This original anthology of noir fiction set in Maryland's Charm City includes new stories by David Simon, Laura Lippman, Jim Fusilli, and more.As fans of the HBO series The Wire have known for years, Baltimore is home to a rich and diverse underworld that is matched by an equally rich and diverse literary tradition. This is the city where Dashiell Hammett worked as a Pinkerton agent. It's also where Zelda Fitzgerald came...

A fledgling private detective tries to make ends meet when Opportunity seems to present itself. Then he learns the scope of the case. That $250 seemed like such an easy payday ...Ken Sligo returns in The Killers Are Coming, a cat-and-mouse investigation across the backstages and back alleys of "The Block," Baltimore's red-light district. Forged by the criminals and police, to isolate criminal activity, it can't contain the various mobsters and shake-down artists sticking their toes...

This anthology of new noir fiction set in the Dutch capital "features superior writing from authors largely unknown to an American audience" ( Publishers Weekly).From its numerous coffee shops where drugs are openly available, to its world-famous Red Light District where prostitutes display themselves in shop windows, Amsterdam is a city where almost anything goes in broad daylight. And yet, this serene city of canals has its dark side as well. In fifteen ...

"These 15 new stories celebrate the differences between us and our northern neighbor. As in any good noir, poverty, drugs, and despair cloud many of the characters' lives. But even the stories about druggies have a certain je ne sais quoi...Whether it's the quirkiness of the characters, the ingenuity of the puzzles, or the big hearts inside some of the darkest villains, noir's different north of the border."--Kirkus Reviews"American crime f...

Named a Pick of the Week for the week of February 29th by Publishers Weekly"Grouped under three headings, the 13 stories in this outstanding entry in Akashic's noir series capture the gloomy underside of Sweden's capital, portraying the hopelessness of those trapped in what Larson and Edenborg in their introduction call the city that devours your soul."--Publishers Weekly, Starred review"Coedited by local a...

Australia's largest city "provides fertile ground for dark doings, as these 14 tales demonstrate . . . [a] cavalcade of crime Down Under" ( Kirkus Reviews ).Includes Kirsten Tranter's Edgar Award-nominated "The Passenger"Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all new stories, each one set in a d...

"Zagreb's noirish underbelly comes from a new nation familiar with both war and war crimes. Mr. Sršen's handpicked selections are anything but ordinary." — New York Journal of BooksEastern European history is filled with noir-ish and harrowing tales, and Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia, certainly has its fill. Layers of trauma from its war years, soccer hooliganism, and a shadowy Balkan underground all contribute to the city's transient and inconstant ...

Crime fiction set in Iran—including a finalist for the Shamus Award for Best PI Short Story." Tehran Noir is not only a solid crime collection, but an illuminating look into day-to-day life in the Middle East, with religious and political implications galore, as well as racial tensions bubbling just beneath the surface. . . . The stories in Tehran Noir aren't always easy to read, but they are engaging in the extreme." — San Francisco Book Revi...

"Offbeat, disturbing, and sometimes darkly comical" crime stories set in upstate New York by Joyce Carol Oates, Lawrence Block, S.J. Rozan, and more ( Kirkus Reviews).Buffalo is still the second-largest metropolis in New York 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 while visiting the Pan-American Exposition, a pre...

"A sobering experience . . . The power of this collection comes from the voices of these authors, voices suffused with rage, despair, and madness." — The New York Times Book ReviewThis anthology, with stories set in different prisons across the US, presents an absolutely new perspective on prison literature. From a killer's confession to a desire for redemption, from stories of new cell mates to prison snitches, this collection of tales runs the gamut of e...

In "a delightful hot toddy of a winter's read," authors Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins hunt for murderer in Victorian London ( Los Angeles Times ).It was the best of times, it was the worst of crimes in this delightful Dickensian romp, with the canonical author teaming up with a famous upstart to solve a devilish murder.In Victorian London, Charles Dickens and his protege, the renowned author Wilkie Collins, ma...

Israeli crime fiction that "sets the bar high for subsequent Noir offerings. The genre is hot, Tel Aviv is exotic, and this volume is outstanding" ( Library Journal, starred review).Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched with the summer '04 award-winning bestseller Brooklyn Noir. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respec...