On this page

This page lists novels by Horace McCoy. Omnibus editions that include McCoy novels are also included.

Books about Horace McCoy are also included.

Cover images, when possible, are for two early editions and a more recent paperback or digital edition.

By Horace McCoy
- novels
- omnibus editions

About Horace McCoy
- biographical / critical

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Horace McCoy

1935

"The depression of the 1930s led people to desperate measures to survive. The marathon dance craze, which flourished at that time, seemed a simple way for people to earn extra money dancing the hours away for cash, for weeks at a time. But the underside of that craze was filled with a competition and violence unknown to most ballrooms."

No Pockets in a Shroud

Horace McCoy

1937

A revised edition was published in 1948.

"In the city of Coltron, Mike Dolan wages a lone war against corruption. Surrounded by lies, he wants to print the truth in his paper. Mike's friends try to stop him with words, but his enemies - the society abortionist, the discredited baseball player, and the neo-fascist 'Crusaders' - try lead pipes and bullets. But Mike's not after a Pulitzer Prize; he's after a clean city and a clearer conscience - no matter what the cost."

I Should Have Stayed Home

Horace McCoy

1938

"For aspiring actor Ralph Carston, all roads lead to Hollywood—but none seem to be direct or easy. The handsome Georgia native immediately finds that his Southern accent is one strike against him, though he manages to eke out a living as an extra alongside his pretty roommate Mona Matthews. But the big break for these two young hopefuls finally arrives in a curious way. When their third roommate is sentenced to three years in prison for shoplifting, Mona’s emotional courtroom outburst wins her and Ralph notoriety—and entrée into new social circles. Ralph becomes the self-loathing plaything of Ethel Smithers, a wealthy widow who promises much but has no interest in delivering. Mona faces romantic nightmares of her own while also being blacklisted for joining a union. I Should Have Stayed Home is a fantastically hardboiled portrait of Tinseltown in the thirties."

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye

Horace McCoy

1948

"To escape prison, Ralph Cotter uses the same genius for planning and penchant for cold-hearted violence that helped earn him a spot in the slammer in the first place. On the lam in a city where he knows nobody, Cotter has nothing to lose, no conscience to hold him back, and no limit to his twisted ambition. But in the midst of a criminal spree, a grift leads him to the boudoir of wealthy heiress Margaret Dobson, a woman with the power to peel back the rotten layers of his psyche and reveal the damaged soul beneath. Vicious and thrilling, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye is a look at one man’s relentless attack on American society, conjuring one of the most memorable antiheros of twentieth-century noir fiction."

Scalpel

Horace McCoy

1952

"For four generations, Colonel Tom Owen’s family has been defined by the coal business. Having pulled himself out of the mines and through college, Tom is now a celebrated army surgeon who served in Europe under General Patton. But when his younger brother dies in a mine accident, he returns to their hometown of Coalville, Pennsylvania, where he confronts his grieving mother and learns the real cause of his brother’s death. Tom resents the coalmines, and his new medical practice is dedicated largely to healing miners injured in them. Despite his distinguished career, he starts to have doubts about his value—both as a surgeon, and a human being. Tom has two paths before him, and his professional and personal destinies hang in the balance. This tale of going home again is one that will resonate with readers long after the final page."

Corruption City

Horace McCoy

1959

An unfinished manuscript that was completed by a ghostwriter.

"Nemo Crespi’s organization has a hand in everything from gambling rackets to hotels to newspapers. To combat him, the governor needs a special prosecutor he can trust, someone free of political ambitions . . . someone like John Conroy, a twenty-nine-year-old law professor as unlikely for the prosecutor job as anyone. Cynical, hardscrabble Conroy is reluctant to accept, until he realizes that the work will put his theory—that all power corrupts—to a welcome real-life test. It will be a formidable mission, and not just because of the caliber of the enemy. Conroy’s own father, a cop promoted to the role of chief investigator, has a close friend in Crespi’s ranks, and he knows his fair share of dirty secrets. As the investigation gains speed, Conroy and those closest to him will have to grapple with the full reach of the vicious syndicate."

4 Novels

Horace McCoy

1983

"."

Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1930s and 40s

2014

"Evolving out of the terse and violent hardboiled style of the pulp magazines, noir fiction expanded over the decades into a varied and innovative body of writing. Tapping deep roots in the American literary imagination, the novels in this volume explore themes of crime, guilt, deception, obsessive passion, murder, and the disintegrating psyche. With visionary and often subversive force they create a dark and violent mythology out of the most commonplace elements of modern life. The raw power of their vernacular style has profoundly influenced contemporary American culture and writing. Far from formulaic, they are ambitious works which bend the rules of genre fiction to their often experimental purposes."

• The Postman Always Rings Twice (James M. Cain)
• They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (Horace Mccoy)
• Thieves Like Us (Edward Anderson)
• The Big Clock (Kenneth Fearing)
• Nightmare Alley (William Lindsay Gresham)
• I Married A Dead Man (Cornell Woolrich)

Characters and Plots in the Novels of Horace McCoy

Robert L. Gale

2013

"This book begins with a chronology of major events in the life of Horace McCoy (1897-1955), and then in one alphabetized sequence synopsizes the plots of his six novels and identifies each of their 494 characters - often with critical comments by publishing scholars, including Gale. It concludes with a select bibliography showing the range of scholarship on McCoy, then an index."