Description:

From Publishers Weekly

The 15 stories in this Akashic noir anthology mostly support Romano's thesis in his introduction: œPhiladelphia noir is different from the mood, the sensibility, the dimensions, of noir encountered in more glamorous American cities  such as New York or L.A., because it is œordinary noir--the humble killings, robberies, collars, cold cases that confront people largely occupied with getting by.  Dennis Tafoya, one of the better known contributors, exemplifies Romano's point with œAbove the Imperial,  about a petty thief with a crush on a woman who works in the Chinese restaurant below his apartment. In contrast, a home invasion at the start of Solomon Jones's well-written œScarred  turns out to be anything but ordinary. Halimah Marcus's œSwimming  and Laura Spagnoli's œA Cut Above  don't break any new ground, but their accounts of violent obsession and table-turning grip. Unsurprisingly, the book as a whole is comparable to Detroit Noir, another volume set in a less glamorous metropolis.
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Review

"It's a collection enhanced by an unerring sense of place [...] that will please the most discriminating lovers of the dark side." --Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2010

"It's a collection enhanced by an unerring sense of place [...] that will please the most discriminating lovers of the dark side." --Kirkus Reviews

"It took long enough for Akashic's noir series to get to Philly. Now that it has, compiled under the shadowy auspices of Inquirer literary critic/West Philly native Carlin Romano, the fun begins." --Philadelphia City Paper

"Carlin Romano assembles a balanced collection of stories from local writers reflecting the neighborhoods and sensibilities of the city and residents without romanticizing them. [... T]here's no story in PHILADELPHIA NOIR that should be excised, and nothing that I can't believe couldn't happen." --Syndicate Product Covert