Vintage Crime/Black Lizard was formed in June 1990 with the acquisition of Black Lizard, a renowned publisher of classic crime fiction that was created by Donald S. Ellis and Barry Gifford. Before the acquisition, Vintage Books was already publishing the work of respected American authors such as Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Raymond Chandler under the Vintage Crime series. With Black Lizard came the literature of Jim Thompson, David Goodis, and other great noir writers of the post World War II era, allowing the formation of one of the preeminent crime publishers in the country.

Vintage Crime/Black Lizard is still devoted to the best of classic crime, having added Eric Ambler, Chester Himes, and Ross Macdonald to the list. We are also proud to publish some of the most talented crime and mystery writers working today, including Michael Dibdin, Carl Hiaasen, Gregory Mcdonald, Ruth Rendell, Jason Starr, Andrew Vachss, and, most recently, the addition of the internationally bestselling crime fiction writer Henning Mankell.