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D.C. Noir #1
D.C. Noir
Sixteen stories of capital crimes and misdemeanors--the basis for the film directed by George Pelecanos, producer and writer of The Wire .Mystery sensation Pelecanos pens the lead story and edits this groundbreaking collection of stories detailing the seedy underside of the nation's capital. This is not an anthology of ill-conceived and inauthentic political thrillers. Instead, in D.C. Noir, pimps, whores, gangsters, and con-men run rampant in zones of this city that most never hear about.This anthology includes brand new stories by George Pelecanos, James Grady, Kenji Jasper, Jim Beane, Jabari Asim, Ruben Castaneda, James Patton, Norman Kelley, Jennifer Howard, Richard Currey, Lester Irby, and others."[Grady's] 'The Bottom Line' is a tour de force of narrative bravado. A story of double-dealing on Capitol Hill, it crams enough plot to power a full-length novel into a mere 30 pages. From its opening sentence--'The Capitol building glowed in the night like a white icing cake'--to the surprises at its finish line, this is a story that never stops barreling along."-- The Washington Post"Pelecanos . . . delivers a wholly satisfying volume. From his own 'Confidential Informant, ' to James Grady's 'The Bottom Line, ' Pelecanos shows us how both trash-strewn alleys and oak-paneled offices can trap their occupants with dreams, compromise, and heartbreak."-- Booklist"Well written . . . Highlights include Pelecanos's 'The Confidential Informant' and Laura Lippman's 'A.R.M. and the Woman.'"-- Publishers Weekly
325 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 2006
74 people are currently reading
706 people want to read
About the author
George P. Pelecanos
59 books1,628 followersGeorge Pelecanos was born in Washington, D.C., in 1957. He worked as a line cook, dishwasher, bartender, and woman's shoe salesman before publishing his first novel in 1992.
Pelecanos is the author of eighteen novels set in and around Washington, D.C.: A Firing Offense, Nick's Trip, Shoedog, Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go, The Big Blowdown, King Suckerman, The Sweet Forever, Shame the Devil, Right as Rain, Hell to Pay, Soul Circus, Hard Revolution, Drama City, The Night Gardener, The Turnaround, The Way Home, The Cut, and What It Was. He has been the recipient of the Raymond Chandler award in Italy, the Falcon award in Japan, and the Grand Prix du Roman Noir in France. Hell to Pay and Soul Circus were awarded the 2003 and 2004 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. His short fiction has appeared in Esquire, Playboy, and the collections Unusual Suspects, Best American Mystery Stories of 1997, Measures of Poison, Best American Mystery Stories of 2002, Men from Boys, and Murder at the Foul Line. He served as editor on the collections D.C. Noir and D.C. Noir 2: The Classics, as well as The Best Mystery Stories of 2008. He is an award-winning essayist who has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ, Sight and Sound, Uncut, Mojo, and numerous other publications. Esquire called him "the poet laureate of the D.C. crime world." In Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King wrote that Pelecanos is "perhaps the greatest living American crime writer." Pelecanos would like to note that Mr. King used the qualifier "perhaps."
Pelecanos served as producer on the feature films Caught (Robert M. Young, 1996), Whatever, (Susan Skoog, 1998) and BlackMale (George and Mike Baluzy, 1999), and was the U.S. distributor of John Woo's cult classic, The Killer and Richard Bugajski's Interrogation. Most recently, he was a producer, writer, and story editor for the acclaimed HBO dramatic series, The Wire, winner of the Peabody Award and the AFI Award. He was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on that show. He was a writer and co-producer on the World War II miniseries The Pacific, and is currently at work as an executive producer and writer on David Simon's HBO dramatic series Treme, shot in New Orleans.
Pelecanos lives with his family in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Pelecanos is the author of eighteen novels set in and around Washington, D.C.: A Firing Offense, Nick's Trip, Shoedog, Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go, The Big Blowdown, King Suckerman, The Sweet Forever, Shame the Devil, Right as Rain, Hell to Pay, Soul Circus, Hard Revolution, Drama City, The Night Gardener, The Turnaround, The Way Home, The Cut, and What It Was. He has been the recipient of the Raymond Chandler award in Italy, the Falcon award in Japan, and the Grand Prix du Roman Noir in France. Hell to Pay and Soul Circus were awarded the 2003 and 2004 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. His short fiction has appeared in Esquire, Playboy, and the collections Unusual Suspects, Best American Mystery Stories of 1997, Measures of Poison, Best American Mystery Stories of 2002, Men from Boys, and Murder at the Foul Line. He served as editor on the collections D.C. Noir and D.C. Noir 2: The Classics, as well as The Best Mystery Stories of 2008. He is an award-winning essayist who has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ, Sight and Sound, Uncut, Mojo, and numerous other publications. Esquire called him "the poet laureate of the D.C. crime world." In Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King wrote that Pelecanos is "perhaps the greatest living American crime writer." Pelecanos would like to note that Mr. King used the qualifier "perhaps."
Pelecanos served as producer on the feature films Caught (Robert M. Young, 1996), Whatever, (Susan Skoog, 1998) and BlackMale (George and Mike Baluzy, 1999), and was the U.S. distributor of John Woo's cult classic, The Killer and Richard Bugajski's Interrogation. Most recently, he was a producer, writer, and story editor for the acclaimed HBO dramatic series, The Wire, winner of the Peabody Award and the AFI Award. He was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on that show. He was a writer and co-producer on the World War II miniseries The Pacific, and is currently at work as an executive producer and writer on David Simon's HBO dramatic series Treme, shot in New Orleans.
Pelecanos lives with his family in Silver Spring, Maryland.
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January 6, 2025
Noir In Washington, D.C.
I felt a strong sense of recognition in reading these stories of the underside of life in Washington D.C. "D.C. Noir" is an anthology of sixteen new stories by as many authors chosen and edited by the noted author of crime and detective novels, George Pelecanos. Pelecanos also contributed one of the stories to this collection.
There is an astonishing sense of place in this collection for a city in which I have lived and walked for many years. I live near a large thoroughfare, Georgia Avenue, which stretches from downtown Washington into Silver Spring, Maryland and beyond. Georgia Avenue is a forbidding street of small shops, liquor stores and bars, eateries and gas stations that appears perpetually in need of renewal. The Walter Reed Military Hospital is located on the upper end of Georgia Avenue with, about one mile north, a small shopping mall, apartments, and several liquor stores on the border with Maryland.
Richard Curry's story, "The Names of the Lost" describes this portion of Georgia Avenue, the stores, the residents, the apartments, the library, and the bus routes with great immediacy. The story involves a confrontation between an aging Holocaust survivor, and proprietor of a liquor store, and a young thug. I felt I knew the street, the scene, the places, and the people as I read. Another fine story, "The Light and the Dark" by Robert Wisdom describes the community of Petworth, a bit further to the South (in the direction of downtown D.C.) on Georgia Avenue. I again felt a sense of recognition and understanding in seeing the street and landmark names of places I know, where I have walked on occasion and ridden through countless times.
I felt this recognition of place in several other stories. Jennifer Howard's "East of the Sun" describes the community near Pennsylvania and Potomac Ave, S.E., an uptempo and rather treacherous neighborhood where I also lived and walked for many years. Jim Patton's story of D.C.'s Chinatown and its environs, "Capital of the World" is highly realistic in its depiction of bars and streets in this downtown yet secretive portion of the Capital City. Ruben Casteneda's "Coyote Hunt" describes the Adams Morgan community along sixteenth street and the diversity created by its recent influx of Hispanic immigrants. Laura Lippman's story, "A.R.M and the Woman", unlike most of its companions describes an incident in the lives of upscale residents of Chevy Chase N.W. with characteristic and believable portraits of both people and place. David Slater's story "Stuffed", describes Thomas Circle, around 14th Street, for many years the center of D.C. red-light district and now becoming a trendy neighborhood in transition.
There are a number of stories of parts of the city I don't know as well but which are highly descriptive, tough, and convincing. Jim Beane's "Jeanette" which takes place in a part of town known as Deanwood, has mean, sharply portrayed characters and is among the best of these. Lester Irby's "God don't like ugly" with its picture of local dives and clubs, also has a strong sense of realism and faithfulness to its subject. Pelecanos's story "The Confidential Informant" and a story by Quentin Peterson, "Cold as Ice" also describe well the places, streets, and persons of D.C.'s world of gangs, drugs, and shootings.
There are two stories which deal with the political life of the Nation's capital: James Grady's "The Bottom Line" and Jim Fusilli's "The Dupe". These are good well-paced stories but I found them of less interest than the stories set in the local neighborhoods of Washington D.C., among people and places that tourists rarely see.
The anthology includes brief biographical notes of each of the authors, whose backgrounds are as diverse and varied as the city celebrated in their stories. This is a book for walkers on city streets and for those who like fast-paced stories with a sense of urban place and life.
Robin Friedman
I felt a strong sense of recognition in reading these stories of the underside of life in Washington D.C. "D.C. Noir" is an anthology of sixteen new stories by as many authors chosen and edited by the noted author of crime and detective novels, George Pelecanos. Pelecanos also contributed one of the stories to this collection.
There is an astonishing sense of place in this collection for a city in which I have lived and walked for many years. I live near a large thoroughfare, Georgia Avenue, which stretches from downtown Washington into Silver Spring, Maryland and beyond. Georgia Avenue is a forbidding street of small shops, liquor stores and bars, eateries and gas stations that appears perpetually in need of renewal. The Walter Reed Military Hospital is located on the upper end of Georgia Avenue with, about one mile north, a small shopping mall, apartments, and several liquor stores on the border with Maryland.
Richard Curry's story, "The Names of the Lost" describes this portion of Georgia Avenue, the stores, the residents, the apartments, the library, and the bus routes with great immediacy. The story involves a confrontation between an aging Holocaust survivor, and proprietor of a liquor store, and a young thug. I felt I knew the street, the scene, the places, and the people as I read. Another fine story, "The Light and the Dark" by Robert Wisdom describes the community of Petworth, a bit further to the South (in the direction of downtown D.C.) on Georgia Avenue. I again felt a sense of recognition and understanding in seeing the street and landmark names of places I know, where I have walked on occasion and ridden through countless times.
I felt this recognition of place in several other stories. Jennifer Howard's "East of the Sun" describes the community near Pennsylvania and Potomac Ave, S.E., an uptempo and rather treacherous neighborhood where I also lived and walked for many years. Jim Patton's story of D.C.'s Chinatown and its environs, "Capital of the World" is highly realistic in its depiction of bars and streets in this downtown yet secretive portion of the Capital City. Ruben Casteneda's "Coyote Hunt" describes the Adams Morgan community along sixteenth street and the diversity created by its recent influx of Hispanic immigrants. Laura Lippman's story, "A.R.M and the Woman", unlike most of its companions describes an incident in the lives of upscale residents of Chevy Chase N.W. with characteristic and believable portraits of both people and place. David Slater's story "Stuffed", describes Thomas Circle, around 14th Street, for many years the center of D.C. red-light district and now becoming a trendy neighborhood in transition.
There are a number of stories of parts of the city I don't know as well but which are highly descriptive, tough, and convincing. Jim Beane's "Jeanette" which takes place in a part of town known as Deanwood, has mean, sharply portrayed characters and is among the best of these. Lester Irby's "God don't like ugly" with its picture of local dives and clubs, also has a strong sense of realism and faithfulness to its subject. Pelecanos's story "The Confidential Informant" and a story by Quentin Peterson, "Cold as Ice" also describe well the places, streets, and persons of D.C.'s world of gangs, drugs, and shootings.
There are two stories which deal with the political life of the Nation's capital: James Grady's "The Bottom Line" and Jim Fusilli's "The Dupe". These are good well-paced stories but I found them of less interest than the stories set in the local neighborhoods of Washington D.C., among people and places that tourists rarely see.
The anthology includes brief biographical notes of each of the authors, whose backgrounds are as diverse and varied as the city celebrated in their stories. This is a book for walkers on city streets and for those who like fast-paced stories with a sense of urban place and life.
Robin Friedman
August 1, 2018
Another few months, another Akashic Books noir anthology. Check out previous reviews Brooklyn Noir, Brooklyn Noir 2: The Classics, San Francisco Noir, Chicago Noir) for the remit - put simply, crime stories in locale (x).
So this time it's Washington, D.C. and those of any political leanings could easily say a bigger town for real crime doesn't exist. Glibness about politics and power-brokers aside, D.C. also has the some of the largest economic/racial disparity going, rampant poverty, a high murder rate, a mayor who was a crack addict and got re-elected anyway. It was also, historically & symbolically, built on a swamp. Yes, a noir town, no doubt, regardless of your affiliation.
Also, I live about 35-40 minutes (2+ hours with traffic) outside of D.C. as I type this. I moved here about 3 years ago. I only go in for the occasional rare reason (like the Fringe festival) - I don't like traffic and I can get my art house cinema in Silver Spring.
And so we have yet another mediocre Akashic books anthology. I read these things because it gives me a chance to read current short fiction in a genre outside of my area of interest but which I can respect. I read them to get an idea of what is considered acceptable short genre fiction without having to commit to buying magazines (too scattershot) or lit journals (not enough genre). And this volume has succeeded in convincing me that the modern short fiction anthology still suffers from a problem that's been endemic for decades - "the curse of the original fiction anthology", I call it, and it goes like this:
Mostly, anthologies *used* to be reprint vehicles - gather up a bunch of great stories that, by being previously published, had proven themselves already. But then the original fiction anthology came along. And sometimes it works - in the hands of an equal parts talented and lucky editor. But here's the problem in a nutshell - a book company says "we think a book of new short fiction about chipmunks will sell well, put one together". And you, the editor, cast around to all your favorite writers, writing buddies, friends, etc. saying "write me a chipmunk story, assured publication". And the publisher takes your list of potential authors and uses it to promo the book: "Big Name Jones" and "Brit McFantasyfan" are going to be in it! Buy many copies!" But then the stories start coming in and, well, some of them are good but some people wrote stories with nary a chipmunk shoehorned into another story they obviously had laying around, or someone else wrote a story about Alvin and the Chipmunks. And then, some of those friends and fellow writers you took a gamble on, well, they proved themselves not up to the task, sometimes in even the basic art of telling a story. And it turns out "Brit McFantasyfan", popular best-selling novelist though he/she is, can't write a piece of short fiction to save their ass. And you have a book already planned to come out with their names all over. So what do you do? You go ahead and publish! And "the curse of the original fiction anthology" gains another victim....
This recurring problem nearly killed short horror fiction in the 80s and 90s (well, that and nepotism) and it continues to haunt the bookstores with mediocre volumes. Like this one.
Here's some good stuff - this volume, overall, had one of the stronger senses of "place" I've encountered in this Noir series. It's achieved in the usual ways - lots of street-names, landmarks, talks about how neighborhoods have changed, important events that occurred in the past, but it just seems a little more prevalent this time out. Also, quite a number of these stories are set in the recent past of the last few decades, which occasionally happens in the previous volumes (not counting the BROOKLYN NOIR 2: THE CLASSICS, as it was all old reprints) but not, to my recollection, as often as seen here.
But, to be honest, there's a lot of weak stories here. A number of the authors are either novelists or local reporters or figures tangentially associated with the city and crime stories, and a good number of the stories are either good ideas or strong memoirs clumsily written, or only stories in the most technical definition ("beginning, middle, end") with almost no sense of the art of short fiction.
Ruben Castaneda's "Coyote Hunt" has a reporter nail down witnesses to an immigrant murder while riots rage through the Hispanic community. It has some good local color and authentic detail (true of a lot of stories here) but also clunky storytelling chops and an awkward ending. "God Don't Like Ugly" by Lester Irby is another clumsy story about a brother and sister on opposite sides of a gang war in 60's-70's D.C. Again, some great detail but also meandering and clunky.
Another example is "The Light And The Dark" by Robert Wisdom - authentic detail of a childhood growing up in a rooming house during the 60's and his parent's varied renters, honest, heartfelt and moving - and yet, a little gun-play doesn't turn a memoir/lit piece/snapshot into noir, sorry to say. I enjoyed parts of "Cold As Ice", in which a bespectacled, comic book-reading eyewitness to a shooting is intimidated by a thug, and how he solves the problem of that intimidation. It's a fun read by Quintin Peterson but, again, clumsily written like some creative writing class assignment that was never edited. "Capital Of The World" by Jim Patton, in which a moonlighting cop who works as a bouncer at a strip-club accidentally finds out that some of the girls are Russian sex-slaves after a murder. It sets up a very powerful examination of the levels of corruption around the world, including the "capital of the world", and then cheats on the ending to wrap things up. The classic "femme fatale" of noir rears her scheming head in "Jeanette" in which a love-struck young man is suckered into planning a robbery while the city burns after Martin Luther King's assassination. It's pretty straight-ahead stuff by Jim Beane, with a brutal ending.
"The Confidential Informant" by George Pelecanos, the editor, is a realistic story of the life of a street informant. Solid. Sometimes execution isn't as important if idea behind a story is delivered well, as in Kenji Jasper's "First" which traces the travails of young, neophyte gangsta-wannabes and how their simple plans for an easy job escalate out of control. I thought the didactic ending was powerful, others may have found it tiresome. A German immigrant and death-camp survivor deals with juvenile delinquent vandals during the early 1960's in "The Names Of The Lost". This Richard Currey piece is less about story than a meditative character study, but it still works. Jennifer Howard's story, meanwhile, moves back to modern times for an interesting examination of what one is willing to tolerate to live in the city, and the barriers we put around ourselves, our empathy, our morality and our humanity, to maintain that residence, in "East Of The Sun". This tale of a mentally ill woman, her doll, and a murder in an alley isn't perfect, but I found the ending moments made up for some of the flaws. Kind of choppy but also engaging are the concentrated power dynamics sketched in Norman Kelley's "The Messenger Of Soulsville" as Black Muslims, mafia princesses, the FBI and a family-run soul record label collide just after J.F.K.'s assassination. It's a bit sketchy, as I said, but holds your interest.
A homeless man is witness to low-level street drama as a sidewalk vendor resist a foreign gang muscling into the neighborhood in "Solomon's Alley" by Robert Andrews. It's got some snappy writing, well-drawn characters and a wonderful confrontation scene before it wraps up with a a twist straight out of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS. Good stuff. Equally enjoyable (and Hitch-like) was Laura Lippman's "A.R.M. and the Woman", a wonderfully sordid little story in which a tony soccer-mom is saddled with an enormous mortgage and figures out the most savvy, expedient way out of her predicament. It's very sharp, cynical and well-written in a Roald Dahl way.
"The Bottom Line" may at times overdo the clipped, knowing, tough-guy dialogue freighted with world-weariness, but the cinematic, suspenseful storytelling makes all that secondary to a well-told tale of corrupt senators and lobbyists playing deadly games with money, power, image, people and votes. James Grady's story is a cracking good read. "Stiffed" moves to the other end of the spectrum, just across the street, as the soul-crushing workaday life of a fry-cook, who's also being priced out of his apartment by gentrification and daily suffers the indignity of serving over-privileged cretins, finally leads to an impulsive act of murder. Really well done character study and a powerful little story by David Slater.
"The Dupe", by Jim Fusilli, closes the book with the best story here. A young conservative ideologue comes to town with his new manuscript extolling the virtues of Ronald Reagan's approach to Government. Unfortunately, his book is much more about how the Neo-Cons, post 911, have betrayed Reagan's vision, than any excoriation of the Left, and he quickly finds that D.C.'s brutal new power players don't want anyone actually calling them on their rhetoric and bullshit. I'd call him a Tea-Partier before the fact (except he's smart enough to understand that America needs health-care reform and social security) but the end result is still the same, as he learns just how nasty and inhuman the children of Reagan and Bush have become. A truly brutal ending to a great story and an average book.
So this time it's Washington, D.C. and those of any political leanings could easily say a bigger town for real crime doesn't exist. Glibness about politics and power-brokers aside, D.C. also has the some of the largest economic/racial disparity going, rampant poverty, a high murder rate, a mayor who was a crack addict and got re-elected anyway. It was also, historically & symbolically, built on a swamp. Yes, a noir town, no doubt, regardless of your affiliation.
Also, I live about 35-40 minutes (2+ hours with traffic) outside of D.C. as I type this. I moved here about 3 years ago. I only go in for the occasional rare reason (like the Fringe festival) - I don't like traffic and I can get my art house cinema in Silver Spring.
And so we have yet another mediocre Akashic books anthology. I read these things because it gives me a chance to read current short fiction in a genre outside of my area of interest but which I can respect. I read them to get an idea of what is considered acceptable short genre fiction without having to commit to buying magazines (too scattershot) or lit journals (not enough genre). And this volume has succeeded in convincing me that the modern short fiction anthology still suffers from a problem that's been endemic for decades - "the curse of the original fiction anthology", I call it, and it goes like this:
Mostly, anthologies *used* to be reprint vehicles - gather up a bunch of great stories that, by being previously published, had proven themselves already. But then the original fiction anthology came along. And sometimes it works - in the hands of an equal parts talented and lucky editor. But here's the problem in a nutshell - a book company says "we think a book of new short fiction about chipmunks will sell well, put one together". And you, the editor, cast around to all your favorite writers, writing buddies, friends, etc. saying "write me a chipmunk story, assured publication". And the publisher takes your list of potential authors and uses it to promo the book: "Big Name Jones" and "Brit McFantasyfan" are going to be in it! Buy many copies!" But then the stories start coming in and, well, some of them are good but some people wrote stories with nary a chipmunk shoehorned into another story they obviously had laying around, or someone else wrote a story about Alvin and the Chipmunks. And then, some of those friends and fellow writers you took a gamble on, well, they proved themselves not up to the task, sometimes in even the basic art of telling a story. And it turns out "Brit McFantasyfan", popular best-selling novelist though he/she is, can't write a piece of short fiction to save their ass. And you have a book already planned to come out with their names all over. So what do you do? You go ahead and publish! And "the curse of the original fiction anthology" gains another victim....
This recurring problem nearly killed short horror fiction in the 80s and 90s (well, that and nepotism) and it continues to haunt the bookstores with mediocre volumes. Like this one.
Here's some good stuff - this volume, overall, had one of the stronger senses of "place" I've encountered in this Noir series. It's achieved in the usual ways - lots of street-names, landmarks, talks about how neighborhoods have changed, important events that occurred in the past, but it just seems a little more prevalent this time out. Also, quite a number of these stories are set in the recent past of the last few decades, which occasionally happens in the previous volumes (not counting the BROOKLYN NOIR 2: THE CLASSICS, as it was all old reprints) but not, to my recollection, as often as seen here.
But, to be honest, there's a lot of weak stories here. A number of the authors are either novelists or local reporters or figures tangentially associated with the city and crime stories, and a good number of the stories are either good ideas or strong memoirs clumsily written, or only stories in the most technical definition ("beginning, middle, end") with almost no sense of the art of short fiction.
Ruben Castaneda's "Coyote Hunt" has a reporter nail down witnesses to an immigrant murder while riots rage through the Hispanic community. It has some good local color and authentic detail (true of a lot of stories here) but also clunky storytelling chops and an awkward ending. "God Don't Like Ugly" by Lester Irby is another clumsy story about a brother and sister on opposite sides of a gang war in 60's-70's D.C. Again, some great detail but also meandering and clunky.
Another example is "The Light And The Dark" by Robert Wisdom - authentic detail of a childhood growing up in a rooming house during the 60's and his parent's varied renters, honest, heartfelt and moving - and yet, a little gun-play doesn't turn a memoir/lit piece/snapshot into noir, sorry to say. I enjoyed parts of "Cold As Ice", in which a bespectacled, comic book-reading eyewitness to a shooting is intimidated by a thug, and how he solves the problem of that intimidation. It's a fun read by Quintin Peterson but, again, clumsily written like some creative writing class assignment that was never edited. "Capital Of The World" by Jim Patton, in which a moonlighting cop who works as a bouncer at a strip-club accidentally finds out that some of the girls are Russian sex-slaves after a murder. It sets up a very powerful examination of the levels of corruption around the world, including the "capital of the world", and then cheats on the ending to wrap things up. The classic "femme fatale" of noir rears her scheming head in "Jeanette" in which a love-struck young man is suckered into planning a robbery while the city burns after Martin Luther King's assassination. It's pretty straight-ahead stuff by Jim Beane, with a brutal ending.
"The Confidential Informant" by George Pelecanos, the editor, is a realistic story of the life of a street informant. Solid. Sometimes execution isn't as important if idea behind a story is delivered well, as in Kenji Jasper's "First" which traces the travails of young, neophyte gangsta-wannabes and how their simple plans for an easy job escalate out of control. I thought the didactic ending was powerful, others may have found it tiresome. A German immigrant and death-camp survivor deals with juvenile delinquent vandals during the early 1960's in "The Names Of The Lost". This Richard Currey piece is less about story than a meditative character study, but it still works. Jennifer Howard's story, meanwhile, moves back to modern times for an interesting examination of what one is willing to tolerate to live in the city, and the barriers we put around ourselves, our empathy, our morality and our humanity, to maintain that residence, in "East Of The Sun". This tale of a mentally ill woman, her doll, and a murder in an alley isn't perfect, but I found the ending moments made up for some of the flaws. Kind of choppy but also engaging are the concentrated power dynamics sketched in Norman Kelley's "The Messenger Of Soulsville" as Black Muslims, mafia princesses, the FBI and a family-run soul record label collide just after J.F.K.'s assassination. It's a bit sketchy, as I said, but holds your interest.
A homeless man is witness to low-level street drama as a sidewalk vendor resist a foreign gang muscling into the neighborhood in "Solomon's Alley" by Robert Andrews. It's got some snappy writing, well-drawn characters and a wonderful confrontation scene before it wraps up with a a twist straight out of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS. Good stuff. Equally enjoyable (and Hitch-like) was Laura Lippman's "A.R.M. and the Woman", a wonderfully sordid little story in which a tony soccer-mom is saddled with an enormous mortgage and figures out the most savvy, expedient way out of her predicament. It's very sharp, cynical and well-written in a Roald Dahl way.
"The Bottom Line" may at times overdo the clipped, knowing, tough-guy dialogue freighted with world-weariness, but the cinematic, suspenseful storytelling makes all that secondary to a well-told tale of corrupt senators and lobbyists playing deadly games with money, power, image, people and votes. James Grady's story is a cracking good read. "Stiffed" moves to the other end of the spectrum, just across the street, as the soul-crushing workaday life of a fry-cook, who's also being priced out of his apartment by gentrification and daily suffers the indignity of serving over-privileged cretins, finally leads to an impulsive act of murder. Really well done character study and a powerful little story by David Slater.
"The Dupe", by Jim Fusilli, closes the book with the best story here. A young conservative ideologue comes to town with his new manuscript extolling the virtues of Ronald Reagan's approach to Government. Unfortunately, his book is much more about how the Neo-Cons, post 911, have betrayed Reagan's vision, than any excoriation of the Left, and he quickly finds that D.C.'s brutal new power players don't want anyone actually calling them on their rhetoric and bullshit. I'd call him a Tea-Partier before the fact (except he's smart enough to understand that America needs health-care reform and social security) but the end result is still the same, as he learns just how nasty and inhuman the children of Reagan and Bush have become. A truly brutal ending to a great story and an average book.
July 28, 2011
BING! As someone who remembers getting all dressed up w Mom, walking kitty-corner across F Street, this story collection rang my bell. Fave is the first one, by Pelicanos. Ca. "Confidential Informant," I believe. About a hard-luck guy. Also enjoyed the one about the white lady who finds a dolly - will knock yer socks off!
June 26, 2013
Pretty good collection of crime fiction. Fun to read especially if you know the locales. Some stories I liked better than others. None were mind-blowing but all were enjoyable. Definitely a few authors in here I would like to read more of.
January 25, 2021
Got to admit bit of a disappointing collection there were some stories that stood out, the Pellecanos obviously but overall it didn't work.
January 25, 2025
It’s hard to rate short-story collections written by more than one author. I love the vibe of the stories, it’s very cool to have local spots mentioned and neighborhoods featured… but the stories are just too hit or miss. East of the Sun was my downright favorite and, for me, the only gem in the book. Several others were okay or “pretty good” but a couple had just too much going on for a 12-page story. Overall, these were a fun read for the DC theme.
June 2, 2022
I came for the noir but stayed for the D.C.
April 13, 2009
Short stories from all four quarters of DC. A good read for locals--various neighborhoods, restaurants, parks worked into the stories. At times worked in with events like the King and Mount Pleasant riots. General disdain for suburban kids and hill staffers. Some stories far better than others--Pelecanos, Peterson, Castaneda--while some are quite bad. But overall, recommended for lovers of the seedy underbelly.
July 19, 2016
Loved these short stories from all across DC. I appreciated the mix of history, humor, crime, and emotion. Most stories don't revolve around politics or anything in the national spotlight. This would be a great read even if you aren't from the region... you'll get a taste of DC that's rarely shown on film or television.
March 27, 2018
This is a collection of short stories, each by a different mystery/noir writer, set in various parts of D.C. The first story is by Geo. Pelecanos, who I admire highly. The other stories were chosen by him. This collection was dark, gritty, suspenseful. I enjoyed the diversity of approaches, and perspectives. I very much recommend this book for those of us drawn to this kind of story telling.
January 15, 2008
A must-read for anyone familiar with DC or any short-story/mystery lover. Every story takes place in a real neighborhood and location in the District. The twists and turns are surprising. It is a very satifying read.
August 23, 2024
“I had to figure out how to live before I could recount, before I could truly own my story.”
July 28, 2025
If you hate happy endings, then this book of short stories is absolutely for you.
April 29, 2012
Just very good SS noir fiction set in a familiar city-- the literary equivalent of comfort food to me. But all Akashic's "City Noir" series is delectable; this one happens to be both a familiar city and contained one very good SS: "Solomon's Alley", by Robert Andrews. Before writing this, I looked to see if any other Goodreader/Reviewers had found it-- sure enough, check out John's review. But Shawn Garrett's tome of a review also noted it-- "...some snappy writing... Good stuff."-- while treating nearly every contribution (isn't "succinct" something you think about in a book review??).
Despite the derogations of some reviewers, I found virtually all of the contributions here to be good writing and basic, enjoyable short stories. I think anyone with similar tastes will feel the same. Want something for a little escape during spare time while on an odious mission (read: unpleasant business trip)? Pick up one of the Akashic "City Noir" series for a city you know and love-- or the one you're traveling to.
Despite the derogations of some reviewers, I found virtually all of the contributions here to be good writing and basic, enjoyable short stories. I think anyone with similar tastes will feel the same. Want something for a little escape during spare time while on an odious mission (read: unpleasant business trip)? Pick up one of the Akashic "City Noir" series for a city you know and love-- or the one you're traveling to.
March 12, 2010
This was kind of a letdown. I've read books by both Pelecanos and Lippman that I've really enjoyed, but their pieces in this collection were rather sub-par compared to their excellent full-length novels. The same goes for the other writers as well. Although I enjoyed the DC backdrop in all of the stories, (as would anyone who has ever spent time in DC), I must say that all of the geographic familiarity in the world can't make up for amateurish writing. There were a lot of O. Henry-type endings as well, something I could never get into. Overall, the book wasn't a total loss, but definitely not what I was hoping for.
August 19, 2008
A collection of dark short stories set in DC, some were better than others. I don't usually go for mystery/thriller novels, so it was interesting to get a short dose of this kind of writing. My favorites were stories by Jennifer Howard, Laura Lippman, Quintin Peterson,Ruben Castaneda, Jim Beane, David Slater, and Richard Currey.
October 6, 2011
Another solid entry into Akashic's Noir series. I may have enjoyed this more because I know the locales firsthand, which breathes additional life into it, but the authors did a great job of peeling away the onion-skin layers of this deep and diverse city. There were some weak entries in this run, but overall, a quite enjoyable read.
June 13, 2019
Really enjoyed this book. These stories weave together to paint a rich tapestry of both official Washigton and the DC so many longtime residents know and love. The stories really leave you thinking about what is actually important. A worthwhile read.
December 29, 2024
Living in the DC area, I have a great fondness for stories set here. Pelecanos puts together an interesting slate of stories set in different parts of the city (as do all the the Noir anthologies from Akashic Books) with authors from or otherwise connected to the stories. Apparently I don't always know what noir means, but I did like the generally gritty and seedy look at this city that's more than just a place where politicians and lobbyists do their work. Some of the stories here were a little weak in either prose or plot. What cracked me up is that the two most political stories were also among the weakest. One of the stories I really liked was actually more of a memory being retold (Robert Wisdom's). I think my favorite was Robert Currey's "The Names of the Lost" about a Holocaust survivor over in Shepherd Park in 1967. Just a good use of time and place and a quiet man with thoughts. Along those lines, David Slater's "Stiffed" was also great, about a cook at a burger joint who's screwed in more ways than one--just a really tight story that leads to the inevitable conclusion. Some with amusing endings were "Solomon's Alley" (Andrews) and "A.R.M. and the Woman" (Lippman). I also liked Jennifer Howard's "East of the Sun" if only for the "holy shit wtf" feeling that this yuppy mom feels at the end. Anyway, an interesting noir anthology with mostly good stories. I'm not sure if I'll read any of the ones set in other cities, but I definitely want to pick up D.C. Noir 2: The Classics at least.
June 16, 2022
My 5 star review may reflect my affinity for the city. Still I think this book is well worth your time. Read it as I did -- one story a day to help you absorb what you've read.
Editor George Pelecanos' introduction is nothing short of a love letter to the city His "Confidential Informant" starts the series of short stories. "First" was flat out raw. "Capital of the World" was sad. "The Names of the Lost" tells of a Nazi camp survivor still being victimized. I recommend "East of the Sun" as an honest depiction of the city's residents and life on the edges of society. I recommend "Solomon's Alley" for the triumph of good over evil. "The Light and the Dark" is a child's perspective on an incident in the 1960s and adults reflection on those stories and people that made him as he is today. "A.R.M. And the Woman" clearly says you do what you have to do to survive.
"Cold as Ice" is a painful description of a drive-by shooting and witness intimidation. "Good Don't Like Ugly" is unusual. "Coyote Hunt" is a good story made even more real by virtue of the fact that I remember the Mount Pleasant riots. "Jeanette" is a classic . In "The Bottom Line" you get a cold, hard look at work on the Hill. I saw that coming in "Stiifed." I recommend "The Messenger of Soulsville" for its many levels of how to sell your soul. And finally, I recommend "The Dupe" for down and dirty politics.
D.C. Noir is part of a series of "city" noir books. I will look for more.
Editor George Pelecanos' introduction is nothing short of a love letter to the city His "Confidential Informant" starts the series of short stories. "First" was flat out raw. "Capital of the World" was sad. "The Names of the Lost" tells of a Nazi camp survivor still being victimized. I recommend "East of the Sun" as an honest depiction of the city's residents and life on the edges of society. I recommend "Solomon's Alley" for the triumph of good over evil. "The Light and the Dark" is a child's perspective on an incident in the 1960s and adults reflection on those stories and people that made him as he is today. "A.R.M. And the Woman" clearly says you do what you have to do to survive.
"Cold as Ice" is a painful description of a drive-by shooting and witness intimidation. "Good Don't Like Ugly" is unusual. "Coyote Hunt" is a good story made even more real by virtue of the fact that I remember the Mount Pleasant riots. "Jeanette" is a classic . In "The Bottom Line" you get a cold, hard look at work on the Hill. I saw that coming in "Stiifed." I recommend "The Messenger of Soulsville" for its many levels of how to sell your soul. And finally, I recommend "The Dupe" for down and dirty politics.
D.C. Noir is part of a series of "city" noir books. I will look for more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2021
This is one volume of a huge (over 100 books) series of sort story collections in the noir genre. As with most collections of this type, I found some stories that I liked and some that didn’t appeal to me. I thought it was worth digging through the book for the stories that I enjoyed, particularly since one of my favorite authors, George Pelecanos, is the editor and a contributor. Most crime fiction fans will find something to appreciate here but I’d expect a variety of opinions about which stories readers liked or disliked due to the wide range of writing styles and topics represented.
September 1, 2020
It was alright... I don't think I've ever read a noir book, so I decided to go with an anthology specific to my current city. It's cool reading stories about my neighborhood, or other neighborhoods I'm familiar with, but the genre just isn't for me. This book was... fine...
May 24, 2017
I love George Pelicanos, and naturally liked his story the best. Very good book.
October 21, 2020
Collection of Noir Stories
There was only one story I didn't like, all the rest were different and entertaining. If you like Noir you will like this book.
There was only one story I didn't like, all the rest were different and entertaining. If you like Noir you will like this book.
November 30, 2022
I only read some of the stories. It’s not really my thing but it was cool to see the super specific references to places I know well.
July 3, 2023
All excellent stories set in various Washington, D.C. neighborhoods.
August 15, 2024
D.C. Noir ** Read in Washington, DC (June 2024)
August 21, 2025
This was a nice little anthology - not a bad tale in the bunch. Enjoyed it!
September 7, 2025
I'll admit it, if I had not lived in DC, I probably would not have been interested in it. Not sure it would be that interesting for non-residents. The stories were mostly interesting and well written. The main problem is that the stories are dated and many of the places mentioned are not there any more. Overall, it's a pretty good read.
November 28, 2025
Some of these stories were really gripping and some felt very dated. A mixed bag, but ultimately fun to read a book of stories for a city I know so well.
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