Hard-boiled writing . . .

It's all just talk - James M. Cain on style:

Let's talk about this so-called style. I don't know what they're talking about—“tough,” “hard-boiled.” I tried to write as people talk. That was one of the first arguments I ever had with my father—my father was all hell for people talking as they should talk. I, the incipient novelist, even as a boy, was fascinated by the way people do talk.

Interview, recently re-posted by Paris Review.