Los Angeles Noir 2: The Classics

by Denise Hamilton (Editor)

Overview

The sequel to Los Angeles Noir, an award-winning Los Angeles Times best-seller, this volume explores the history of the noir literary tradition on its home turf.

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.

Featuring stories by: Raymond Chandler, Paul Cain, James Ellroy, Leigh Brackett, James M. Cain, Chester Himes, Ross MacDonald, Walter Mosley, Naomi Hirahara, Margaret Millar, Joseph Hansen, William Campbell Gault, Jervey Tervalon, Kate Braverman, and Yxta Maya Murray.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781936070022
Publisher:	Akashic Books, Ltd.
Publication date:	04/01/2010
Series:	Akashic Noir Series
Pages:	300
Sales rank:	1,078,612
Product dimensions:	5.38(w) x 8.32(h) x 1.00(d)

About the 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.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

“I’ll Be Waiting” by Raymond Chandler (Mid-Wilshire, 1939)

“Murder in Blue” by Paul Cain (Downtown, 1933)

“I Feel Bad Killing You” by Leigh Brackett (Santa Monica, 1944)

“Dead Man” by James M. Cain (San Fernando, 1936)

“The Night’s for Cryin'” by Chester Himes (South Los Angeles, 1937)

Part II: After the War

“Find the Woman” by Ross Macdonald (Beverly Hills, 1946)

“The Chirashi Covenant” by Naomi Hirahara (Terminal Island, 2007)

“High Darktown” by James Ellroy (West Adams, 1986)

Part III: Killer Views

“The People Across the Canyon” by Margaret Millar (L.A. Canyon, 1962)

“Surf” by Joseph Hansen (Venice, 1976)

“The Kerman Kill” by William Campbell Gault (Pacific Palisades, 1987)

Part IV: Modern Classics

“Crimson Shadow” by Walter Mosley (Watts, 1995)

“Rika” by Jervey Tervalon (Baldwin Hills, 1994)

“Lucía” by Yxta Maya Murray (Echo Park, 1997)

“Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta” by Kate Braverman (Bel Air, 1990)

Editorial Reviews

Like Manhattan Noir 2 and other previous “classics” entries in Akashic’s noir series, this entry, with its high-quality stories from such genre masters as Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain, outshines the typical all-original anthology in the series. Hamilton has been wise to select lesser-known works by legendary writers, guaranteeing that the volume will appeal both to fans unfamiliar with the stories and readers new to their hard-edged prose. The two best come from the pens of husband and wife Ross Macdonald and Margaret Millar. Macdonald’s Lew Archer looks into an actress’s disappearance in his taut “Find the Woman,” while Millar’s “The People Across the Canyon,” about a young girl who forms an unhealthy attachment to some new neighbors, offers an unconventional look at the darkness in the human soul. With the exception of Walter Mosley’s “Crimson Shadow,” the tales in the final “modern” section fall short by comparison. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly