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Reverse-Gentrification of the Literary World

Akashic Books

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Los Angeles Noir

Edited by:

Los Angeles Noir brings you tales of crime and passion and betrayal from some of the most innovative and celebrated writers working today.

$16.95 $12.71

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What people are saying…

A Los Angeles Times best seller, Book Sense Notable Pick, and SCIBA Book Award Winner

Susan Straight’s story, “The Golden Gopher,” won the 2008 Edgar Mystery Award, and two entries—Michael Connelly’s “Mulholland Dive” and Robert Ferrigno’s “The Hour When the Ship Comes In”—were selected for inclusion in the prestigious Best American Mystery Stories 2008 anthology


Description

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: Michael Connelly, Janet Fitch, Susan Straight, Héctor Tobar, Patt Morrison, Emory Holmes II, Robert Ferrigno, Gary Phillips, Christopher Rice, Naomi Hirahara, Jim Pascoe, Neal Pollack, Scott Phillips, Diana Wagman, Lienna Silver, Brian Ascalon Roley, and Denise Hamilton.

From the introduction by Denise Hamilton:

Los Angeles is the birthplace of all things noir . . . Maybe it’s the seductive blur of artifice and reality, the possibility of shucking off the past like last year’s frock and reinventing yourself beyond your wildest dreams. Maybe it’s the desperation that descends when the dream goes sour, the duplicity that lurks behind the beauty, the rot of the jungle flowers, the riptides off the sugar sand beaches that carry off the unwary. Writers like James Cain, Dorothy B. Hughes, Nathanael West, Chester Himes, and Raymond Chandler understood both the hope and the horror that Los Angeles inspires, and they harnessed this duality to create their masterpieces . . .

With Los Angeles Noir, we’ve brought you the ethos of Chandler and Cain filtered through a contemporary lens, showcasing some of the most innovative and celebrated writers working today. Open these pages and you’ll embark on a literary travelogue that stretches from the mountains through the hardscrabble flats to the barrios and middle-class suburbs, the mansions of the wealthy, and the shores of the Pacific Ocean where we finally run out of continent. The breadth of talent on display is as exciting and diverse as the city itself.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: Police & Thieves
“Mulholland Dive” by Michael Connelly (Mulholland Drive)
“Number 19” by Naomi Hirahara (Koreatown)
“Dangerous Days” by Emory Holmes II (Leimert Park)
“Midnight in Silicon Alley” by Denise Hamilton (San Marino)

Part II: Hollywoodlandia
“The Method” by Janet Fitch (Los Feliz)
“Morocco Junction 90210” by Patt Morrison (Beverly Hills)
“Over Thirty” by Christopher Rice (West Hollywood)
“Once More, Lazarus” by Héctor Tobar (East Hollywood)

Part III: East of La Brea
“The Golden Gopher” by Susan Straight (Downtown LA)
“The Kidnapper Bell” by Jim Pascoe (Los Angeles River)
“City of Commerce” by Neal Pollack (Commerce)
“Fish” by Lienna Silver (Fairfax District)
“Roger Crumbler Considered His Shave” by Gary Phillips (Mid-City)

Part IV: The Gold Coast
“The Girl Who Kissed Barnaby Jones” by Scott Phillips (Pacific Palisades)
“Kinship” by Brian Ascalon Roley (Mar Vista)
“The Hour When the Ship Comes In” by Robert Ferrigno (Belmont Shore)
“What You See” by Diana Wagman (Westchester)


Extras


Book Details

  • Paperback: 275 pages
  • Published: 5/1/07
  • IBSN: 9781933354224
  • e-IBSN: 9781936070169

Author

Edgar Award finalist DENISE HAMILTON is the author of seven crime novels and the editor of the best-selling anthology Los Angeles Noir (which includes the Edgar Award–winning short story “The Golden Gopher” by Susan Straight) and Los Angeles Noir 2: The Classics. She is a former Los Angeles Times journalist, a Fulbright Scholar, a noir and sci-fi/fantasy geek, and a proud LA native who refuses to speak only in English. She is the editor of Speculative Los Angeles.

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