A pretty decent noir detective story - a lot of the stereotypes of noir detectives probably come from Liddell rather than the Continental Op, Spade or Marlowe.  Liddell is a New York City guy and the best parts of the book are where Liddell navigates a noir New York City of the past, but your typical noir detective is usually, in some respect, more of a Western U.S. figure if not fully Californian.  The main thing that makes Liddell grate on the nerves here is that he's a bit of a prig; a moralist as it pertains to other people's behavior, but not to his own cynicism.  If you need to be sarcastic and undercutting all sincerity from the first moment you step on screen, you can't then also be snippy with people that give that back to you.