A documentary detective story, an investigation and a confession of love for noir—a genre loved by both men and women. A tale of how, on screen, fatal beauties and detectives in hats took over. What is noir? Even today, specialists can’t decide—Is it a style? A genre? A philosophy? Born in cinema, noir spread into painting and photography, literature and music. Now it confidently consumes computer games as well. This book tells how the world of fatal beauties, crooked cops, and philosophizing gangsters was born and developed—its canon, its transformations, and its reinventions.