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A novel that is specifically written to pay homage to or imitate the style of 1940s-1950s film noir. While many of the classic film noir movies of the period were themselves based on novels written in the noir style, these books would not be considered true Novel Noir because they would have been considered standard mystery/crime works in their own time. In other words, they weren't written with the tropes of film noir as we now know it in mind.

A key characteristic of Novel Noir is that it is consciously intended to emulate the gritty, shadowy [black and white] atmosphere of the classical Noir period. This is what sets the genre apart from works of [contemporary] mystery. The cutoff date for a true novel noir would likely be any time after the end of the classical American Noir era (generally accepted as the end of the 1950s).

A Novel Noir aims to recreate as closely as possible the elements of classic film noir. While certain aspects of a film can't be perfectly replicated in written form, novel noir works are characterized by vivid descriptions and deep immersion in the time period (often the 1930s, 1940s, or 1950s). Other [characteristics] are essentially the same as film noir: private eyes, morally gray scenarios and characters, crooked cops and shady gangsters, and of course, the mysterious and vexing [femme fatale].

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