Los Angeles Noir (Akashic Noir)

I read the Hong Kong Noir book but this LA collection of short stories was much better and felt noir-ish

I wasn't ready for the cutting-edge contemporaneity -- too much drugs and LBGTQ for my elderly taste. I had to abandon several of the stories. I hope the LA Noir part two will be more satisfying to me.

Akashic has a series of geographically-themed collections of crime fiction. This one, as the title aptly implies, features Los Angeles, which, if you have spent decades of your life here, immediately makes you suspicious that the stories will be filled with cliches about Hollywood and Beverly Hills and Malibu. They are not. The collection is geographically divided into different areas of greater LA and the authors do a great job of capturing the different neighborhoods, making them even recognizable by a native. The stories take the reader through disparate neighborhoods such as Mulholland Drive where fancy sportscars go over the cliff's edge (Connelly's "Mulholland Drive") to the massage parlors and bus stops of Koreatown (Hirhara's "Number 19"). They take you into Leimert Park ("Dangerous Days" by Emory Holmes III). "Midnight in Silicon Valley" by Denise Hamilton is a tale about Chinese entreprenours driving Lexuses by the gravel pits of Irwindale: "They caught up with Russell Chen as he drove home from work, running his Lexus off the frontage road by the gravel pits of Irwindale."The second part of the anthology is subtitled "Hollywoodlandia" and takes the reader to a trattoria on Hillhurst that feels just like Los Feliz and even talks about the mansions north of Los Feliz and the older duplexes south of it where the older washed-up actresses retire ("The Method" by Janet Fitch). Patt Morrison's rendition of Beverly Hills is unlike anything you saw on "90210." "Over Thirty" is a chilling and explicit look at the underbelly of the alternative lifestyle of West Hollywood. "Once More, Lazarus" by Hector Tobias is about children and guns and detectives and has that East Hollywood desperate feel.The third part of the anthology takes the reader to that legendary land "East of La Cienega." Susan Straight's "The Golden Gopher" begins just like an old rock song about nobody walking in LA and features the neighborhoods of Echo Park and Downtown. "The Kidnapper Bell" by Jim Pascoe is about the LA River, the concrete-lined channel that passes for a river in this dry desert clime. It is about bodies and bells and Pavlov's dog. Neal Pollack's brilliant piece "City of Commerce" is an absolute gem that talks about a marriage on the rocks and the gambling bug in a concrete industrial wasteland where dreams go to die. "Fish" by Lienna Silver captures the atmosphere of the Russian emigre in Plummer Park. Gary Phillips's piece "Roger Crumbler Considered His Shave" rehashes some old noir themes about graft and adultery and mistrust. It doesn't necessarily evoke Mid-City, but its a good piece nonetheless.Part IV of the anthology is the Gold Coast and it begins with a topnotch piece by Scott Phillips, entitled "The Girl Who Kissed Barnaby Jones." It is about washed-up actresses, barmaids, and bartenders finally getting lucky. "Kinship" by Brian Ascalon Roley is a story that takes place in Mar Vista, a neighborhood that is about manhood, fatherhood, and neighborhood. It manages to vividly capture the neighborhood stashed between trendy Santa Monica and gang-infested Venice. Terrific story. Robert Ferrigno's "The Hour When The Ship Comes In" captures the intersection of various social and economic neighborhoods from Belmont shore, "the yuppie jewel of Long Beach" to the working-class areas of Long Beach in the shadow of the Queen Mary. Things happen - everywhere - and the trails of bloodstains can't always be washed away. Finally, "What You See" by Diana Wagman captures the Westchester hood.All in all, it is certainly a worthwhile collection taking on LA's mean streets from a variety of writing styles and giving the reader the flavor of all kinds of neighborhoods.

The map inside the front matter pinpointing each short story's location was an added value. it was especially helpful to non-Angeleno readers, but the A-List authors was what sold me on this one of the best in the Noir Anthology series.

I enjoyed this collection. Often I wonder how come some of these stories don't get made into a movie.

I like the short stories. My husband and I can read it and not concern ourselves with losing the other's place.

A book entitled Los Angeles Noir would be a hard one to resist reading since L.A. is the place where noir began. Going back to the time of Raymond Chandler and even well before that.This 2007 anthology edited by Denise Hamilton consists of 17 original short stories whose content reflects the considerable diversity of L.A. in the modern era. In keeping with the noir theme, most of these stories are dark and depressing. Many are disturbing. Some excessively so.Two of the entries stand out from the others in terms of literary value: "Dangerous Days" by Emory Holmes II. An interesting tale of drug dealing and murder populated by African American and Hispanic characters on both sides of the law. And "Morocco Junction 90210" by Patt Morrison where a crime spree in Beverly Hills is accompanied by a mysterious death. The appeal of this particular entry is greatly enhanced by the cynical, all knowing, gossip columnist-like voice of the female narrator.All in all, Los Angeles Noir ranks as middle of the road among the Akashic Noir series. Three stars.

... and gives a glimpse of the seamy underbelly. As a native, it's always fun to read about the places I know and love; as a reader, I'm impressed with the breadth of writers covered in this anthology (and it's a pleasure to recognize one of them as a high school acquaintance of mine!) Some of the stories are better written then others, but all of them bring the different parts of Los Angeles to life. This is part of a series of "Noir" collections; I will definitely be searching out other volumes in the series.

Auteur sachant développer de très bonnes intrigues.

Excellent book gives a feel for the underside of the City of the Angels