Best of USA Noir

Temple, Akashic’s publisher and editor-in-chief, is the force behind the press’s series of noir anthologies in which each installment focuses on a different locale. This compendium showcases 37 exceptional stories from 32 separate volumes, in six thematic categories: “True Grit,” “American Values,” “Road Rage,” “Homeland Security,” “Under the Influence,” and “Street Justice.” A number of the contributors, including Lawrence Block, Laura Lippman, Joyce Carol Oates, George Pelecanos, and Dennis Lehane, have edited individual series entries. Pete Hamill’s “The Book Signing,” Reed Farrel Coleman’s “Mastermind,” and Megan Abbott’s “Our Eyes Couldn’t Stop Opening” are especially good. The humor—where there is any—is fittingly dark, as in Block’s outstanding “The Ehrengraf Settlement.” Other notable tales are Luis Alberto Urrea’s punch-in-the-gut “Amapola” and Lehane’s deliciously twisted “Animal Rescue.” Readers will be hard put to find a better collection of short stories in any genre. (Nov.)