Providence Noir

Not all of the 15 stories in Akashic’s series anthology devoted to Providence, R.I., demonstrate the dark, hard-boiled quality that defines noir, and the many references to Providence’s Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design, while legitimate, tend to strike a repetitive note. Still, John Searles’s “The Pig” combines a touching examination of pathos and mystery. Robert Leuci’s “The Vengeance Taker” is a powerful and ultimately creepy story of earned revenge. LaShonda Katrice Barnett’s “Waltz Me Once Again” is a compelling story of violence and tragedy. Thomas Cobb performs the remarkable feat of making a simple round of golf into a surprisingly suspenseful tale, “$1,000 Nassau.” And Peter Farrelly’s “The Saturday Night Before Easter Sunday” closes out the volume with a superb—and hilarious—inside look at the world of novelists, phonies, publishers, and schemers. Some selections disappoint, but the majority merit reading. (June)