Christopher Moore

Madcap, zany noir set on the mean streets of post-World War II San Francisco. Sammy "Two Toes" Tiffin is the bartender in a scruffy gin joint, with street connections that make him the go-to guy for just about everything. When one of his schemes goes south and his lady vanishes, Sammy follows a tortuous trail from Chinatown to Telegraph Hill to a hidden forest enclave in a desperate search to find his girl. Meanwhile, a suspicious flying object has been spotted by the Pacific Coast near Mount Ranier, followed by a mysterious plane crash in Roswell, New Mexico ... but the real weirdness is happening in the City by the Bay.

A Novel

Noir

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! The absurdly outrageous, sarcastically satiric, and always entertaining New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore returns in finest madcap form with this zany noir set on the mean streets of post-World War II San Francisco, and featuring a diverse cast of characters, including a hapless bartender; his Chinese sidekick; a doll with sharp angles and dangerous curves; a tight-lipped Air Force general; a wisecracking waif; Petey, a black mamba; and many more. San Francisco. Summer, 1947. A dame walks into a saloon . . . It’s not every afternoon that an enigmatic, comely blonde named Stilton (like the cheese) walks into the scruffy gin joint where Sammy "Two Toes" Tiffin tends bar. It’s love at first sight, but before Sammy can make his move, an Air Force general named Remy arrives with some urgent business. ’Cause when you need something done, Sammy is the guy to go to; he’s got the connections on the street. Meanwhile, a suspicious flying object has been spotted up the Pacific coast in Washington State near Mount Rainer, followed by a mysterious plane crash in a distant patch of desert in New Mexico that goes by the name Roswell. But the real weirdness is happening on the streets of the City by the Bay. When one of Sammy’s schemes goes south and the Cheese mysteriously vanishes, Sammy is forced to contend with his own dark secrets—and more than a few strange goings on—if he wants to find his girl. Think Raymond Chandler meets Damon Runyon with more than a dash of Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes All Stars. It’s all very, very Noir. It’s all very, very Christopher Moore.

Andrew John Kinney

This is an enjoyable romp; a page-turner which approaches Christopher Moore's best work, such as A Dirty Job or Bloodsucking Fiends. I read a good sized chunk of it while sailing up the coast of North Carolina from Cape Fear to Beaufort, and it was a good way to pass the time.

Traci Wilbanks

When you imagine Christopher Moore + noir, you might think that he is going in a new, dark direction. You'd be wrong. His version of noir is less dark and brooding and more of a comedy of errors. Regular Joe finds himself in over his head. Oh, and there's a dame complicating things. :)

This book is set in San Francisco in 1947. The time period and the locations are well-researched. As a resident of San Francisco, I was excited to recognize places I knew, and I learned some new things as well.

I love books make you think about them when you aren't reading them, and you can't wait to find time to read more. I definitely loved this book!

Matthew Royal

The plot is comfortably predictable from the very beginning of the story, and would make great B-grade SciFi movie for a Friday night in, except that the kind of character development you need to fall in love with a book like this takes a backseat to sometimes overly clever observational narration. 

Loved the local San Francisco period color. The afterword went into more detail on Moore's process of picking a year, doing quite a bit of detailed research, then spinning a yarn around fixed points like cafes and theaters and people who actually existed. It explains the lack of character development, because the process is more like spinning cotton candy filler around a central metal pin than following typical storytelling patterns. The end is in mind from the beginning, and the enjoyment is in how he tells the story.

Cindy Lieberman

There’s a reason noir is confined to a particular time and place, and why the author (or his publisher, more likely) felt a disclaimer was needed at the outset. To fully steep the novel Noir in its period requires a significant amount of now-offensive slang and bigotry. It’s hard to believe that this talented author couldn’t contemporize the story and create a modern-day Noir. If you can get beyond that, it was an entertaining if somewhat corny yarn, with a number of smile- or groan-inducing puns. Fun, if you’re a white male of European descent. In questionable taste for the rest of us.

Ben Nathan

There are so many levels of brilliance in this book. A wonderful parody of the time and types of characters. Well written and so nuanced in the ideas that if it weren't for the weirdness could have been a run of the mill noir paperback. This will lead to much Moore being read.

Jessica Nottingham

Not a book for me. It was kind of amusing, but the time period it's set in allows for too much that I can't deal with. Plus, it was kind of slow. So... on to the next book.

Nicholas Speer

Jordan

Abbe Castillo

Erik Wallace

Cat Josephson

Jeff James

Jayme Bosio

Theodore Kaplan

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! The absurdly outrageous, sarcastically satiric, and always entertaining New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore returns in finest madcap form with this zany noir set on the mean streets of post-World War II San Francisco, and featuring a diverse cast of characters, including a hapless bartender; his Chinese sidekick; a doll with sharp angles and dangerous curves; a tight-lipped Air Force general; a wisecracking waif; Petey, a black mamba; and many more. San Francisco. Summer, 1947. A dame walks into a saloon . . . It’s not every afternoon that an enigmatic, comely blonde named Stilton (like the cheese) walks into the scruffy gin joint where Sammy "Two Toes" Tiffin tends bar. It’s love at first sight, but before Sammy can make his move, an Air Force general named Remy arrives with some urgent business. ’Cause when you need something done, Sammy is the guy to go to; he’s got the connections on the street. Meanwhile, a suspicious flying object has been spotted up the Pacific coast in Washington State near Mount Rainier, followed by a mysterious plane crash in a distant patch of desert in New Mexico that goes by the name Roswell. But the real weirdness is happening on the streets of the City by the Bay. When one of Sammy’s schemes goes south and the Cheese mysteriously vanishes, Sammy is forced to contend with his own dark secrets—and more than a few strange goings on—if he wants to find his girl. Think Raymond Chandler meets Damon Runyon with more than a dash of Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes All Stars. It’s all very, very Noir. It’s all very, very Christopher Moore.

Noir A Novel