Noir Anthology

Pittsburgh has recently (and more than once) been called the most livable city in America; yet the old image of smoky skies and steel mills spewing forth grit has never quite disappeared. Its history as a dirty industrial center is a part of its residents, a part of their toughness. The people of the steel city fight.

Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. Brand-new stories by: Wilfredo J. Burgos Matos, Ernesto Quiñonez, Mayra Santos-Febres, José Rabelo, Luis Negrón, Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro, Ana María Fuster Lavín, Janette Becerra, Manolo Núñez Negrón, Tere Dávila, Edmaris Carazo, Alejandro Álvarez Nieves, Charlie Vázquez, and Manuel A. Meléndez. Translated by Will Vanderhyden.

Becker is a British traveler in trouble. Madhurima is a rising star police officer. In these three explosive tales, the two join forces to investigate the city’s crooked high society. On the way, they take on deluded would-be messiahs in search of Mother Teresa’s stolen millions, encounter fanatics, circus freaks and cannibals, fall in and out of love, and pay homage to one of the world’s most beautiful and toughest cities. Amidst passion, murder and mayhem, is there room for two lovers driven by justice and compassion?

He's touching the front of his coat, feeling the shape of the gun. Should have got rid of it. On any other night, any other job, he would. This isn't any other job. This, he intends, will be his last... It begins with two deaths: a money-man and a grass. Deaths that offer a unique opportunity to a man like Calum MacLean. A man who has finally had enough of killing. Meanwhile two of Glasgow's biggest criminal organisations are at quiet, deadly war with one another. And as Detective Michael Fisher knows, the biggest - and bloodiest - manoeuvres are yet to come...

Buffalo, New York, is still the second-largest metropolis in the state, but in recent years its designation as the Queen City has been elbowed aside by a name that's pure noir: The City of No Illusions. Presidents came from here; and in 1901 a president was killed here while visiting the Pan-American Exposition, by a man who checked into a hotel under a name that translates as Nobody.

Casi siempre, Puerto Rico se nos presenta como una isla rodeada de playas de arena clara, casinos, hoteles de lujo; un lugar para el descanso y el placer. Es la isla que satisface todos los sentidos y todos los apetitos.

The crime fiction canopy's a broad one, with room to give shelter to writing of all sorts, as editor Lawrence Block shows with At Home in the Dark.

Retrouvez dans chacune de ces nouvelles l'humour en coup de poing, la fantaisie verbale, l'imagination drolatique et le goût du canular qui ont fait la célébrité de Boris Vian.

The social worker and the cop, an unlikely couple drawn together on a small, secluded Pacific Northwest island where nothing is as it seems. Protecting the innocent comes at a cost, and what seems to be a sleepy, quiet town is anything but. Includes The Trap, Above the Law, and The Stranger at the Door.

A Taste of Noir includes four short stories from the collection Nice Girl Does Noir by Libby Fischer Hellmann. The stories in Taste include: “Detour” - This story, about a hit woman who takes out the wrong mark, was originally written for the These Guns for Hire (Bleak House, 2007) anthology and was one of Libby's first “noir” stories. “House Rules” - What happens when an average Midwestern couple hits Vegas?

A valiant band of lobsters stage a daring escape from a restaurant on Valentine's Day. A miniature ballerina in a glass globe dances with a beauty that transcends time, space, and reality. A mild-mannered man is driven to violent madness by the machinations of an enormous spider who has invaded his home. A hard-nosed, hard-drinking detective tracks a talking femme fatale cat in a hardboiled kitty city. Temporal manifestations of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse struggle with familiarly human existential crises.

A cabinetmaker, private investigator, journalist, mystery lady, homemaker, police officer, true-crime writer, and flavorist. Between them they witness, investigate, perpetrate, and are victims of serious crime. Murder in the midst of carjacking, fraud, statutory rape, theft, vindictive bullying, and serial arson.

With this critically acclaimed debut collection, Frank Bill announces himself as an author of fiercely defined vision. In these vivid tales, Bill’s southern Indiana proves a literary destination of immense nuance, even as his mostly working-class characters cry out in voices that cannot be denied.

Joyce Carol Oates, a queenpin of the noir genre, has brought her keen and discerning eye to the curation of an outstanding anthology of brand-new top-shelf short stories (and poems by Margaret Atwood!). While bad men are not always the victims in these tales, they get their due often enough to satisfy listeners who are sick of the gendered status quo, or who just want to have a little bit of fun at the expense of a crumbling patriarchal society. This stylistically diverse collection will make you squirm in your seat, stay up at night, laugh out loud, and inevitably wish for more.

In "Frostbitten Secrets: Unmasking the Architect," join detective Nora Larsen as she witness her race against time to unmask the elusive Architect and bring him to justice before he strikes again. Then, venture to the "Whispers of Vágar: Unveiling the Faroese Enigma" where detective Haldur Johansen must confront his own demons as he unravels a series of chilling murders, each with a cryptic symbol that holds the key to the town's dark past. Finally, set sail on a perilous voyage in "The Phantom Passenger: Voyage of Shadows," where a mysterious figure haunts the decks of a ferry.

Her demonic Angel is a collection of all of Joy Mutter's short stories written thus far. The stories have been written in a variety of genres so hopefully there should be something for everyone. Some tales are stranger than others, but all could be said to be different shades of dark. Despite its somewhat suggestive title, Her Demonic Angel is not erotic fiction. Narrated by the author, Joy Mutter.

Vous n'en ferez qu'une bouchée ! Un goûteur professionnel écrit : un ancien client lui a imposé, sous la menace, un marché visant à tuer l'homme qui l'emploie. Pour éviter la mort, il ingérera un antidote avant le repas. Mais lorsque celui-ci a lieu, le goûteur professionnel apprend par son employeur que l'homme qui l'avait menacé est mort empoisonné.

Vous n'en ferez qu'une bouchée ! Gilles et Claire se rendent en Auvergne, une première pour Gilles, anxieux de rencontrer ses beaux-parents. Ceux-ci sont adeptes de la nourriture très locale : ils produisent presque tout eux-mêmes et disposent d'un atelier dédié. Une nuit, Gilles a faim. En entendant des pas, il se cache dans une armoire et assiste à un spectacle étrange, puis dangereux.

Vous n'en ferez qu'une bouchée ! Pascal travaille sur des fours industriels : il cuit des mugs avec des transparents pour les personnaliser. Quand la pièce n'est pas bien aérée, il a la bouche pâteuse et des vertiges et perd le sens du goût. Il cherche alors les causes de ces troubles.

Vous n'en ferez qu'une bouchée ! Le goûteur officiel de " l'Unificateur des Nations ", qui règne sur la planète entière, vient de le voir s'effondrer, empoisonné. Personne d'autre n'est dans la pièce, il est le coupable idéal et est arrêté. Personne ne le croit innocent à l'exception d'un secrétaire d'Etat.