The Rhetorizer

NOIR: Songs About Schemers and Losers

After spending a year with scoundrels, schemers and various other losers, we're wrapping up our noir season. We share some noir-themed songs and discuss some of the highlights of our reading list. Jacob's playlist: One Way or Another - Blondie Wicked Game - Chris Isaak Money Money Money - ABBA Kevin's playlist: Psycho - Jack Kittel Goodbye Earl - The Chicks The Girl on Death Row - Lee Hazlewood and Duane Eddy

NOIR: Crook Manifesto (Colson Whitehead)

When the Jackson 5 come to town, furniture salesman Ray Carney slips back into the criminal underworld to secure tickets for his daughter. We return to two-time Pulitzer winner Colson Whitehead for the follow up to Harlem Shuffle. Now, it's the 70s, the city is in turmoil, and Ray Carney and his friends are older than ever.

NOIR: The Many, Many Talented Mr. Ripleys (Patricia Highsmith et al)

With the arrival of Netflix’s Ripley, we revisit Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley, about a charming murderer’s European vacation. Hollywood can’t get enough of this scoundrel! What's the deal with that? Plus, Roxane provides the DEFINITIVE list of HOTTEST RIPLEYS. And Kevin gets a lift from Alain Delon’s alleged SECRET LOVE CHILD. TUNE IN to hear it all!!!

NOIR: Harlem Shuffle (Colson Whitehead)

A furniture salesman keeps getting pulled into the criminal underworld of 50s and 60s Harlem. It's part heist, part revenge plot and part social satire, filled with characters who don't usually get the spotlight in crime books, like the fence, the ageing muscle, and the crooked banker. Note to you, dear listener: after reading this book, we decided do an episode on its sequel, Crook Manifesto. Stay tuned for that.

NOIR shorts: Harlan Ellison's sci-fi crime thriller

One of science fiction's greatest bastards, Harlan Ellison, brings us a story of a telepath's encounter with a serial killer on death row. The story is called "Mefisto in Onyx." You can find it in The Best American Noir of the Century Anthology.