Sultry Murder Jazz: Pinup Noir (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798311437356)

Femme fatale in noir fiction does not mean what it is used for in other genres. While it is often taken to mean a dangerous woman, who can be fatal to those who encounter her, in noir it's not always a direct danger. She is an agent of change, of chaos, introduced into a man's already precarious existence. She might ignite that flicker of hope in him, she may touch that tangled knot of his honor more directly than any other thing could. She is a threat, as hope is too much to bear in the gritty grimy world of the noir city painted in brutal shades of gray and black.

A man will do a lot for love. Even if he doesn't hope to win her hand, the tarnished knight of a noir tale will lay down his life to protect his honor... or hers. With the tales in this book, those pin-ups are brought to life, stepping out of their poster-paper dimensions and into full life. Deadly, dangerous, not always in a physical sense, but in the most feminine of power, wielding glory, bringing a little light with them into the shadows of despair.