Staff Picks

Imagine competing in a dance marathon for 879 hours straight (36 1/2 days), where your only breaks come 10 minutes at a time.  That's what Robert Syverton and Gloria Beatty do in the classic short novel They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Horace McCoy.  This story of desperate people trying to win $1,000 during the height of the Great Depression is captivating.  It's included in the anthology Crime Novels: American Noir of the Thirties and Forties, which leads off with another classic short novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain.

Stephen Kight
Assistant Director for Public Services