Baltimore Noir

by Robert Ward, Laura Lippman (Editor), Jack Bludis, Rob Hiaasen

Overview

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 for psychiatric treatment. In this sterling collection of noir fiction, some of Baltimore’s best authors “confront the full irony that is Charm City, a place where you can go from the leafy beauty of the North Side neighborhoods to the gutted ghettos of the West Side in less than twenty minutes, then find your way to the revamped Inner Harbor in another ten” (Laura Lippman, from the introduction).

Baltimore Noir includes brand-new stories by David Simon, Laura Lippman, Tim Cockey, Rob Hiaasen, Robert Ward, Sujata Massey, Jack Bludis, Rafael Alvarez, Marcia Talley, Joseph Wallace, Lisa Respers France, Charlie Stella, Sarah Weinman, Dan Fesperman, Jim Fusilli, and Ben Neihart.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781936070190
Publisher:	Akashic Books
Publication date:	05/01/2006
Series:	Akashic Noir Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	250
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Laura Lippman has lived in Baltimore most of her life and she would have spent even more time here if the editors of the Sun had agreed to hire her earlier. She attended public schools and has lived in several of the city's distinctive neighborhoods, including Dickeyville, Tuscany-Canterbury, Evergreen, and South Federal Hill.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: The Way Things Used To Be

“Easy As A-B-C” by Laura Lippman (Locust Point)

“Fat Chance” by Robert Ward (Old Northwood)

“Pigtown Will Shine Tonight” by Jack Bludis (Pigtown)

“Over My Dead Body” by Rob Hiaasen (Fell’s Point)

“The Invisible Man” by Rafael Alvarez (Highlandtown)

Part II: The Way Things Are

“Stainless Steel” by David Simon (Sandtown-Winchester)

“Home Movies” by Marcia Talley (Little Italy)

“Liminal” by Joseph Wallace (Security Boulevard-Woodlawn)

“Almost Missed It By a Hair” by Lisa Respers (France Howard Park)

“Ode to the O’s” by Charlie Stella (Memorial Stadium)

“Don't Walk in Front of Me” by Sarah Weinman (Pikesville)

Part III: The Way Things Never Were

“As Seen on TV” by Dan Fesperman (Fells Point)

“The Haunting of Slink Ridgely” by Tim Cockey (Greenspring Valley)

“The Homecoming” by Jim Fusilli (Camden Yards)

“Frog Cycle” by Ben Neihart (Inner Harbor)

“Goodwood Gardens” by Sujata Massey (Roland Park)

Introduction

To live in Baltimore -- Bulletmore, Murderland, according to one famous piece of graffiti -- is to be aware of killing; we have not enjoyed the sharp declines in homicide rates achieved by cities such as Boston and New York. We remain steadfastly in the top five, per capita, year in and year out. Statistically, two people died while I was working on this foreword . . . Baltimore also has an odd geographic distinction. It is one of only two major U.S. cities that lies in no county. (St. Louis is the other.) Landlocked on every side but one, which is water, it cannot expand or annex. Squeezed this way, it is a perfect setting for noir, which depends on an almost Darwinian desperation among its players.

Editorial Reviews

Mystery fans should relish this taste of Baltimore's seamier side, the eighth volume in Akashic's series showcasing dark tales of crime and place (Brooklyn Noir, etc.). Editor Lippman offers both a fine introduction and the lead story ("Easy as A-B-C"), which is one of the anthology's best. Half of the 16 contributors have connections to the Baltimore Sun, including David Simon of Homicide fame, whose "Stainless Steel" is a noir gem. Baltimore (aka "Bulletmore, Murderland") is a diverse city, and the stories reflect everything from its old row houses and suburban mansions to its beloved Orioles and harbor areas. There's dark humor in Dan Fesperman's "As Seen on TV," as well as in Tim Cockey's noir ghost story, "The Haunting of Slink Ridgely." Charlie Stella's mob story, "Ode to the O's," is brutally direct, while Ben Neihart's "Frog Cycle" offers a futuristic take on the high-tech industries springing up in place of factories. Other contributors include Marcia Talley, Jim Fusilli and Sujata Massey. (May) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir, Akashic's series of regional noir anthologies continues with these welcome eighth and ninth entries. Who better to edit the volume dedicated to Baltimore than Lippman, a former Baltimore Sun reporter whose popular Tess Monaghan series is set in Charm City (also known as "Bulletmore" for its steadfastly high homicide rate)? Lippman also contributes the first and one of the best of the 16 original stories, "Easy as A-B-C," about a contractor who puts his building skills to use when his affair with his client ends. Charlie Stella's on-target dialog spotlights mob efficiency in "Ode to the O's.", while the Fell's Point area is the locale for two tales: Rob Hiassen's "Over My Dead Body," which revolves around the area's gentrification, and Dan Fesperman's "As Seen on TV," in which a Balkan hit man doesn't know that his favorite show, Homicide, which was set here, has long since been cancelled. Other writers include Marcia Talley, Sujata Massey, Tim Cockey, Jim Fusilli, and Homicide author David Simon. Once known as the Saintly City, St. Paul, MN, sheltered criminals on the run during the 1920s and 1930s, and in the mid-1990s Minneapolis was tagged as "Murderapolis" for a rash of killings one summer. So these wholesome Midwestern metropolises have their underside, as several good authors-Pete Hautman, K.J. Erickson, Larry Millett, David Housewright, William Kent Krueger, and Mary Logue-reveal in this collection. A famous writer finds a satisfying means of dealing with the hijacking of her web domain name in Judith Guest's captivating "Eminent Domain," and in Ellen Hart's suspenseful "Blind Sided," a man who's losing his sight comments "You can't go blind in Minnesota without being offered a lot of help-it's the way Minnesotans are." That may explain why these 15 original stories-some dealing with organized crime and less-than-peaceful death-are overall less dark than in the other anthologies reviewed here. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

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