Lehane is often referred to as the heir apparent to Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, the originators of the noir genre.

Like them, he aims to please readers with complicated plots, characters from the seamy underside of society, and hard-boiled yet decent detectives who, despite frequent personal conflicts with what they find, continue to search for the truth. Lehane has acknowledged his high regard for the talents of these men.

Lehane has credited his initial interest in writing, however, to Richard Price's The Wanderers, a saga about street gangs he first read at age fourteen. Price attempts to combine humor and tragedy, sudden violence and deep feelings, and he accomplished this melding primarily through cutting and accurate street dialogue. Lehane also cites James Crumley as an inspiration, and he describes reading The Last Good Kiss in college and being awed by the world Crumley creates. The...