I admit I don't yet know a ton about noir, but everyone always seems to mention The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy when the topic comes up. Yes, the one they made a movie from not too long ago, but the book is supposed to be a ton better. I have a trade sized copy in almost new shape on my shelf, if you're interested.

Dashiell Hammett   http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/H_Authors/Hammett_Dashiell.html

Patricia Highsmith    http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/H_Authors/Highsmith_Patricia.html

Raymond Chandler    http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/C_Authors/Chandler_Raymond.html

Charles Willeford   http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/W_Authors/Willeford_Charles.html

W.R. Burnett     http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/B_Authors/Burnett_W-R.html

G.E. Nordell    http://www.genordell.com/rickwalkerPI/index.htm

Chris... I think you would als like "The Thin Man". The book is good and spawned several films that are really good...a bit of humor in them as well as the mystery plot.

http://www.imdb.com/find?s=tt&q=the+thin++man&x=19&y=12

The real deal? James M. Cain DOUBLE INDEMNITY V581 What? I can't believe somebody has not posted The Postman Always Rings Twice! I feel like the Bug in Men in Black, looking for the universe--WHERE IS IT!!!!

Oh, well there is always humane noir  The Underground Man and Sleeping Beauty by Ross Macdonald

and if you want hard as nails noir there is Charles Willeford and the horrifying The Killer Inside Me (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) by Jim Thompson.

I've mentioned this one on other threads but I'll do it again here because this is such a good book and it's relatively unknown -- The Fabulous Clipjoint by Frederic Brown.

ETA:  Here's a link.  Hopefully others will discover what was one of the best books I've read in the last several years!

The Fabulous Clipjoint