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Buenos Aires Noir: antología de cuentos policiales

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Convocados a escribir un cuento policial que transcurra en algún lugar de Buenos Aires, catorce autores y autoras argentinos ofrecen este singular volumen con el que los lectores recorrerán la ciudad. Balvanera, San Telmo, Belgrano, Almagro, Chacarita, los barrios porteños cobran vida a través de las tramas y los personajes. Al cuidado de Ernesto Mallo, esta antología noir ofrece un itinerario muy distinto al habitual para una capital única.

283 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 16, 2017

36 people are currently reading
474 people want to read

About the author

Ernesto Mallo

29 books66 followers
Ernesto Mallo en su página oficial de Internet, se define de esta manera: "Nací demasiado joven y sin la debida preparación para enfrentar este mundo. A los seis años tuve que abandonar mi educación para asistir a la escuela. A los veinte pensé que era mi deber cambiar el mundo. Lo cambié, es éste, disculpe."

Director teatral, guionista, dramaturgo, traductor y periodista, comenzó su carrera como novelista con La Aguja en el Pajar (Planeta, 2006), obra que fue primer finalista del Premio Clarín de Novela (2204) y ganadora del premio Memorial Silverio Cañada (2007) que se imparte en la célebre Semana Negra de Gijón, España, y resultó un gran éxito de público y crítica. La continuación, Delincuente Argentino, (Planeta 2007) fue finalista del Premio Dashiell Hammet (2008). Sus novelas se han traducido al inglés, francés y alemán. Las versiones cinematográficas de ambas novelas, con guión del mismo autor, están en vías de realización. Vive y trabaja en Buenos Aires.

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5 stars
26 (13%)
4 stars
58 (29%)
3 stars
81 (41%)
2 stars
24 (12%)
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8 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
Profile Image for Meli.
716 reviews486 followers
May 25, 2020
En términos generales, bastante mala.
La ambientación de la mayoría de los relatos es buena, pero los relatos en sí, no. Disculpen mi esnobismo, pero la mayoría me pareció bastante pretencioso.

Me gustaron El naranja es un color hermoso de Verónica Abdala, Una cara en la multitud de Pablo De Santis, Crochet de Inés Fernan Moreno (aunque me dejó un chiquitín en ascuas) y La furia del gusano de Alejandro Parisi (tremendo).

Al de Piñeiro me lo salté (aunque es bueno) porque venía repetido de una antología que acabo de leer. Cosa que detesto. Y el de Cabezón Cámara podría haber sido bueno si hubiera usado aunque sea una coma, pero me dio un tremendo dolor de cabeza su estilo disruptivo y para nada quemado de no usar ni una sola. No pude disfrutarlo.

Con los demás realmente no conecté.
Profile Image for Pedro.
891 reviews335 followers
July 28, 2025
3,5

El libro es una antología de cuentos que sigue la línea de la colección Akashic, de cuentos policiales, ambientados en diferentes ciudades del mundo, como Bagdad noir.

Incluye catorce cuentos, cada uno escrito por un autor local, algunos más conocidos (Claudia Piñeiro, Pablo De Santis o Gabriela Cabezón Cámara) y otros que no conocía, ambientado en algún barrio de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, con un estilo que va desde algún cuento sutil y elegante, hasta el gore más crudo y brutal.

Los cuentos están muy bien narrados, y con una buena trama; algunos incluyen, también, algunas reflexiones respecto al modo de ser de nosotros los humanos; y en algunos esta descripción se extiende a algunos modos bastante representativos del modo de ser local. Hay algunos que recurren mucho a modismos locales, lo cual, como suele ocurrir, puede ser una dificultad para el lector en castellano de otro país; en ese sentido se destaca, El onceavo dorado.

Un libro que me gustó, y que disfruté.

La edición que leí no es la original de Akashic, sino una nueva edición publicada por Alfaguara, y no en kindle, sino en tapa blanda (no disponible en Goodreads).
Profile Image for Bert Hirsch.
186 reviews19 followers
October 15, 2017
Buenos Aires Noir-Edited by Ernesto Mallo

I am a big fan of Argentine literature, film and have visited Buenos Aires on several occasions. Thus I approached this new publication in the Akashi series with great anticipation. This publishing house has been releasing titles from all the great cities for several years. It has been my impression that the editors have been given great latitude in choosing the entries. The best a reader can hope for is, once finishing the collection, that he/she has a heightened sense of the city, a real feel for its atmospherics, people with added insight into its underbelly, dark streets and local police procedures. Additionally, in those cities that have a rich tradition in literature one hopes for a representation of the county’s best voices.

In Buenos Aires Noir some of these goals are met. The different barrios are mentioned and some of the stories do capture the streets and portenos who live there.

Standouts include Fury of the Worm by Alejandro Parisi: here the slums are controlled by ruthless gangs and the inhabitants do their best to survive by ignoring the violence around them, at early ages they learn to keep their heads down, keeping a low profile. One gets the sense of the interplay with the underclass, the Bolivians and Peruvians who make up the day laboring class, the inequality of street justice handed out with gruesome violence. This is the barrio one does not visit or pass through, only those stuck there by circumstance knows what goes on.

Pablo De Santis in A Face In The Crowd portrays a full picture of the streets of the MicroCentre- Florida, Lavalle, the metro and crowded streets. Seen through the eyes of a street photographer journalist, innocently one of his photos results in tragedy and murder. Alejandro Soifer in Chameleon And The Lions portrays the corruption of local police and politicians that result in a cover-up of a murder at the Palermo Zoo.

The Golden Eleventh by Gabriella Cabezon Camara is a powerhouse. A Nazi sympathizer, a computer hacker, coke addict gets ready to set off a major explosion. This tale gets lost in a wild sex scene only to rescue a girl and dog he left behind. Here is a blaze of edgy writing, a 10 page long single paragraph, and its structure moves the story, a crazed vision that happens at warp speed.

Taken as a whole there is enough here to satisfy the reader who will walk away with a sense of Buenos Aires. My only wish would have been that a section include outtakes from some of the giants of Argentine Literature: Borges, Cortazar, Aira, Pigia and Sabato. This would have been a great opportunity to present the real brilliance that Argentine writing has created.
Profile Image for Agustina 9¾ Carrizo.
79 reviews36 followers
September 21, 2023
Favoritos:
5⭐ La esposa muerta - Inés Garland
5⭐ La muerte y la canoa - Claudia Piñeiro
5⭐ Una cara en la multitud - Pablo de Santis
4⭐ Crochet - Inés Fernández Moreno
Profile Image for Macarena.
33 reviews1 follower
October 20, 2022
Me pareció demasiado gorila y xenófobo. Está bien, entiendo que querían describir a los porteños, pero no sé si hacía falta una interpretación que repitiera tanto hasta al hartazgo variaciones de "negros de mierda" y gentilicios despectivos.
Le pongo dos estrellitas porque Goodreads no me deja una y media y sí hubo cuentos que me gustaron mucho y no se dejaron llevar por esa lógica tan acartonada (por ejemplo, sin dudas, el de Gabriela Cabezón Cámara que no decepciona nunca y también el de María Inés Krimer que la conocí recién ahora y me dieron ganas de seguir leyéndola).
Siento que tenían un montón de otras ramas para jugar con una Buenos Aires Noir además de la xenofobia por la xenofobia y que pocos autores incursionaron en utilizarlas. Me pregunté varias veces a mí misma si lo que me sucedía era no entender la ironía en las palabras, pero para nombrar la corrupción y el narcotráfico le dieron imagen con un diputado peronista así que no era yo no entendiendo las indirectas, era una bajada de línea bastante clara.
Profile Image for Silvia Zuleta Romano.
Author 12 books53 followers
September 22, 2019
Una antología correcta aunque no todos los relatos me gustaron. Se trata de un libro que dedica un relato policial a cada barrio de Buenos Aires. Me gustó la idea de recorrer mi ciudad a través de la literatura. Destacan para mí La esposa muerta de Inés Garland, Amor eterno de Ernesto Mallo y La muerte y la canoa de Claudia Piñeiro. Sin embargo, la edición de Alfaguara la encuentro un poco sensacionalista. En general, el nivel de la prosa es muy bueno pero contrasta con una edición poco cuidada. Más bien un poco revisteril y con colores estridentes que creo le restan a la obra.
206 reviews
March 12, 2022
As with most of these collections, pretty hit or miss. The one I'm most likely to hang onto is Three Rooms And A Patio, which is not especially noir but I think captures, in a small way, what it's like to live a normal life in an authoritarian nation. Crochet is a pretty good little mystery story, and You've Spoken My Name is a very well-constructed journey through the descent of an addict discovering there's nothing they won't do to avoid a comedown.
Profile Image for Christine.
282 reviews9 followers
January 11, 2026
I am a fan of the this series by Akashic Books, and this one with stories that take place in Buenos Aires is perhaps the best I've read (so far). It has a particular voice from the Southern Cone and a part of the world that is known for having more writers than readers. These stories show the grit of a layered city, a historic city, a place where people have gone to hide and to be discovered.
Profile Image for Tonstant Weader.
1,289 reviews83 followers
November 30, 2017
Buenos Aires Noir is a new release in the peripatetic Akashic Noir Series that travels the globe, inviting us to spend several hours among the grim and gritty noir landscapes of the cities it visits. With local writers as editors, our “tour guides” are well-informed and have the hometown knowledge to select the best local talent. With fourteen stories, there is a wide variety of short stories for readers to enjoy.

Given Argentina’s violent and grim history with the Peronistas, the Junta, the Dirty War, it is no surprise that this is one of the grimmest anthologies in the series. This is the noir of noir. There is nothing cozy about it. Fury of the Worm by Alejandro Parisi was so disturbing and violent I had to put the book down for a few days.

The Golden Eleventh by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara is a breathless, headlong, poetic race of words that capture the desperate indecision of a man in the midst of committing an atrocity. It is perhaps my favorite story in the anthology even though we are in the mind of a white supremacist terrorist. I loved the slow dawning horror of Crochet by Inés Fernández Moreno. Some of the stories are small, private dramas while others touch on the pain of the Dirty War. Oddly, since I think Mallo did such a great job selecting stories for the anthology, I thought his Eternal Love was the weakest of the collection, more a long joke with a final punchline.

I enjoyed Buenos Aires Noir. That is no surprise, it is one of my favorite publishing series and it seldom disappoints me. If you like armchair travel and mysteries, it combines the best of both. Of course, it’s most traveling the grimmer side of the cities it visits, but it visits most of the neighborhoods, poor, wealthy, traditional, and modern. You see more of a city in these books than you will in Fodor’s.

I received an e-galley of Buenos Aires Noir from Akashic Books through Edelweiss.

Buenos Aires Noir at Akashic Noir
Akashic Noir Series
Ernesto Mallo author site (Spanish language)
Ernesto Mallo on GoodReads


https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
3 reviews
July 8, 2023
Una, tal vez dos de las historias valen la pena leer (que aun asi, no llegan a un nivel particularmente bueno, solo decente), tiene por lo menos dos historias imposibles de leer y el resto simplemente no son muy buenas...
Profile Image for Ana Paula Acosta.
35 reviews3 followers
February 4, 2024
1.5 porque hay un par de relatos que me gustaron.
La mayoría no son policiales como prometen serlo, y me parecieron demasiado pretenciosos. Ni hablar de las expresiones xenofobas y racistas que se pueden encontrar en varios.
Profile Image for Diana.
727 reviews9 followers
November 13, 2017
BUENOS AIRES NOIR edited by Ernesto Mallo is a new addition to Akashic Books’ very popular Noir series.
Each Noir series title is an anthology of stories set in a particular city, state or region. They reflect the characteristics of the noir genre - cynicism, fatalism; the stories are dark, brooding, raw, and morally ambiguous The characters are very ‘hard-boiled’ and the surroundings often bleak and sleazy.
Each title includes a map (I love the map); a Table of Contents; an Introduction written by the editor(s); and a section About the Contributors which tells us about the contributing authors.
BUENOS AIRES NOIR consists of 14 stories divided into IV Parts - How to get away with…; Crimes? or Misdemeanors?; Imperfect Crimes and Revenge. (There is always revenge!)
Authors include Ines Garland, Ines Fernandez Moreno, Ariel Magnus, Alejandro Parish, Pablo De Santis, Veronica Abdala, Alejandro Soifer, Gabriela Cabezon Camara, Ernesto Mallo, Enzo Maquiera, Elsa Osorio, Leandro Avalos Blacha, Claudia Pineiro, and Maria Ines Krimer.
I liked the following lines in Ernesto Mallo’s introduction: “These shaky and troubled beginnings have left their marks on the character and temperament of Buenos Aires. Its inhabitants display the mischief found on the edges of the law, the rush of a passing reflection, and a surprising capacity to adapt to new situations.” (p.12)
“The distinctive music of the city is the tango, the sensual dance par excellence.” “It is sex turned into song.” (p. 12)
I was very disgusted by the story “The dead wife”. (as I was supposed to be)
I liked the story “Crochet” very much.
(Both of these stories are in Part I - How to get away with……)
I would heartily recommend this title and series.
Thank you to Akashic Books for sending me this ‘Advance Reading Copy’. I do enjoy this series.

Profile Image for Jack Cienfuegos.
160 reviews5 followers
November 22, 2025
Al estar en NOIRVEMBER, me decidí por leer este compilado de cuentos que retratan de una manera particular a Buenos Aires y algunos de sus barrios.

Muchos de ellos mezclan una cuota de suspenso que te mantiene a la expectativa y te genera intriga de lo que suceda. Otros tan solo te llegan a llamar la atención acerca de lo que quiere llegar el autor con lo que nos cuenta. Y los menos en el final resultan decepcionantes.

El libro se divide en tres partes, la primera es “Infidelidades”, del cual destaco el cuento de Belgrano. Ya en la segunda parte, en “Amor”, destaco los cuentos del barrio de Nuñez y Caballito. Pero los cuentos interesantes vienen en la tercer parte, en la de “Crímenes Imperfectos” que comienza con el hipnótico Crochet, ubicado con sus huesos en el Parque Chas y que su autora es Inés Fernández Moreno. Después puedo mencionarles La Furia del Gusano de un tal Alejandor Parisi, ubicado en una calesita de Mataderos y que me generó repulsión y asco. Y por último les quiero destacar el llamado El Onceavo Dorado, ubicado en la Villa 31 y Barrio Parque, que lo sentí vertiginoso, frenético y con conciencia de clase.

Más allá que no haya destacado tanto al libro en cuanto a puntaje, me permitió el mismo conocer autores contemporáneos y me provoca querer leer más de ellos, cosa que me parece saludable.

Recomiendo el libro a quienes les guste el género y también amen de alguna manera a esta “misteriosa Buenos Aires”.
Profile Image for Blue North.
280 reviews
November 6, 2017
There are times when it is necessary to walk through dark passages. These places that make us uneasy lead to the truth. In "Buenos Aires Noir" Edited By Ernesto Mallo, there are many passages about murder, drugs, poverty, bad marriages. These are not just horror stories written without a purpose by these different Spanish authors. Their idea is to give a glimpse of the parts of Argentina never seen by tourists. Yes, the discomfort of the stories causes edginess. The good part of that negative feeling is that we learn this place is like our country in its troubles. In other words, we do not suffer alone, and we are not peculiar. If and when we ever meet one another, our introductions to one another will lack a feeling of desperate strangeness. We will remember our brother, sister, friend or the boys who played basketball in the streets.

Each story led to a desire to know about the author. Thankfully, in the back of the book there are short bios for each author. Now I know there is more to this city than the magic of dancing the Tango. I also know there is light along with the darkness. There are friends and loving relatives too.
Profile Image for Woody Chandler.
355 reviews6 followers
August 13, 2018
OMFG! I am SO embarrassed by the length of time that it has taken me to read this book! 8=O It is indicative of an inversion that seems to overtake me - with more time to read, the less I do so. During the school year, as a substitute teacher, reading time is actually built into the curriculum, so I do some of my best reading while at work. Being off for the summer is nice for the first few weeks, but I am anxious to return. I began this book at the tail end of SY 2017-'18, but I got distracted by Inter-Library Loan (ILL) books whose overdue fines are outrageous! I also got on a beer book kick, all shunting this one to the side. I am relieved to finish it.

I really liked it. The stories were all very good & all had the types of ironic shocking endings that the Akashic Noir series has come to be known for. It was a locale to which I have not been, but would like to visit.
Profile Image for Stacy Cook.
148 reviews3 followers
November 9, 2017
Like Akashic's other Noir series Buenos Aires Noir does not disappoint. I found many entertaining and engrossing reads in this anthology. Ex Officio and Fury of the Worm were two of my favorites, though A Face In the Crowd, Orange Is a Pretty Color and Eternal Love were at the top of my list as well.
What happens when an off duty officer investigates a gun shot heard in his apartment building may surprise you in Ex Officio. In Fury of the Worm a powerful drug czar punishes a child molester in a most gruesome manner while the victims unwilling father is encouraged to participate. This story is not for the faint of heart, but the writing definitely hits the noir style on the head.
I found that true of so many stories in this anthology. Ernesto Mallo did an excellent job with story/writer selection. Thanks to Akashic for allowing me to review yet another fantastic book in this series. I'm looking forward to whatever's next!
Profile Image for Vera.
293 reviews
November 8, 2017
Another excellent noir collection from Akashic Books! I always love reading the stories in these collections - they are edgy and dark, and give a great introduction to the location in which they are set. I've gotten to know many cities and areas that I knew nothing about previously by reading these stories. This particular collection has been one of my favorites so far - the stories are shorter on average than in other collections, but I feel that they pack more of a punch on the whole. Definitely recommend!
Profile Image for Gabriel Grosso.
7 reviews
June 8, 2022
En líneas generales es como medio flojo, aunque tiene algunos cuentos que están muy bien narrados y tienen un giro interesante. A destacar: «La esposa muerta», «Crochet», «El camaleón y los leones», «El onceavo dorado», y hasta ahí. El relato del editor de la antología es pésimo a mi entender, pero quién soy yo para juzgar. Como para leerlo de un tirón o un cuento por día mientras lees algo que este piola.
Profile Image for Daiana.
135 reviews7 followers
October 26, 2022
Este libro recorre varios barrios de la ciudad de Buenos Aires ,para traernos diversos relatos como la diversidad que tiene cada uno de ellos.

Los que destaco: Chacarita (Abdala) Nuñez (Osorio) San telmo (Piñeiro) Caballito (De Santis) Palermo (Soifer) Almagro (Maqueira)

El resto no me gustaron, olvidables todos.
Profile Image for vane GG.
3 reviews1 follower
April 19, 2024
Hay algunos cuentos buenos, los que mas me gustaron fueron: La muerte y la canoa, Crochet, El onceavo dorado. Hay algunos otros que estuvieron bien sin embargo no terminaron de completarse, les faltó algo.
Profile Image for Valen Basco.
116 reviews1 follower
January 4, 2026
Le daría 2.5 en gral tuvo historias q si mg pero pocas. La gran mayoría no m gustaron o me generaron un tipo d rechazo.
Mis favoritas fueron crochet, de oficio y una cara en la multitud.
Las q menos m gusto fue el onceavo dorado.
Profile Image for Tomás Martínez.
6 reviews
March 1, 2026
Entré de lleno con la excusa de "recorrer" Buenos Aires con cada relato y, en ese sentido, creo que funciona, pero algunas historias no me cerraron y las habría salteado si no tuviera la paciencia que tengo
Profile Image for Melisende.
1,255 reviews146 followers
January 14, 2018
I read this one prior to "Montreal Noir" and found myself comparing the two.

Predominantly told in first person narrative, the denouement is usually in the last page, at times, the last couple of sentences. Nothing is lost in the translation nor do you have to have an understanding of the city.

The characters are spread across a range of social, economic, political demographics, and periods in the city's history. Loved the added touch of the body map.

The crimes are varied but invariably involve murder. The violence is implied rather than "in your face" - more subtle, classic even.

" .... its inhabitants display the mischief found on the edges of the law ..." - most apt.

This is easy to both read and enjoy - yes, you can enjoy crime because with crime fiction, sometimes, you really can get away with murder!
Profile Image for Kate Thomas.
78 reviews44 followers
April 22, 2018
Interesting and engaging stories that are sometimes dark, but were always very Buenos Aires - esque.
Profile Image for Nerea Liebre I.
4 reviews
May 2, 2021
Me gustó mucho! Principalmente los relatos de Abdala, Piñeyro, Parisi, Fernández Moreno y Osorio.
Profile Image for 2TReads.
935 reviews51 followers
November 8, 2022
I liked how some of these authors approached the noir genre, many leaving the supposition of the crimes to their readers' imagination.
Profile Image for Eva Marabotto.
111 reviews6 followers
February 9, 2024
Muy bueno. Deja con ganas de seguir leyendo a cada uno de los autores.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews

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