Baltimore Noir Summary and Reviews

Baltimore Noir

Baltimore Noir
List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $5.90
You Save: $9.05 (61%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.98 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Editor: Laura Lippman
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2006-05-01
ISBN: 1888451963
Number of pages: 294
Publisher: Akashic Books

Book Reviews of Baltimore Noir

Book Review: Charm City Crime
Summary: 3 Stars

I read a fair amount of crime novels, and lately I've been reading a bit about Baltimore, so I finally got around to picking this anthology of Baltimore-based crime fiction up. Editor (and popular crime novelist) Laura Lippman provides a quick and dirty rundown on Baltimore's literary claims to fame and why it makes for a good noir setting. (Although she errs in naming St. Louis and Baltimore as the only "major" U.S. cities not to lie in a county, Washington D.C. is a third.) In any event, she divides the sixteen stories into three roughly equal parts:

The first section is "The Way Things Used to Be," and its five stories are united by their illustration of the tension between contemporary Baltimore and its history. Lippman's own contribution, "Easy as A-B-C," kicks things off with a bittersweet look at gentrification. After reading it, you may never look at your contractor the same way. Screenwriter Robert Ward's story "Fat Chance" is about a Hollywood screenwriter who revisits his childhood neighborhood, and sure enough, runs into demons from his past. Jack Bludis's "Pigtown Will Shine Tonight" is set immediately after WWII and features Lithuanian displaced persons trying to assimilate and facing new dangers. In Rob Hiassen's "Over My Dead Body," a smalltime newspaper reporter meets the evil face of gentrification as his favorite Fell's Point bar is threatened with a buyout. Finally, the retired cop in Rafael Alvarez' s"The Invisible Man" recollects a murder among the Greeks of Highlandtown in the early '60s.

Section II is "The Way Things Are," and who better to kick off this contemporary set of stories than Lippman's husband, David Simon, who is best known as the creator of The Wire. His contribution about a scrap-metal hustler and stressed cops is solid, but also exactly the same as Bubs' story arc from season 4 of The Wire. Marcia Talley's "Home Movies" is a nice take on the touristy Inner Harbor, as a woman waits to meet up with a sailboat, with unexpected consequences. In Joseph Wallace's "Liminal," a nice Jewish girl runs afoul of a predatory pornographer, again, with unexpected results. Lisa France's "Almost Missed it By a Hair" is a kind of blah cozy murder case, set at a hairdressing expo. Charlie Stella's "Ode to the O's" is a colorful tribute to Baltimore's wiseguys (and the hometown baseball team). Sarah Weinman's "Don't Walk In Front of Me" introduces an ex-con bookstore clerk to Baltimore's Jewish elite and their dirty secrets.

The final section is "The Way Things Never Were," and as the title suggests, the stories in it lean a little more heavily on artifice. For example, Dan Fesperman (who's novels I've quite enjoyed), contributes "As Seen On TV," a limply predictable story about a Balkan hitman who's psyched to do a job in Baltimore because "Homicide" is his favorite TV show. Much better is Tim Cockey's "The Haunting of Slink Ridgely," about a milkman's ghost and the girl who mourns him. Jim Fusilli's "The Homecoming," about a single father and his daughter visiting Baltimore, is also quite good, although it depends on a major coincidence. Ben Neihart's "Frog Cycle" is a weird little tale of genetically engineered frogs amidst the city's new biotech firms. Finally, Sujata Massey's "Goodwood Gardens," outlines the perils of becoming nouveau riche and what one housewife does to fight back.

Like pretty much every anthology, it's a very mixed bag and most readers will have their own favorites. However, there are only four of the bunch I could really recommend reading (Lippman's, Simon's, Stella's, and Cockey's), while the rest are fairly forgettable to downright weak. Does the book impart a good sense of Baltimore? On the whole I guess I'd say yes, simply because it does range across the city and give the reader a taste of its diversity. That said, the city is roughly 2/3 African-American, but only two of the protagonists in the sixteen stories are identifiably black, so clearly we're not getting the full picture here.

Literature & Fiction Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Ultimate Soul Nourishing Guide to Crime Fiction and Noir Anthologies
The Vicious Circle: Mystery and Crime Stories by Members of the Algonquin Round Table ImageThe Vicious Circle: Mystery and Crime Stories by Members of the Algonquin Round Table
Pegasus; Published: 2008-12-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.16
Price in other shops: $13.95
The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction 1 (Rough Guide Reference) ImageThe Rough Guide to Crime Fiction 1 (Rough Guide Reference)
by Rough Guides
Rough Guides; Published: 2007-07-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.15
Price in other shops: $12.99
Politics Noir: Dark Tales from the Corridors of Power ImagePolitics Noir: Dark Tales from the Corridors of Power
Verso; Published: 2008-04-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.96
Price in other shops: $16.95
Neon Noir: Contemporary American Crime Fiction ImageNeon Noir: Contemporary American Crime Fiction
by Woody Haut
Serpent's Tail; Published: 1999-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.72
Price in other shops: $16.99
Killer Year: Stories to Die For...From the Hottest New Crime Writers ImageKiller Year: Stories to Die For...From the Hottest New Crime Writers
by Lee Child
St. Martin's Minotaur; Published: 2008-12-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.17
Price in other shops: $14.95
Hollywood and Crime: Original Crime Stories Set During the History of Hollywood ImageHollywood and Crime: Original Crime Stories Set During the History of Hollywood
Pegasus; Published: 2008-12-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.17
Price in other shops: $14.95
Hardboiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories ImageHardboiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1997-05-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.49
Price in other shops: $29.95
Wall Street Noir (Akashic Noir) ImageWall Street Noir (Akashic Noir)
Akashic Books; Published: 2007-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.40
Price in other shops: $15.95
Twin Cities Noir (Akashic Noir) ImageTwin Cities Noir (Akashic Noir)
Akashic Books; Published: 2006-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.74
Price in other shops: $14.95
Trinidad Noir (Akashic Noir) ImageTrinidad Noir (Akashic Noir)
Akashic Books; Published: 2008-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.23
Price in other shops: $15.95
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Another Thing to Fall: A Novel (Tess Monaghan Mysteries) ImageAnother Thing to Fall: A Novel (Tess Monaghan Mysteries)
by Laura Lippman
William Morrow; Published: 2008-03-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops: $24.95
In a Strange City: A Mystery ImageIn a Strange City: A Mystery
by Laura Lippman
ORION; Published: 2001-08-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.51
Price in other shops: $24.00
Every Secret Thing : A Novel ImageEvery Secret Thing : A Novel
by Laura Lippman
Published: 2003-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.87
Price in other shops: $24.95
The Sugar House: A Tess Monaghan Mystery ImageThe Sugar House: A Tess Monaghan Mystery
by Laura Lippman
Avon; Published: 2001-08-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops: $7.99
In Big Trouble (Tess Monaghan Mysteries) ImageIn Big Trouble (Tess Monaghan Mysteries)
by Laura Lippman
Avon; Published: 1999-09-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.75
Price in other shops: $7.99
Butchers Hill (Tess Monaghan Mysteries) ImageButchers Hill (Tess Monaghan Mysteries)
by Laura Lippman
Avon; Published: 1998-07-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.95
Price in other shops: $7.99
Charm City (Tess Monaghan Mysteries) ImageCharm City (Tess Monaghan Mysteries)
by Laura Lippman
Avon; Published: 1997-10-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops: $7.99
No Good Deeds: A Tess Monaghan Novel (Tess Monaghan Mysteries (Hardcover)) ImageNo Good Deeds: A Tess Monaghan Novel (Tess Monaghan Mysteries (Hardcover))
by Laura Lippman
William Morrow; Published: 2006-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.47
Price in other shops: $24.95
Baltimore Blues (Tess Monaghan Mysteries) ImageBaltimore Blues (Tess Monaghan Mysteries)
by Laura Lippman
Avon; Published: 1997-02-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.98
Price in other shops: $7.99
What the Dead Know ImageWhat the Dead Know
by Laura Lippman
Harper; Published: 2008-03-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops: $7.99