St. Louis Noir

By Akashic Books

"Featuring a baker's dozen of original stories, plus one 'poetic interlude,' this new entry in Akashic's globetrotting anthology series explores, as editor Phillips, author of The Ice Harvest, tells us in his introduction, the 'collision of high and low' that makes St. Louis so interesting to crime writers...The stories here are uniformly strong. Regular readers of the Noir series (since its inception in 2004, there have been about 75 installments) know what to expect: tightly written, tightly plotted, mostly character-driven stories of murder and mayhem, death and despair, shadow and shock."
--Booklist

'Phillips lends his own talents as well, bringing the total body count to 13 works of fatalist fiction as well as a poetic interlude featuring Poet Laureate Michael Castro. Joining him as accessories are St. Louis Post-Dispatch film critic Calvin Wilson; LaVelle Wilkins-Chinn, a fiction writer whom Phillips himself taught; and writers John Lutz, Paul D. Marks, Colleen J. McElroy, Jason Makansi, S.L. Coney, Laua Benedict, Umar Lee, Chris Barsanti, Linda Smith and Jedidiah Ayres."
-- St. Louis Newspaper

"Joining Seattle, Memphis, Phoenix, and other noir outposts, St. Louis gets a turn to show its dark side in Phillips' collection of 13 dark tales and a poetic interlude...[A] spirited, black-hearted collection."
--Kirkus Reviews

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.

Brand-new stories by: Calvin Wilson, LaVelle Wilkins-Chinn, John Lutz, Paul D. Marks, Colleen J. McElroy, Jason Makansi, S.L. Coney, Michael Castro, Laura Benedict, Jedidiah Ayres, Umar Lee, Chris Barsanti, L.J. Smith, and Scott Phillips.

From the introduction by Scott Phillips:

"The St. Louis region has had a rough time over the past few years. A number of our school districts are unaccredited. A large section of a North St. Louis County landfill is burning uncontrolled--yes, it's on fire--and said fire is only yards away from a World War IIera radioactive waste dump. There's the matter of the region's de facto segregation, a persistent pox on the city and county decades after the explicit, institutional variety became illegal. A number of our suburban municipalities have lately been exposed in the act of strong-arming their poorest citizens, running what amount to debtors' prisons. In recent years one of those cities, Ferguson, has become a national synonym for police misconduct and institutional racism...

Amid all this is a rich, multicultural history of art and literature both high and low, stemming from conflict and passions running hot...This collection strives for some of that same energy that the collision of high and low can produce...All these writers come at their work with different perspectives and styles but all with a connection to and a passion for our troubled city and its surroundings."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Akashic Books
• Release date: Jul 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9781617754616

Reviews for St. Louis Noir

[belgrade18 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I grew up in St. Louis, where my mother was a probation officer (more than one story took place on a block I knew). I'm also a big fan of mysteries, and have liked some of the other titles in this series. I thought all the stories were well-written and gripping, and nearly all of them had gripping noir styles, with some great surprise endings. The underside of The Lou is captured in so many of the stories, and I'm glad there were black and white authors in a city where black and white stories are not often told together. Highly recommended, although locals may appreciate it more than those who don't know the place.

[juliecracchiolo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the latest installment of Akashic Noir’s Midwest series, following Chicago, the Twin Cities and Kansas City. In total, the Akashic Noir Series has about 75 titles, set around the world.This particular collection has 14 entries, 13 dark, short stories and one poetic interlude. I recognized six of the authors for a variety of reasons. John Lutz and Scott Phillips are nationally recognized for their work: Lutz for “Single White Female” and Phillips for “The Ice Harvest.” Poet Michael Castro is the City of St. Louis’ Poet Laureate and locally famous before he was awarded the position. Jedidiah Ayres I’ve heard of from writer Joe Schwartz, and L. J. Smith I know from the local writing scene. Calvin Wilson is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.It was fun reading stories that take is familiar landmarks. The book is broken into four section, much like the metropolitan area itself: the City, the County, and Across the River (Illinois). The poetic interlude speaks to the large network of creative talent that call St. Louis home.Phillips did a bang-up job with his Introduction: “High and Low Culture.” That describes St. Louis to a tee, past and present.The collection gets off to strong start with the first story, “Abandoned Places” by S. L. Coney. In this story, after Ian’s father disappears, most assume he’s dead. But Ian isn’t so sure. He follows his stepmother one night and discovers that his father is held prisoner. There is some wonderfully vivid imagery especially involving the slitting of a throat. Without giving anything away (I hope), that one sentence that stood out among the rest was: “The skin gaped on either side, of that opening, giving (deleted to prevent a spoiler detail) a second smile.” This always gives me the shivers.While “Abandoned Places” was my favorite, my least favorite was “Deserted Cities of the Heart,” by Paul D. Marks. It was rather existential, really didn’t have a plot and mostly seemed to center around loner Daniel Hayden lying under the Gateway Arch.The rest of the authors cover the bases; it’s all here: a 1950s story about racism that also has no plot, a mentally unstable African-American man after a tour in Vietnam, slackers, femme fatales, divorces, death, missing children, skinheads, ending with a twist, convicts and drugs and drug dealers. All in all, except for the first story, I felt that all the others were just okay. St. Louis Noir receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

[leischen_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As usual, Akashic has another fine addition to their Cities Noir series-St Louis Noir. To be honest, the only author I recognized John Lutz who has a story about a dirt track racer that contains echoes of the noir film DOA. Another standout is Laura Benedict's tale of a woman going through tragic changes in her life.

[seeword · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I like this series from Akashic books. This one is pretty good with a mix of people--some skin-head vigilantes along with drug dealers, whores, ex-cons, guys evening scores and other usual suspects . A couple of the stories are a bit self-conscious in trying to make sure people familiar with St Louis know for sure that the story is really set there. Too many street names--that sort of thing. Overall the anthology is quite good with thirteen stories with an interesting "poetic interlude" in the middle. There is also a map which is helpful.Contents (I italicized my favorites: Introduction / Scott Phillips -- Part I: The city. Abandoned places / S.L. Coney -- Deserted cities of the heart / Paul D. Marks -- Blues for the River City / Colleen J. McElroy -- Fool's luck / La Velle Wilkins-Chin -- Attrition / Calvin Wilson -- Tracks / Jason Makansi -- Part II: A poetic interlude. Four St. Louis poems / Michael Castro -- Part III: The county. A paler shade of death / Laura Benedict -- Have you seen me? / Jedidiah Ayres -- A St. Louis Christmas / Umar Lee -- The pillbox / Chris Barsanti -- The brick wall / Lohn Lutz -- Part IV: Across the river. Tell them your name is Barbara / L.J. Smith -- One little Goddamn thing / Scott Phillips.

[campingmomma · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've read a couple of the Noir city anthologies previous to this & by far this one has to be my favorite! Filled with stunning prose & engaging stories from beginning to end.For me there were a few stand outs. The first being Abandoned Places by S.L. Coney. The story of a boy living with his father's girlfriend when his dad just up & leaves one day. While I could see where the story was going I was still left speechless at the end. The second highlight was A Paler Shade of Death by Laura Benedict. Gripping from the beginning it is the story of a woman who is thought to have killed her young son & maybe more. Finally, Have You Seen Me? by Jedidiah Ayres. A "cleaner" of the most unusual kind searches for the forgotten of St Louis.

[command3r · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This collection of stories was not at all what a waste expecting. A fan of Hammett and Chandler and classic noir stories, I was expecting atmospheric mystery if not classic detective. Instead there is just a collection of dark tales. Most with no mystery element at all.

[lindapanzo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've read a few others in this series, most recently Chicago Noir, and thought that this one did not compare favorably to the others. I tried 3 times but could not make myself get through all of these. Somehow, the stories here felt different than others in the series. I think that I'll skip this series in the future, sad to say.

[samsattler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

St. Louis Noir is just the latest of about a dozen of the short story collections in this Akashic series that I’ve read now, and the streak continues – not a single one of them has disappointed me. Each of the collections begins with an introduction from the book’s editor (in this instance, Scott Phillips) that helps set the overall tone for what is to follow. As Phillips says, the St. Louis region has not had an easy time in recent years, and that makes the city the perfect setting for this kind of hardcore crime fiction. Consider that one of Phillips’s definitions of noir is fiction that “traffics in fatality and doom and bad luck and characters who persistently, knowingly, act against their own best interests” and you have an idea of what is to come.Among my favorite stories in St. Louis Noir is one called “Deserted Cities of the Heart” (by Paul D. Monks) in which a loner of an IT nerd with a security clearance is convinced to hack into a witness protection data base with disastrous results by the attractive young out-of-towner who suddenly comes into his life. Another is “A Paler Shade of Death” (by Laura Benedict) about a young woman that many suspect is guilty of killing her four-year-old son. Now that her marriage has fallen apart, she is trying to convince herself that it is time for a fresh start – but is it? Two other stories are particular standouts: “The Brick Wall” (by John Lutz) and “One Little Goddam Thing” by the collection’s editor Scott Phillips. The first is a rather Hitchcockian story involving revenge of the most ingeniously delicate variety, and the second involves revenge of the cruder, but equally effective, type. St. Louis Noir also includes what is titled “A Poetic Interlude,” four short poems from Michael Castro. In very few words, the first two pieces (“In St. Louis Heat” and “Gaslight Square”) paint vividly memorable pictures of St. Louis street scenes, but the third poem, “St. Louis Blues Revisited” strikes a note I wish it had not stricken by referencing “the cold cop who killed Michael Brown.” Perhaps I am misreading the poet’s intention in making that reference, but I do not see that it adds much of anything to mood of the poem, even coming in the poem’s very first stanza as it does. Much worse is a similar reference in author Umar Lee’s short author biography (whether written by Lee or by the editor did, I do not know) to the “murder of Michael Brown.” That reference serves no purpose whatsoever other than to explain the politics of Umar Lee who is “presently a candidate for mayor of St. Louis.”The bottom line: St. Louis Noir is another worthy addition to what is perhaps already the best series of short story collections to be published in decades.

[bayleaf_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

St. Louis Noir, edited by Scott Phillips, is one of the better noir anthologies in the Akashic series and I’ve read quite a few. There’s not a story I didn’t like and the addition of poetry was particularly unique and appreciated. All of the stories Phillips chose to include were easy to understand and quite representative of St. Louis, a Midwestern city under siege that has outlived its past with a future that’s uncertain.

[ryanpoole · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This may be the closest to 5 stars that I've read yet. I'm only familiar with the name noir (btw I hate when people pronounce it like nor) otherwise I've never read the genre and only had a extremely vague idea of what is was. So if this book is any indication it is a "dark" genre. But in a good way. Or at least this book was written in the way that you don't mind how dark it is. I will definitely keep looking into more of this series and probably more noir book in general. The only thing that kept it from being 5 stars was that 2 of the stories jumped around a little to much. It is short stories and I don't mind the jumps but while all the rest made sense I almost had to reread a whole page to make sure I didn't miss something. However even those two stories themselves and were well written if I could do this out of 10 I'd probably give it a 8.7-9.1 out of 5 I have to pick 4.5 but I'd say 4.8. beyond recommend this book

[vasquirrel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

St. Louis Noir did not disappoint. Very connected to the city as a backdrop AND silent (and not so silent) character in all of the stories. Great twists in every story -- not a disappointing one in the bunch. On a personal level, I may HAVE to stop reviewing this Noir series --- fantastic literature, but leaves you a little jaded and depressed after! Doing it's job, I suppose.