I’m taking this thread to recommend something less-mainstream that I enjoyed — and yeah, I considered cheating and suggesting something I published, but that would be cheesy. :)
I’m going to recommend a crime novel published in 2011, Money Shot by Christa Faust. From the phenomenal Glen Orbik retro-style cover, to the fact that it was published by Hard Case Crime, an outfit that does a lot of reprints and trunk novels from past masters, it would be easy to assume that this was a book from the heyday of the paperback crime novel. In my opinion, this book (and it’s sequel, Choke Hold), stands right up there with the Parker and Quarry novels.
As per the official description:
THEY THOUGHT SHE’D BE EASY. THEY THOUGHT WRONG.
It all began with the phone call asking former porn star Angel Dare to do one more movie. Before she knew it, she’d been shot and left for dead in the trunk of a car. But Angel is a survivor. And that means she’ll get to the bottom of what’s been done to her even if she has to leave a trail of bodies along the way.
This is a delightfully nasty slice of neo-noir, and I’m honestly surprised it hasn’t been turned into a film yet.
