Not So Noir... Or Is It?

After reading The Kidnapper Bell and The City of Commerce, I'm honestly not too sure about the stories being "Classic Noir" or "Neo-noir," because of the lack of the femme fatale in the stories, I'm aware the options had nothing to do with femme fatales but I love what they bring to the table, and I thought I'd mention that I missed that aspect of noir in these stories. Well I mean in The Kidnapper Bell, the girl at the beginning of the story does get the guy she is dating to try and help her cover up the murder of a man, but really not much femme fatale qualities if you ask me. As far as the protagonists, in these stories, they don't really seem like the ones we have previously been introduced to, then again, we are moving on to Neo Noir at this point, or at least a comparison of the two.
   In The Kidnapper Bell, the protagonist appears to be a detective as well as a criminal. I mean he drugged the girl and caused her to have an accident which in turn caused her death. I mean, yes it was an accident that she fell over, but the drugs must have started to get to her. Yet after that occurs, he begins the journey of trying to find the missing girl she had been trying to locate. He tries to redeem himself and attempt to be the hero after he was being a hunter of sorts. He shows a new and different type of Neo noir protagonist figure. Well,what can be said about the irresponsible guy in City of Commerce? He seems to be quite a loser, and currently unsuccessful. His attitude towards the situation he was in seemed odd to me, and WOW, he doesn't learn his lesson, he decides to head on to the next casino he can find. He has a wife at home and instead of taking care of her and helping her out, he makes her life harder it seems, pretty selfish.
   As far as similarities between the two protagonists, it seems they are both consumed by a certain something. They both have the characteristics of the neo noir types and it comes out through with their actions and comments throughout the stories. The protagonist in The Kidnapper Bell, was so intent on getting the girl into bed and eventually committed to find the missing girl and the guy in City of Commerce, was consumed by his obsession and addiction to gambling. The ambitions they had took them down paths they might not have otherwise followed.