
Cleveland Noir
Miesha Wilson Headen
(Editor)Description
FEATURING BRAND-NEW STORIES FROM: Paula McLain, Jill Bialosky, Thrity Umrigar, Michael Ruhlman, Daniel Stashower, D.M. Pulley, J.D. Belcher, Alex DiFrancesco, Miesha Wilson Headen, Abby L. Vandiver, Sam Conrad, Angela Crook, Susan Petrone, Dana McSwain, and Mary Grimm.
FROM THE EDITORS' INTRODUCTION:
"Cleveland is a working-class town, though its great institutions were founded by twentieth-century robber barons and magnates . . . It's this mix of the wealthy and the working class that makes this city--an urban center of brick and girders surrounded by verdant suburbs--a perfect backdrop for lawlessness. Cleveland has certainly seen its share of high-profile crime. Eliot Ness, Cleveland's director of public safety in the 1930s, hunted unsuccessfully for the 'torso murderer' who killed and dismembered twelve people in Kingsbury Run, the area now known as the Flats, then populated by bars, brothels, flophouses, and gambling dens. The famous disappearance of Beverly Potts in the early 1950s on Cleveland's west side made national headlines. The sensational murder of Marilyn Sheppard in Bay Village and the imprisonment and eventual acquittal of her husband, the surgeon Sam Sheppard, became the basis for a popular television drama The Fugitive . . .
"The noir stories in this volume hit all these same notes, and their geographies reflect the history of the city and its politics, its laws, poverty, alienation, racism, crime, and violence."
Product Details
Publisher | Akashic Books, Ltd. |
Publish Date | August 01, 2023 |
Pages | 288 |
Language | English |
Type | |
EAN/UPC | 9781636140995 |
Dimensions | 8.2 X 5.2 X 0.9 inches | 0.6 pounds |
About the Author
Reviews
Cleveland, a city of extremes, is a near-perfect location for these dark tales of deception, violence, and despair . . . All of the stories are tied in well with place, and the range of approaches is admirably wide. VERDICT One of the best in a very good series, this title should fly off the shelves.-- "Library Journal"
Fifteen new tales of murder and mayhem as diverse as the city that spawned them . . . Ruhlman and Headen draft an outstanding crew of writers to chronicle the misery of folks who can't get out of their own ways.-- "Kirkus Reviews"
Michael Ruhlman and his coeditor Miesha Wilson Headen, who also penned a story for the book, have curated a helluva lineup. Cleveland Noir comprises a variety of styles and moods that push the genre's potential and add texture to the city's terrain. One need not be a local to enjoy it. In fact, read it even if you don't know the city--let it be your dark guide.-- "Fearsome Queer"
The best entries in the collection shy away from pat scenarios entirely . . . [T]here's Mary Grimm's 'Over the Hill, ' in which an obsessed lover searches high and low for his woman on Halloween night--a woman who may actually be a witch. Gassed up on grungy, gritty storytelling, the tale is both a vivid journey into Cleveland's Flats, a neighborhood perched on the side of a cliff (and imminent disaster), and a love story where no one dies, but sex feels an awful lot like death. Moments like these remind us why Akashic's noir series are enjoyable and sometimes surprising; James M. Cain himself would have approved.-- "New York Journal of Books"
The vivid visuals each author brought to Cleveland Noir kept me reading. In many ways, the stories remind me of a combination of fi lm noir and episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The famous director is quoted as saying, 'Everyone loves a good murder, provided he is not the victim.' All in all, this makes for a fascinating read.-- "Insight News"
Earn by promoting books