Manhattan Noir 2: The Classics (Akashic Noir)

Following the commercial success of the original Manhattan Noir, mystery titan Lawrence Block explores the historic literary roots of this dark island.

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.

Featuring stories by: Edith Wharton, Stephen Crane, O. Henry, Langston Hughes, Irwin Shaw, Jerome Weidman, Damon Runyon, Evan Hunter, Jerrold Mundis, Edgar Allan Poe, Horace Gregory, Geoffrey Bartholomew, Cornell Woolrich, Barry N. Malzberg, Clark Howard, Jerome Charyn, Donald E. Westlake, Joyce Carol Oates, Lawrence Block, and Susan Isaacs.

From the introduction by Lawrence Block:

“Noir seems to me to transcend form. Film and theater can fit comfortably in the shade of its dark canopy, and so surely can poetry. Some operas make the cut―Verdi’s Rigoletto, it’s worth noting, had its plot lifted in Damon Runyon’s oft-anthologized “Sense of Humor.” And who could look at Goya’s black paintings and not perceive them as visual representations of noir? And what is Billie Holiday’s recording of “Gloomy Sunday” if it isn’t noir? Or the Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby, who died in the church and was buried along with her name? I’d include them, and I’d pull in Beethoven’s late quartets while I was at it.

Rather than exercise false modesty (which is the only sort of which I’m capable), I’ve included a story of my own . . . Really, how could I resist? How could I pass up the opportunity to share a volume with Stephen Crane and O. Henry and Edgar Allan Poe and Damon Runyon and Irwin Shaw and Edith Wharton and, well, all of these literary superstars? My mother would be so proud . . .“

LAWRENCE BLOCK has won most of the major mystery awards, and has been called the quintessential New York writer. His series characters―Matthew Scudder, Bernie Rhodenbarr, Evan Tanner, Chip Harrison, and Keller―all live in Manhattan; and like their creator, they would not really be happy anywhere else. He is the editor of Manhattan Noir and Manhattan Noir 2: The Classics.