“Traverses Texas, finding evidence of the hard boiled, sultry, and disreputable throughout the state . . . Think of the book as a sort of criminal travelogue.” —Booklist If everything is bigger in Texas, then that includes the boldness of the criminals who call the state home. From large urban centers to the Cajun Gulf coast, there is big money to be made running guns, drugs, and catering to the greedy and disillusioned. Each distinctive region can claim its own special brand of outlaw. In Lone Star Noir, you’ll find stories by James Crumley, Joe R. Lansdale, Claudia Smith, Ito Romo, Luis Alberto Urrea, David Corbett, George Wier, Sarah Cortez, Jesse Sublett, Dean James, Tim Tingle, Milton T. Burton, Lisa Sandlin, Jessica Powers, and Bobby Byrd. “This isn’t J.R. Ewing’s Lone Star State. This is the Texas of chicken shit bingo, Enron scamsters, and a feeling that what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico . . . So what defines Texas noir? Who knows, but you better pray that blood doesn’t stain your belt buckle.” —The Austin Chronicle

“Explores the dark corners of our city . . . set both pre- and post-Katrina . . . harrowing reading, to be sure, but it’s pure page-turning pleasure, too.” —The Times-Picayune Residents of the Big Easy are proud of its unique history and character. Resourceful and resilient, they are survivors—of natural disasters, as well as everyday tragedies. For off the beaten path, where tourists never travel, is a city that revels in scandal, sin, and seduction. New Orleans Noir includes stories by Ace Atkins, Laura Lippman, Patty Friedmann, Barbara Hambly, Tim McLoughlin, Olympia Vernon, David Fulmer, Jervey Tervalon, James Nolan, Kalamu ya Salaam, Maureen Tan, Thomas Adcock, Jeri Cain Rossi, Christine Wiltz, Greg Herren, Julie Smith, Eric Overmyer, and Ted O’Brien. “A vivid series of impressions of the city in moments that brought out either the best or worst in people . . . a thrilling read and a harbinger of what should be an interesting stream of works.” —Gambit Weekly “When you’ve waded through these anguished pages, you can begin to understand why—as corrupt as it is, as broken as it is—so many of New Orleans’s refugees still long to go home.” —Mystery Scene “Excellent . . . Appropriately, Smith divides the book into pre- and post-Katrina sections, and many of the more powerful tales describe the disaster’s hellish aftermath.” —Publishers Weekly

This sequel to the original best-selling "New Orleans Noir" takes a literary tour through some of New Orleans's darkest writing.

“A collection of stories celebrating the underbelly of the city, its ghosts, and the characters that give Memphis its rich patina of blues.” —Memphis Flyer The Home of the Blues knows how darkness can permeate a person’s soul—and what it can drive you to do. It’s the soundtrack to a city that’s made up of equal parts hope and despair, past and present, death and rebirth. On the streets of Memphis, noir hits the right note. Memphis Noir features stories by city standouts Richard J. Alley, David Wesley Williams, Dwight Fryer, Jamey Hatley, Adam Shaw, Penny Register-Shaw, Kaye George, Arthur Flowers, Suzanne Berube Rorhus, Ehi Ike, Lee Martin, Stephen Clements, Cary Holladay, John Bensko, Sheree Renée Thomas, and Troy L. Wiggins. “A remarkable picture of contemporary Memphis emerges in this Akashic noir volume . . . Something for everyone.” —Publishers Weekly “Covers train cars and Beale Street, hoodoo and segregation, Nathan Bedford Forrest and, of course, Graceland, and even includes a graphic novella.” —Memphis Flyer “Captures the subtlety of the Memphis ethos, where blacks and whites, rich and poor, are intimately entwined. The collection—fifteen stories by some of the city’s finest writers—bleeds the blues and calls down the dark powers that permeate this capital of the Delta.” —The Commercial Appeal (Memphis) “The new anthology Memphis Noir is replete with murders, ghosts, gangsters, a sharp-toothed baby, Boss Crump, and high water on the bluff.” —Memphis Magazine

From Hollywood starlets to downtown taxi dancers, from Central Avenue speakeasies to clapboard Venice Beach shacks to Depression-era hobos riding the rails, this volume brings readers the masters of the genre, penning tales of love, lust and loss in the City of Angels. Some, like Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain, are literary lions. Others, like screenwriters Paul Cain and Leigh Brackett, whose hard-boiled prose shoots like bullets from a bootlegger's gun, are mainly known by cognoscenti. Sequel to Los Angeles Noir, the bestselling volume in the Akashic Noir series.

Twenty of America’s best mystery short stories from 2011, selected by a #1 New York Times–bestselling author. The Best American series is the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction and nonfiction. Each volume’s series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines, journals, and websites. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected—and most popular—of its kind. The Best American Mystery Stories 2011 includes: Lawrence Block Brendan DuBois Loren D. Estleman Beth Ann Fennelly and Tom Franklin Ed Gorman Richard Lange S. J. Rozan Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins And others Praise for The Best American Mystery Stories 2011 “Ranging from homespun to lush and tropical, this year’s crop of 20 stories offers a variety of tastes and textures . . . The best of Coben’s Best is really first-rate.” —Kirkus Reviews

Traces the extraordinary influence of Texas warrior culture on American national politics, from the creation myth of the Alamo to the George W. Bush administration's pre-emptive attack policy in the Middle East.

According to many critics, the era of "Film Noir" ended with the 1958 release of Orson Welles' classic Touch of Evil. The style was not dead, but rather had been transformed, and two years later, Alfred Hitchcock ushered in a new era of "Noir" films with the release of his 1960 masterpiece, Psycho. Film scholar Ronald Schwartz examines the most significant representatives of this cinematic style, beginning with Hitchcock's shocker and concluding with Michael Mann's Collateral (2004). Schwartz provides in-depth analyses of over thirty of the best "Neo-Noir" films and explains the qualities and characteristics of the "new noir" style. He also explains how it differs from "Film Noir" of the forties and fifties. As this study reveals, the new style significantly impacted American film after 1960. In this chronological guide, Schwartz examines such landmark films as The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Point Blank (1967), The French Connection (1971), Chinatown (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), Body Heat (1981), Blood Simple (1984), Fatal Attraction (1987), The Grifters (1990), Reservoir Dogs (1992), The Usual Suspects (1995), L.A. Confidential (1997), Memento (2000), and Mystic River (2003). The book also includes an alphabetical filmography, listing over 650 films that in plot, style, or subject matter reflect the diversity of the genre. This reference work will be a valuable resource for film scholars and fans alike who wish to further explore the ever-evolving aspects of "Neo-Noir" cinema.

This book presents over one hundred crime and gangster movies highlighting fifty groundbreaking movies and offering profiles of legendary performers, directors, and other contributors.