Philadelphia Noir

The 15 stories in this Akashic noir anthology mostly support Romano’s thesis in his introduction: “Philadelphia 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 “ordinary 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 “Above 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 “Scarred” turns out to be anything but ordinary. Halimah Marcus’s “Swimming” and Laura Spagnoli’s “A 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. (Nov.)