"In the context of nineteenth-century Victorinoir and close readings of original-cycle film noir, Julie Grossman argues that the presence of the 'femme fatale' figure, as she is understood in film criticism and popular culture, is drastically over-emphasized and has helped to sustain cultural obsessions with 'bad' women"--Provided by publisher.

Unexpectedly promoted to detective when his predecessor goes missing and a supervisor is killed, agency clerk Charles Unwin struggles with inexperience and nerves during a case in which he encounters bizarre clues and is framed for murder.

At 1:15 a.m, a Minnesota political fixer answers his doorbell. The next thing he knows, he's waking up on the floor of a moving car, lying on a plastic sheet, his body wet with blood. When the car stops, a voice says, "Hey, I think he's breathing," and another voice says, "Yeah? Give me the bat." And that's the last thing he ever knows. Lucas Davenport is investigating another case when the trail leads to the man's disappearance, then--very troublingly--to...

Now living in London, writer Catherine Tramell sets her lethal sights on Michael Glass, the control-freak psychiatrist assigned to evaluate her as a risk-addicted suspect in the "accidental" killing of a star soccer player. Turns out Catherine's just getting started (or is she?), and that's bad news for Glass's ex-wife, a tabloid journalist, and the Scotland Yard detective who's desperate to put Catherine in jail. Has Catherine finally met her match...

A straitlaced businessman meets a quirky, free-spirited woman at a downtown New York greasy spoon. Her offer of a ride back to his office results in a lunchtime motel rendezvous, just the beginning of a capricious interstate road trip that brings the two face-to-face with their hidden selves.

A female assassin and a high-class call girl become friends and overcome past failures as they engage in a femme fatale mission of vengeance.

Unwilling to believe that his brother really committed suicide in Trinidad, Steve Emery's efforts to expose the truth quickly land him at odds with his widowed sister-in-law, nightclub singer Chris Emery, who is seducing the spy he suspects is the killer.