Answer
James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler, and Dashiell Hammett are considered to be founders of the hardboiled school of detective fiction. These authors wrote novels and short stories about gritty, realistic detectives who worked in the seedy underworld of American cities in the early 20th century. The hardboiled school of detective fiction was a reaction to the more genteel and romantic detective fiction that had been popular in the 19th century.