A unique blend of rapid-fire action and cynical humor are the hallmarks of the story-telling style developed by such writers as Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Those two pastmasters are joined here by eighteen other gifted and innovative practitioners of the art, among them Cornell Woolrich, James M. Cain, Mickey Spillane, Elmore Leonard, Ross Macdonald, and Jim Thompson. To demonstrate the fascination that pulp fiction has exerted on superb writers more often associated with other genres and artforms, stories by Stephen King and Quentin Tarantino are also included.

Contains the stories:

"Torch Number", by James Ellroy
"The Egyptian Lure", by Carroll John Daly
"Arson Plus", by Dashiell Hammett
"The Man Who Liked Dogs", by Raymond Chandler
"Dead Man's Head", by Robert Leslie Bellem
"The Singing Pigeon", by Ross Macdonald
"The Hunting of Hemingway", by MacKinlay Kantor
"Dead on Her Feet", by Cornell Woolrich
"Nice Work", by Peter Cheyney
"The Lady Says Die!", by Mickey Spillane
"Accident Report", by Ed McBain
"Freaky Deaky", by Elmore Leonard
"Travelling Light", by W. R. Burnett
"Pastorale", by James M. Cain
"The Deadly Circle", by Samuel Fuller
"Get a Load of This", by James Hadley Chase
"It's a Wise Cadaver", by David Goodis
"The Frightening Frammis", by Jim Thompson
"The Fifth Quarter", by Stephen King
"The Watch", by Quentin Tarantino