Miami Noir (Akashic Noir) (Paperback)

by Les Standiford (Editor)
Key Phrases: main shack, Carmen Sánchez, Rosario Cardona, Kathy Zaden (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Sixteen new, diverse and highly entertaining mystery stories pack Akashic's latest city-by-city tour of modern noir, spotlighting the "Miami School," which has sprung to dynamic life in the wake of the legendary Charles Willeford and his signature novel Miami Blues. This anthology prowls through South Beach and across Alligator Alley, hitting every demographic, from long-term Cuban émigrés to Haitian boat people and the garden variety psychopathic redneck. In James W. Hall's "Ride Along," a college professor with an interest in crime writing goes slumming with a thug called Jumpy—"6'4", skinny as a greyhound, pasty-skinned, all knuckles and Adam's apple"—with unexpected results. Vicki Hendricks does a neat deconstruction of classic noir with "Boozanne, Lemme Be," wherein the 4'10" protagonist—"too short for normal chicks, too tall for a dwarf"—lives undetected under a house until he connects with the titular Boozanne and dives still further into ruin. This volume is as solid as the coral rock lying beneath the Miami streets. (Nov.)
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Product Description

Brand-new stories by: James W. Hall, Barbara Parker, John Dufresne, Paul Levine, Carolina Garcia-Aguilera, Tom Corcoran, Christine Kling, George Tucker, Kevin Allen, Anthony Dale Gagliano, David Beaty, Vicki Hendricks, John Bond, Preston Allen, Lynne Barrett, and Jeffrey Wehr.

From the introduction by Les Standiford:

The truth is that Miami, though naturally lovely, is a frontier town, perched on the border between the known and the rarely before experienced . . . We are not only on the edge of the continent, we are to this country what New York was in Ellis Island's heyday, what the West Coast was in the middle of the 20th century. This is where the new arrivals debark these days, and it is no mistake that during the last decade of the last century, commentators as diverse as Joan Didion, David Rieff, and T.D. Allman devoted entire volumes to Miami's role as the harbinger for America's future . . . But for now, the novel of crime and punishment is the perfect vehicle to convey the spirit and the timbre of this brawling place to a wider world.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 355 pages
• Publisher: Akashic Books (November 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933354135
• ISBN-13: 978-1933354132
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #553,068 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Can't get enough of this series!, September 5, 2007

By	Lou Samson (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This is a great series of noir shorts and I'm having fun working my way through the cities. The Miami installment doesn't disappoint, with sixteen fantastic authors evoking the tropical atmosphere that seems to get many folks into trouble of a particular kind. The editors have done a wonderful job finding stories that show all the cross-sections of Miami life, as well as having unique voices and narrators. I would definitely check out the Los Angeles installment of the series, but if you're looking for more Florida crime, grab the new Don Bruns novel, Stuff to Die For. He also wrote South Beach Shakedown which is a lot of fun as well.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Noir Knows Best, November 26, 2006

By	L. Callen "roxycallen" (Paris, France) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is one fantastic collection of stories that I highly recommend. The publisher has breathed new life into the short story genre by providing a fresh venue for this beleaguered form of fiction. All the stories were great. I particularly enjoyed those by Jim Hall, John Dufresne and Anthony Gagliano whose story "Blown Away" tells the story of a school teacher and a traumatized police officer in the wake of Hurricane Andrew.

Lana Callen

4.0 out of 5 stars Rediscovering the Short Story, May 11, 2009

By	db1776 (Maryland) - See all my reviews

I do not consider myself a short story person. I prefer to get engrossed in a novel and savor the anticipation of returning each time I put it down, and ruing the day I finish it. I mainly bought this book as a means to discover new authors and quickly sample their style and talent. After finishing this book, I have rediscovered the enjoyment of the short story, and have ordered additional anthologies in other genres. I haven't lost my love of the novel, but rather I have rekindled my appreciation for this alternative form.