There is a reason why the tall, sultry red haired femme fatale is a classic. You can find her in TV (just saw a version of her in NCIS of all thing), movies (Jessica Rabbit one of the ultimate model) and books. The original of noir is Brigid O'Shaughnessy (if that's indeed her name) in Hammett's ground breaking noir novel. Despite the macho posturing, the white man privilege dripping all over, it's still one good story. Double bluffs inside double bluffs. Put on Jon and Vangelis "Friends of Mr. Cairo" and enjoy. This is the book where noir came from. I still like it even if I cringed quite a few times rereading it.