Tart Noir

by Stella Duffy (Editor / Contributor), Lauren Henderson (Editor / Contributor), Chris Niles (Contributor)

"Tart Noir" writers make their own rules. Part Philip Marlowe, part femme fatale, their heroines think it is entirely possible to save the world while wearing stiletto heels. Their morals are questionable and their actions are guaranteed to shock and delight. From classic crime to magical anti-realism, hot sex to cold calculation, these stories cover all the bases. There are well loved series characters together with brand new ones, just panting for half a dozen books of their own. Stories long and short, knowing laughs and nasty glances. Some are light as air, others are downright transgressive. All are an experience you are unlikely to forget.

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories, Noir, Anthologies, Crime, Romance, Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Stella Duffy was born in London and grew up in New Zealand. She has lived and worked in London since the mid-1980s. She has written seventeen novels, over seventy short stories, and devised and/or written fourteen plays. The Room of Lost Things and State of Happiness were both longlisted for the Orange Prize, and she has twice won Stonewall Writer of the Year. She has twice won the CWA Short Story Dagger. Stella is the co-founder of the Fun Palaces campaign for cultural democracy. Her latest novel is Lullaby Beach (Virago).
She is also a yoga teacher, teaching workshops in yoga for writing, and a trainee Existential Psychotherapist, her ongoing doctoral research is in the embodied experience of being postmenopausal.

Reviews

[Karina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well friends.... this was not my cup of tea kind-of-book. I have learned what Tart Noir actually is and how it is written. The only difference here was a series of short stories written by popular women writers instead of horny, hairy men that want to have sex with these females and then kill them because the woman has somehow wronged them. In these stories all the women made their own choices so they have the final say in their destinies.

There were 19 stories and I liked 5 of them. The reason I didn't like the others were: bestiality to a damn dolphin (was weird and gross), infanticide, matricide, and killing for lustful reasons. I couldn't connect with many stories. It also felt like a horny grown ass man living in his mother's basement was still writing some of these. I don't mind the lesbian romance but that's all some of the stories became, like what gets off a lonely dude in fantasy land. I would have preferred a slutty female that teases the would-be lover but kills him/her for revenge or honor. 👠💄

I didn't enjoy the baby and mom killings. Too gruesome so I was glad to be done with it. I actually only got it because Karin Slaughter is one of the writers so it was a mistake buy. Wasn't a book for me but someone else will hopefully enjoy it at the secondhand shop.

[Amanda Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crime writers and editors Duffy & Hendersen believe that they've given us a taste of 'the future of female crime writing' in Tart Noir.
With the calibre of contributing writers like Val McDermid, Martina Cole, Denise Mina, Karin Slaughter - to name a few, they have a point.
Having said that I'm not a big fan of short stories. However I love crime fiction and the novels that some of these authors have penned have been very good. I decided to give this book a chance.
The stories in Tart Noir are all about women taking the power that men usually do. A tart noir would be the equivalent of an Annie Oakley in an evening dress or a Doris Day with a gun and a grudge! These stories explore the dark side of women, including the darker side of womens sexuality.
Sparkle Hayten's "The Diary of Sue Peaner, Marooned Contestant" is great. She takes Survivor and turns it on its head. In fact she tweaks, shakes and decapitates it.
Val McDermid's "Metamorphosis" is bitter in its blunt sexuality and heart wrenching in its believability.
Martina Cole's "Enough was Enough" is horror all the way but I had to read it too the end.
Tart Noir is 'Kiss Kiss' and 'Switch Bitch' for the millenium. It is women behaving badly, women behaving like men with a good dollop of questionable morals and shocking actions. This book is unsettling. Mother Grundies will hate it. I liked it, I think.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

The last short ‘The Diary of Sue Peaner, Marooned Contestant’ by Sparkie Hayter was a good way to end an otherwise bland collection. In this, a Survivor-type contestant is left to fend for herself when the cast is suddenly swept away courtesy of a typhoon. Sue finds herself washed up on an island and faced with the ultimate survivor experience. In its own right, this story gets 4 stars while ‘Tart Noir’ as a whole, suffers from too much deviation from the sub genre and perhaps tested the limits a tad too far to which noir can be defined. Some stories worked really well (Karen Slaughter, Sujata Massey, Katy Munger, Jenny Siler, Vicki Hendricks, and Sue Peaner were among the best) and others not so much. Overall an ok anthology with more misses than hits but enjoyable (at times) nonetheless – 2.5 stars.

[Kimberley Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still reading. Can't put down. Think I've discovered my long lost libido. Wow. Very cool. Sort of like the sci-fi anthologies I used to read in the late 60's early 70's. Short stories exploring odd juxtapositions. For example, one story involves Medea, Phaedra and Lady MacBeth on a morning chat show baring all. Another involves forbidden love... Er... With a dolphin... Whoah there me hearties! Cool.

Ok. Finished this wonderful book on Sunday afternoon. Brilliant. Fun. Engaging.

The stories where tight and well written and had twists and turns that made it impossible to put down. Some where downright fall about laughing. The case of the girl from the Marooned! TV reality show had me in stitches. My only beef was there wasn't enough smut. :-)

This is a definite must read.

[Gill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inevitably a mixed bag but none of the writers play safe. Several of the stories are good enough to ensure that I will look for longer works by their authors.

[Janis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 if Goodreads let us use half stars

[Michelle Auer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another last second airport purchase. I just needed something to read and I was running late. This was the first thing to catch my eye. It is a collection of short stories. Some of them are very good, a few just plain silly. (A woman has an affair with a Dolphin!!!) WTF?
I only gave it two stars because of the couple of stories I really enjoyed and the cover. (What? I am a sucker for a cool cover.) Read it if it is free, but skip the fish story.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had low expectations of this book after being disappointed in One
Hell of a Woman, another noir anthology. This one is jam-packed with great stories. Not just good, but great. Vicki Hendricks, Jenny Colgan, Karin Slaughter, Stella Duffy and Sparkle Hayter all contribute standouts. Brava, editors Stella Duffy and Lauren Henderson.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining and light read, if you're the type that understands crime fiction. A bit more sex than I figured and one story involving a dolphin that was really kind of weird, but really just all in good bad fun.

[Michelle Winters · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting. I liked where the authors were going with the idea of "tart noir". It's chicklit...with an EDGE. Great heroines in some of the stories but I have to say, some of the stories were FU@#ed!!!...a woman who has sex with a dolphin?!?! What the??? That one just creeped me out!

[Janine Southard]

A few stories in, and I didn't much care for any of the characters. I am reminded of why short stories aren't generally my thing. C'est la vie.

I did appreciate, from one standpoint, the story with the dolphin. Though I'd hoped it'd go a different route at the ending.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark and dirty. This book was so much fun to read, that it inspired me to write my own Tart Noir short story.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun!!! A bit outrageous

[Loree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read, collection of British & American authors... Book Barn find

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed these noir stories by gals for gals. There was really only one story that I didn't enjoy (not that I can remember which one!) and was craving for more by the time I hit the end.

[Grania · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's from OXfam, it shall return to Oxfam, if I'm feelign generous. Worse than my low expectations.

[Mary Newcomb]

This is a collection of short stories about very naughty women. A few I might want to meet, the rest are mean, possibly evil and a bit scary. This is not a book I'll be recommending.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A noir-tastic collection of noir short stories written by female authors.

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had enough after page 8...

[Plum-crazy]

I'm not a great fan of short stories - as some of you may know - but I particularly wanted to read Pussy Galore by Liz Evans as I love her Grace Smith series...& guess who features in this tale!

Anyhow I began at the beginning but didn't get too far. The first few were okay...Enough was Enough had a bit of a twist to it & Stormy, mon Amour I found to be strange but compelling reading, but I lost the plot a bit with Queen of Mean & decided to leave it there....