What is hard-boiled fiction?

[iamaelephant]

I have been seeing this term come up in a few reviews for fiction books. Can someone please explain what it means? Here is an example of it used in context from Amazon.com

The breathless pace and rich styling are sure to appeal to readers of hard-boiled fiction in general, but since up to now Pike has mostly remained in the background, some fans of the Elvis Cole series (The Forgotten Man, etc.) may find the explicit picture that emerges of Pike at odds with the image they've constructed for themselves.

Then in the next review

Robert Crais wrote for the hit television shows Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, and L.A. Law, among others, so it comes as no surprise that his novels (including 11 featuring Elvis Cole and Joe Pike) have a hard-boiled feel and seamlessly incorporate cutting dialogue

From the Editorial Reviews section on this page
http://www.amazon.com/Watchman...&qid=1181879065&sr=1-1

Anyone know WTF is up with that term? What does it mean?

 

[nageov3t]

http://www.case.edu/artsci/engl/marling/hardboiled/

google + first result

edit: and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardboiled

Hardboiled fiction, most commonly associated with detective stories, is distinguished by an unsentimental portrayal of crime, violence, and sex. From its earliest days, hardboiled fiction was published in and closely associated with so-called pulp magazines, most famously Black Mask; later, many hardboiled novels were published by houses specializing in paperback originals, also colloquially known as "pulps." Consequently, "pulp fiction" is often used as a synonym for hardboiled crime fiction.