again.

Clara Ervin controls everyone around her, from husband to servants to stepdaughter, leaving damage wherever she goes. As one young man sees how deep her manipulation runs, stopping her starts to feel both necessary and dangerous.

This noir classic follows commercial artist Jim Vanning, who cannot remember what happened after crossing paths with fleeing bank robbers. With killers, police, and missing cash closing in, he must recover the truth before it destroys him.

Paul Ballard heads Los Angeles's Missing Persons Bureau and spends his days chasing other people's disappearances. When a prized client turns up dead, the case opens into murder, politics, and a fight that could wreck Ballard's career.

Bus driver Jim Cassidy is trapped in a violent marriage and drinking hard when he falls for the fragile Doris. Then a vindictive rival turns a crash into a frame-up, and escape starts to look even more dangerous.

Alvin Darby has a job, a wife, and a respectable life, until jealousy and buried memory crack it open. Hunting for betrayal through Philadelphia's night streets, he descends into obsession, old desire, and the threat of violence.

On filthy Ruxton Street, Chet Lawrence has learned to keep his head down and survive. When Hagen attacks a young woman and drags her into his orbit, Chet must decide whether indifference is just another kind of guilt.

Nathaniel Harbin runs a burglary crew that feels more like a damaged family than a gang. After an emerald heist goes wrong, a crooked cop and Harbin's feelings for Gladden turn a clean job into a desperate chase.

Dockworker Bill Kerrigan cannot let go of the alley where his sister died. As he hunts for the man who raped her, desire, class tension, and self-destruction twist his search into something even darker.

Freezing fugitive Hart takes a wallet from a dying man and becomes prey for the killers who want it back. His search for shelter leads him into a criminal hideout where every alliance looks temporary.

Whitey was once a successful singer. Now he drinks on skid row until a glimpse of the thugs who destroyed his voice pulls him back into old love, police corruption, and street violence he thought he'd escaped.

Ralph Creel drifts through Depression era Philadelphia, dreaming of a cleaner life than the one he has. Torn between decent Edna and the dangerous blonde who wants him, he edges toward a choice that could finish him.

James and Cora Bevan head to Jamaica hoping to repair a failing marriage. Instead, drink, danger, and new temptations pull them deeper into a tense world where every bad decision makes going home harder.

Eddie is a former concert pianist now hiding behind a barroom piano in Philadelphia. When his brother brings gangsters to the door and a barmaid stirs him back to life, the past refuses to stay buried.

Blazer, a homeless alcoholic with a habit of setting small fires, is blamed after a deadly blaze kills five people. With cops, bootleggers, and vengeance closing in, Cora may be his only chance to stay alive.

Disgraced ex-cop Corey Bradford saves gangster Walter Grogan and gets hired by both Grogan and the police on the same night. Working the slum called the Swamp, he must choose between dirty money and the last scraps of his conscience.

Calvin Jander nearly drowns off the New Jersey coast and washes into the hands of Vera and her criminal father. Trapped in an isolated house with suspicious gangsters, he has to survive people who may kill him before dawn.