I highly recommend, for inspiration on direction, looking into the Tex Murphey series, and if you haven't(please say you have!) "sam and max hit the road".
Haha, I grew up playing the Tex Murphy games & of course Sam & Max (my favourite furry malcontents). The fact that we're still getting games from both franchises makes me so damn happy, and great fodder for the inspiration of noir writers :)
