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USA Noir
Best of the Akashic Noir Series
Akashic Noir
Edited by Johnny Temple
Contributions by Megan Abbott, Lawrence Block, Tim Broderick, Joseph Bruchac, Jerome Charyn, Lee Child, Reed Farrel Coleman, Michael Connelly, Michael Connelly, Jeffery Deaver, Barbara DeMarco-Barret, Elyssa East, Maggie Estep, Jonathan Safran Foer, J. Malcolm Garcia, James W. Hall, James W. Hall, Pete Hamill, Pete Hamill, Terrance Hayes, Karen Karbo, Bharti Kirchner, William Kent Krueger, Dennis Lehane, Laura Lippman, Laura Lippman, Tim McLoughlin, Joyce Carol Oates, John O'Brien, Bayo Ojikutu, T. Jefferson Parker, George Pelecanos, Pir Rothenberg, S.J. Rozan, Lisa Sandlin, Julie Smith, Asali Solomon, Domenic Stansberry, Susan Straight, Luis Alberto Urrea and Don Winslow
Published by: Akashic Books
Imprint: Akashic Books
548 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 in
- Paperback
- 9781617751844
- Published: November 2013
$25.95
Other Retailers:
--New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)
One of Zoom Street Magazine's Favorite Books of 2014
Indie Books Roundup #1 Pick, Barnes & Noble Book Blog
Included in Zoom Street Magazine's Summer Reading (Mysteries/Noir) Roundup
One of "100 Best Books for Readers Young and Old," HispanicBusiness.com
"Readers will be hard put to find a better collection of short stories in any genre."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A must read for mystery fans, not just devotees of Akashic's 'Noir' series, this anthology serves as both an introduction for newcomers and a greatest-hits package for regular readers of the series There isn’t a weak story in the collection...Strongly recommended for readers who enjoy mysteries published by Hard Case Crime, as well as for fans of police procedurals."
--Library Journal (starred review)
"The 37 stories in this collection represent the best of the U.S.-based anthologies, and the list of contributors include virtually anyone who’s made the best-seller list with a work of crime fiction in the last decade...a must-have anthology."
--Booklist (starred review)
"It's hard to imagine how the present anthology could be topped for sheer marquee appeal...Perhaps the single most impressive feature of the collection is its range of voices, from Joyce Carol Oates' faux innocent young family to Megan Abbott's impressionable high school kids to the chorus of peremptory voices S.J. Rozan plants in a haunted thief's head. Eat your heart out, Walt Whitman: These are the folks who hear America singing, and moaning and screaming."
--Kirkus Reviews
"A less enlightened Temple cover collection of crime and mystery stories could easily reduce itself to stereotypical cartoons about white detectives with a whiskey bottle and a gun in the drawer but Akashic's series takes itself very seriously in its mission to represent all aspects of a city’s dark side."
--Kirkus Reviews, Feature Story/Interview with Johnny Temple
"For those who prefer their crime closer to home, there is USA Noir, a veritable greatest hits of Akashic's long-running, acclaimed noir anthology series, rounding up solid gold blackness of the bleakest and darkest kind...Like Chuck Berry sang, 'Anything you want, we got right here in the USA.'"
--Mystery Scene Magazine
Launched with the summer 2004 award-winning bestseller Brooklyn Noir, the groundbreaking Akashic Noir series now includes over sixty volumes and counting. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct location within the city of the book.
Featuring stories by: Dennis Lehane, Don Winslow, Michael Connelly, George Pelecanos, Susan Straight, Jonathan Safran Foer, Laura Lippman, Pete Hamill, Joyce Carol Oates, Lee Child, T. Jefferson Parker, Lawrence Block, Terrance Hayes, Jerome Charyn, Jeffery Deaver, Maggie Estep, Bayo Ojikutu, Tim McLoughlin, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, Reed Farrel Coleman, Megan Abbott, Elyssa East, James W. Hall, J. Malcolm Garcia, Julie Smith, Joseph Bruchac, Pir Rothenberg, Luis Alberto Urrea, Domenic Stansberry, John O'Brien, S.J. Rozan, Asali Solomon, William Kent Krueger, Tim Broderick, Bharti Kirchner, Karen Karbo, and Lisa Sandlin.
From the introduction by Johnny Temple:
"From the start, the heart and soul of Akashic Books has been dark, provocative, well-crafted tales from the disenfranchised. I learned early on that writings from outside the mainstream almost necessarily coincide with a mood and spirit of noir, and are composed by authors whose life circumstances often place them in environs exposed to crime...This volume serves up a top-shelf selection of stories from the series set in the United States. USA Noir only scratches the surface, however, and every single volume has gems on offer."
PART I: TRUE GRIT
Dennis Lehane Dorchester
Animal Rescue Boston Noir
George Pelecanos Park View, N.W.
The Confidential Informant D.C. Noir
Susan Straight Downtown
The Golden Gopher Los Angeles Noir
Pete Hamill Park Slope
The Book Signing Brooklyn Noir
Joyce Carol Oates Kittatinny Mountains
Run Kiss Daddy New Jersey Noir
Terrance Hayes East Liberty
Still Air Pittsburgh Noir
Jerome Charyn Claremont/Concourse
White Trash Bronx Noir
PART II: AMERICAN VALUES
Maggie Estep Aqueduct Racetrack
Alice Fantastic Queens Noir
Bayo Ojikutu 77th & Jeffery
The Gospel of Moral Ends Chicago Noir
Tim McLoughlin Sunset Park
When All This Was Bay Ridge Brooklyn Noir
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Costa Mesa
Crazy for You Orange County Noir
Reed Farrel Coleman Selden
Mastermind Long Island Noir
Karen Karbo S.E. Twenty-Eighth Avenue
The Clown and Bard Portland Noir
PART III: ROAD RAGE
Michael Connell y Mullholand Drive
Mulholland Dive Los Angeles Noir
Megan Abb bb ott Alter Road
Our Eyes Couldn’t Stop Opening Detroit Noir
Lee Child Chandler
Public Transportation Phoenix Noir
Jonathan Safran Foer Princeton
Too Near Real New Jersey Noir
James W. Hall Coconut Grove
Ride Along Miami Noir
Elyssa East Buzzards Bay
Second Chance Cape Cod Noir
PART IV: HOMELAND SECURITY
Don Winslow Pacific Beach
After Thirty San Diego Noir
J. Malcolm Garcia Troost Lake
Missing Gene Kansas City Noir
Julie Smith Garden District
Loot New Orleans Noir
Domenic Stansberry North Beach
The Prison San Francisco Noir
Joseph Bruchac Adirondacks
Helper Indian Country Noir
Laura Lipp man Locust Point
Easy As A-B-C Baltimore Noir
Pir Rothenberg Museum District
The Rose Red Vial Richmond Noir
PART V: UNDER THE INFLUENCE
Luis Alberto Urrea Paradise Valley
Amapola Phoenix Noir
John O’Brien Scotch 80s
The Tik Las Vegas Noir
S.J. Rozan St. George
Lighthouse Staten Island Noir
Asali Solomon West Philadelphia
Secret Pool Philadelphia Noir
William Kent Kruger West Side, St. Paul
Bums Twin Cities Noir
PART VI: STREET JUSTICE
T. Jefferson Parker Kearny Mesa
Vic Primeval San Diego Noir
Tim Broderick 40 Wall Street
Feeding Frenzy Wall Street Noir
Bharti Kirchner Wallingford
Promised Tulips Seattle Noir
Lawrence Block
The Ehrengraf Settlement Buffalo Noir
Lisa Sandlin Beaumont
Phelan’s First Case Lone Star Noir
Jeffery Deaver Hell’s Kitchen
A Nice Place to Visit Manhattan Noir
*Story order in final book subject to change
Megan Abbott is the Edgar Award–winning author of six novels, including Dare Me, The End of Everything, and Bury Me Deep. Her writing has appeared in Detroit Noir, Queens Noir, Phoenix Noir, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine. She is the author of The Street Was Mine: White Masculinity and Urban Space in Hardboiled Fiction and Film Noir and editor of A Hell of a Woman, a female crime fiction anthology. She has been nominated for various awards, including the Steel Dagger, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the Pushcart Prize.
Tim Broderick is the creator of a graphic novel series featuring David Diangelo that originated as a webcomic on the Internet. He and his wife live in Chicago with their twin daughters, and all the women in the house are far smarter than he. He’s currently president of the Midwest chapter of Mystery Writers of America and is working on his fourth book, Children of the Revolution, which can be read for free at timbroderick.net.
Joseph Bruchac’s work, like the story in this collection, often reflects his Abenaki Indian ancestry and his deep interest in the history of the Adirondack Mountain region of upstate New York, where he was born—and still resides (in the house where his grandparents raised him).
Jerome Charyn is the author of more than fifty works of fiction and nonfiction, including Sergeant Salinger; Cesare: A Novel of War-Torn Berlin; The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King: A Novel of Teddy Roosevelt and His Times; In the Shadow of King Saul: Essays on Silence and Song; Jerzy: A Novel; and A Loaded Gun: Emily Dickinson for the 21st Century. Among other honors, his novels have been selected as finalists for the Firecracker Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Charyn has also been named a Commander of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture and received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award for Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in New York.
Lee Child was fired and out of work when he hatched a harebrained scheme to write a best-selling novel, thus saving his family from ruin. Killing Floor went on to launch the New York Times #1 best-selling Jack Reacher series with over 100 million books sold in forty-nine languages. Forbes calls it "the strongest brand in publishing." The series has spawned two feature films and an upcoming Amazon Prime Video series.
Reed Farrel Coleman, author of fifteen novels, has been called a “hard-boiled poet” by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan and the “noir poet laureate” in the Huffington Post. He is the three-time winner of the Shamus Award for Best PI Novel of the Year and is a two-time Edgar Award nominee. He has also received the Macavity, Barry, and Anthony awards. Coleman is an adjunct professor of English at Hofstra University, and lives with his family on Long Island.
Jeffery Deaver, the author of The Bone Collector and a number of other international bestsellers, was born outside of Chicago but lived in downtown Manhattan for nearly twenty years. He was an attorney on Wall Street before turning to writing thrillers full-time. One of his first novels was titled Manhattan Is My Beat, an Edgar Award–nominee about a crime involving a (fictional) film noire.
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett is author of Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman’s Guide to Igniting the Writer Within. She has worked as an auto-parts runner, baker, crisis intervention counselor, and more. Her nonfiction has been published in Orange Coast, Westways, the Los Angeles Times, The Writer, Writer’s Digest, and Poets & Writers. She teaches “Jumpstart Your Writing” for Gotham Writers’ Workshop and hosts Writers on Writing on KUCI-FM. For more information, visit www.penonfire.com.
Elyssa East is the author of the Boston Globe best seller, Dogtown: Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town. A New York Times Editors’ Choice selection, Dogtown won the 2010 L.L.Winship/PEN New England Award for best work of nonfiction and was named a “Must-Read Book” by the Massachusetts Book Awards. Her essays and reviews have been published in the New York Times, Philadelphia Enquirer, Dallas Morning News, Kansas City Star, and other publications nationwide.
Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of the award-winning and best-selling novels Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, as well as two works of nonfiction: Eating Animals and The New American Haggadah. His books have been published in over thirty languages, and he was included in Granta’s “Best of Young American Novelists” issue as well as the New Yorker’s “20 under 40” list of the best young writers in the US.
J. Malcolm Garcia is the author of The Khaarijee: A Chronicle of Friendship and War in Kabul and Riding through Katrina with the Red Baron’s Ghost. His articles have been featured in Best American Travel Writing and Best American Nonrequired Reading.
James W. Hall is the author of fourteen novels, including his most recent, Magic City.
James W. Hall is the author of fourteen novels, including his most recent, Magic City.
Terrance Hayes is the 2010 recipient of the National Book Award in poetry. His most recent collection is Lighthead. His other books are Wind in a Box, Muscular Music, and Hip Logic. His honors include four Best American Poetry selections, a Whiting Writers’ Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is a professor of creative writing at Carnegie Mellon University and lives in Pittsburgh.
Karen Karbo is the author of How to Hepburn: Lessons on Living from Kate the Great. Her three novels have all been named New York Times Notable Books of the Year; The Stuff of Life, her memoir about her father, was a People Magazine Critic’s Pick and winner of the Oregon Book Award. Her many essays, reviews, and articles have appeared in Outside, Elle, Vogue,
Bharti Kirchner is the author of nine books—five critically acclaimed novels and four cookbooks. Her latest novel is Tulip Season: A Mitra Basu Mystery. Her essays have appeared in ten anthologies, and she has won numerous awards, including a VCCA (Virginia Center for Creative Arts) Fellowship and two Seattle Arts Commission literature grants.
William Kent Krueger writes the New York Times best-selling Cork O’Connor mystery series, which is set in the north woods of Minnesota. His work has received a number of awards, including the Minnesota Book Award, the Loft-McKnight Fiction Award, the Anthony Award, the Barry Award, and the Friends of American Writers Literary Award. He does all his writing in a St. Paul coffee shop whose identity he prefers to keep secret.
Dennis Lehane is the author of the Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro mystery series (A Drink Before the War; Darkness, Take My Hand; Sacred; Gone, Baby, Gone; Prayers for Rain; and Moonlight Mile), as well as Coronado (five stories and a play) and the award-winning novels Mystic River, Shutter Island, and The Given Day. Mystic River, Shutter Island, and Gone, Baby, Gone have been made into award-winning films. In 2009 he edited the best-selling anthology Boston Noir for Akashic Books.
Mary Cotton is the pseudonymous author of nine novels for young adults, six of them New York Times bestsellers. She is also a fiction editor for the literary magazine Post Road, and is coeditor of No Near Exit: Writers Select Their Favorite Work from Post Road. She is co-owner of Newtonville Books in Boston, Massachusetts.
Jaime Clarke is the author of the novel We're So Famous, editor of Don't You Forget About Me: Contemporary Writers on the Films of John Hughes, and Conversations with Jonathan Lethem, and coeditor of No Near Exit: Writers Select Their Favorite Work from Post Road. He is a founding editor of Post Road and has taught creative writing at University of Massachusetts, Boston, and Emerson College. He is co-owner of Newtonville Books in Boston, Massachusetts.
Laura Lippman is the award-winning writer of more than twenty crime-fiction novels. She lives in Baltimore and New Orleans with her husband, David Simon, and her very smart daughter, Georgia Rae.
Kate Samworth is a painter and illustrator from Maryland. Her paintings and prints have been exhibited around the country and abroad and can be found in the collections of the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, the Woodmere Museum of Art, the Fundación Lolita Rubial (Uruguay), and the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. Her first book, Aviary Wonders Inc., won the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers in 2014.
Laura Lippman is the award-winning writer of more than twenty crime-fiction novels. She lives in Baltimore and New Orleans with her husband, David Simon, and her very smart daughter, Georgia Rae.
Kate Samworth is a painter and illustrator from Maryland. Her paintings and prints have been exhibited around the country and abroad and can be found in the collections of the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, the Woodmere Museum of Art, the Fundación Lolita Rubial (Uruguay), and the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. Her first book, Aviary Wonders Inc., won the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers in 2014.
Tim McLoughlin is the editor of the multiple award–winning anthologies Brooklyn Noir and Brooklyn Noir 2, and coeditor of Brooklyn Noir 3. His debut novel, Heart of the Old Country, was a selection of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program, won Italy's Premio Penne award, and was the basis for the motion picture The Narrows, starring Vincent D'Onofrio and Sophia Bush. His books have been published in seven languages and his writing has appeared in the New York Times and Huffington Post, and has been included in The Best American Mystery Stories. McLoughlin retired after working for thirty years as a peace officer in the New York City criminal justice system, and divides his time between Brooklyn and Eastern Pennsylvania.
Joyce Carol Oates is the author of a number of works of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. She is the editor of New Jersey Noir and Prison Noir and a recipient of the National Book Award, the PEN America Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Humanities Medal, and a World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction. She lives in Princeton, New Jersey, and was recently inducted into the American Philosophical Society.
Bayo Ojikutu was born and raised in greater Chicago. He is the son of folks who migrated to the city from West Africa (Lagos, Nigeria) and the Deep South (Shreveport, Louisiana). Ojikutu’s first novel, 47th Street Black (Three Rivers Press, 2003), won the Washington Prize for Fiction and the Great American Book Award. His second novel, Free Burning, will be released in 2006. Currently, Ojikutu teaches in the Department of English at DePaul University, Chicago.
Pir Rothenberg’s work has appeared in Another Chicago Magazine, Dossier Journal, Harpur Palate, Juked, Makeout Creek, Overtime, Prick of the Spindle, Richmond Noir, River Styx, and Zahir. He is currently pursuing his PhD at Georgia State University.
Lisa Sandlin was born in Beaumont, Texas, and grew up in oil-refinery air, sixty miles from the Gulf of Mexico. She raised a son in Santa Fe, New Mexico, then taught writing at the University of Nebraska for twenty years. She has since returned to Santa Fe. The Do-Right—her first novel—won the 2015 Hammett Award from the IACW/NA and the Best First Private Eye Prize from the Seamus Awards.
Julie Smith is an Edgar Award winner for best novel, and the author of four mystery series set in New Orleans and San Francisco. A former journalist, she has worked for newspapers in both those cities and now lives in New Orleans. She is the owner of booksBnimble, which publishes mysteries and other quality works digitally. In 2007 Smith edited the best-selling anthology New Orleans Noir for Akashic Books.
Asali Solomon is the author of Get Down: Stories. Her work has been featured in the anthologies Philadelphia Noir, Heavy Rotation: Twenty Writers on the Albums that Changed Their Lives, and Naked: Black Women Bare All About Their Skin, Hair, Hips, Lips, and Other Parts. She received a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award in 2006 and was selected as one of the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35” in 2007. She is at work on a novel.
Domenic Stansberry is an award-winning novelist known for his dark, innovative crime novels. His North Beach Mystery Series has won praise in the New York Times and other publications for its rich portrayal of the ethnic and political subcultures in San Francisco. An earlier novel, The Confession, received an Edgar Award for its controversial portrait of a Marin County psychologist accused of murdering his mistress.
Susan Straight was born in Riverside, where she still lives with her family. She has published six novels. Her latest, A Million Nightingales (Pantheon, 2006), set during slavery, is the first of a trilogy about the characters who appear in “The Golden Gopher.”
Don Winslow is the New York Times best-selling author of more than a dozen novels, including Savages, The Power of the Dog, The Kings of Cool, California Fire and Life, The Winter of Frankie Machine, and Satori. Savages was made into a critically acclaimed film for Universal Pictures by three-time Oscar winner Oliver Stone. Winslow has received numerous awards for his writing, including the prestigious Raymond Chandler Award as one of the most significant figures in American literature
"In USA Noir we are treated to range of tales by accomplished writers, and reflecting the diversity of the nation. Each draws on the dark worlds, flawed characters, and jaded mood intrinsic to the genre we have come to call Noir. If you're a fan, you're in for a real treat. If you’re not a fan, try it--you just might change your mind."
--Reviewing the Evidence
"The stories in USA Noir keep the reader guessing and waiting for the unavoidable plot twist at the end without having to sit through chapters of character development or side stories. Like good noir, everything is quick and dirty, keeps the reader engaged and shows that there is a little sex, violence and sleaziness in all of us, regardless of location."
--Denver Post's Yourhub
"So, thanks a million to antho editor and Akashic Books head honcho Johnny Temple for doing such a crackerjack job of overloading my schedule with these dark and dirty pleasures."
--Austin Chronicle
"The sultry, mysterious tone plays out like Lynch writing an old pulp paperback. Much to love here."
--Metro Times Blog (Detroit)
"In a way, the noir series at Akashic has always been a best of so you can't really miss picking this one up."
--Brooklyn Based
"This is, without question, a must-have collection that serves equally well as an introduction to each of the authors as it does the Noir series itself. Regardless if you read the stories in the order presented, or go directly to those by some of your favorites, you'll find USA Noir on your nightstand or reading table for many nights."
--Bookgasm
"This book is full of little gems that can be picked up, read and enjoyed in less than 10 minutes, and as the mother of a young child, this collection is the perfect answer when all I have is a few minutes of uninterrupted reading time."
--NY Spender
"An excellent cross-section of today's noir writers."
--SKJAM! Reviews
"For Christmas, someone could give me USA Noir: Best of the Akashic Noir Series--a good way to offset all the goodwill and frivolity."
--The Observer (UK)
"Hold the eggnog: What you need is a draft of 'edgy fatalism and sexy recklessness,' of flashy crime, gallows humor, and 'desperate deals with a variety of devils,' served up every year since 2004 by the editors of Akashic Books' brilliant noir anthologies. From Brooklyn to Boston, from Phoenix to pre- and post-Katrina New Orleans, each volume in the series reveals a city's distinctive inner darkness."
--O, the Oprah Magazine
"Over the past few years, some of the best collections of short stories have been the Noir anthologies published by Akashic...To me, these collections are total gems, a quality read from some of today's best authors."
--Oline Cogdill, Sun-Sentinel
"In USA Noir we are treated to range of tales by accomplished writers, and reflecting the diversity of the nation. Each draws on the dark worlds, flawed characters, and jaded mood intrinsic to the genre we have come to call Noir. If you're a fan, you're in for a real treat. If you’re not a fan, try it--you just might change your mind."
--Reviewing the Evidence
"The stories in USA Noir keep the reader guessing and waiting for the unavoidable plot twist at the end without having to sit through chapters of character development or side stories. Like good noir, everything is quick and dirty, keeps the reader engaged and shows that there is a little sex, violence and sleaziness in all of us, regardless of location."
--Denver Post's Yourhub
"So, thanks a million to antho editor and Akashic Books head honcho Johnny Temple for doing such a crackerjack job of overloading my schedule with these dark and dirty pleasures."
--Austin Chronicle
"The sultry, mysterious tone plays out like Lynch writing an old pulp paperback. Much to love here."
--Metro Times Blog (Detroit)
"In a way, the noir series at Akashic has always been a best of so you can't really miss picking this one up."
--Brooklyn Based
"This is, without question, a must-have collection that serves equally well as an introduction to each of the authors as it does the Noir series itself. Regardless if you read the stories in the order presented, or go directly to those by some of your favorites, you'll find USA Noir on your nightstand or reading table for many nights."
--Bookgasm
"This book is full of little gems that can be picked up, read and enjoyed in less than 10 minutes, and as the mother of a young child, this collection is the perfect answer when all I have is a few minutes of uninterrupted reading time."
--NY Spender
"An excellent cross-section of today's noir writers."
--SKJAM! Reviews
"For Christmas, someone could give me USA Noir: Best of the Akashic Noir Series--a good way to offset all the goodwill and frivolity."
--The Observer (UK)
"Hold the eggnog: What you need is a draft of 'edgy fatalism and sexy recklessness,' of flashy crime, gallows humor, and 'desperate deals with a variety of devils,' served up every year since 2004 by the editors of Akashic Books' brilliant noir anthologies. From Brooklyn to Boston, from Phoenix to pre- and post-Katrina New Orleans, each volume in the series reveals a city's distinctive inner darkness."
--O, the Oprah Magazine
"Over the past few years, some of the best collections of short stories have been the Noir anthologies published by Akashic...To me, these collections are total gems, a quality read from some of today's best authors."
--Oline Cogdill, Sun-Sentinel