“Maribelle’s Petard” by Carol Mitchell

“Anna.”

Maribelle froze. Maybe she had imagined the word. Maybe it had come in on the ocean breeze that drifted through the curtains covering their open balcony doors . . .

“On or Off This Island” by Robert Arellano

My grandmother Fefita sits for la cena while my great-grandmother Maria Antonia cautions her on the caprices of obstetrics. Fefita is six months pregnant with her first child, my aunt Juana.

“The crying is horrible,” Doña Maria Antonia counsels her fresh-faced daughter-in-law, “but the silence is far worse.”

Read “Home Invasion,” Kaylie Jones’s story from Long Island Noir

To celebrate the release of her new novel The Anger Meridian, today we’re pleased to feature author Kaylie Jones’s story from Long Island Noir.

Matthew McGevna: On Writing Little Beasts

To celebrate the release of Little Beasts — the latest from our Kaylie Jones Books imprint — we’re pleased to feature a statement from author Matthew McGevna on how a real-life crime inspired his debut novel.

“A Park in California” by Jane Hammons

He walked down Telegraph Avenue toward campus, stepping around street kids, doped up and dirty . . .

“The Stuff” by Ross Middleton

“So, you got the stuff? . . .”

Chicago Noir: The Classics Receives STARRED Review from Publishers Weekly!

We’re thrilled for editor Joe Meno! Click to read the full review.

“The Butcher and the American” by Andrew Cotto

The American walked the ancient Italian countryside on unsteady feet. It was a familiar path, but he had been up very, very late with guests from the States, toasting to liberal optimism with liberal quantities of Tuscan wine. They had, essentially, drunk all night, waiting for election results from the States, which didn’t report until three a.m. Italian time that Barack Obama had become the forty-fourth president of the United States . . .