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Cleveland Noir
Cleveland Noir joins Columbus Noir as the Akashic Noir Series continues its tour of Ohio, and navigates the dregs of the North Shore FEATURING BRAND-NEW STORIES Paula McLain, Jill Bialosky, Thrity Umrigar, Michael Ruhlman, Daniel Stashower, D.M. Pulley, J.D. Belcher, Alex DiFrancesco, Miesha Wilson Headen, Abby L. Vandiver, Sam Conrad, Angela Crook, Susan Petrone, Dana McSwain, and Mary Grimm. FROM THE EDITORS'
“Cleveland is a working-class town, though its great institutions were founded by twentieth-century robber barons and magnates . . . It’s this mix of the wealthy and the working class that makes this city—an urban center of brick and girders surrounded by verdant suburbs—a perfect backdrop for lawlessness. Cleveland has certainly seen its share of high-profile crime. Eliot Ness, Cleveland’s director of public safety in the 1930s, hunted unsuccessfully for the ‘torso murderer’ who killed and dismembered twelve people in Kingsbury Run, the area now known as the Flats, then populated by bars, brothels, flophouses, and gambling dens. The famous disappearance of Beverly Potts in the early 1950s on Cleveland’s west side made national headlines. The sensational murder of Marilyn Sheppard in Bay Village and the imprisonment and eventual acquittal of her husband, the surgeon Sam Sheppard, became the basis for a popular television drama The Fugitive . . . “The noir stories in this volume hit all these same notes, and their geographies reflect the history of the city and its politics, its laws, poverty, alienation, racism, crime, and violence.”
“Cleveland is a working-class town, though its great institutions were founded by twentieth-century robber barons and magnates . . . It’s this mix of the wealthy and the working class that makes this city—an urban center of brick and girders surrounded by verdant suburbs—a perfect backdrop for lawlessness. Cleveland has certainly seen its share of high-profile crime. Eliot Ness, Cleveland’s director of public safety in the 1930s, hunted unsuccessfully for the ‘torso murderer’ who killed and dismembered twelve people in Kingsbury Run, the area now known as the Flats, then populated by bars, brothels, flophouses, and gambling dens. The famous disappearance of Beverly Potts in the early 1950s on Cleveland’s west side made national headlines. The sensational murder of Marilyn Sheppard in Bay Village and the imprisonment and eventual acquittal of her husband, the surgeon Sam Sheppard, became the basis for a popular television drama The Fugitive . . . “The noir stories in this volume hit all these same notes, and their geographies reflect the history of the city and its politics, its laws, poverty, alienation, racism, crime, and violence.”
288 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2023
34 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
About the author
Michael Ruhlman
47 books358 followersMichael Ruhlman (born 1963 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American writer. He is the author of 11 books, and is best known for his work about and in collaboration with American chefs, as well as other works of non-fiction.
Ruhlman grew up in Cleveland and was educated at University School (a private boys' day school in Cleveland) and at Duke University, graduating from the latter in 1985. He worked a series of odd jobs (including briefly at the New York Times) and traveled before returning to his hometown in 1991 to work for a local magazine.
While working at the magazine, Ruhlman wrote an article about his old high school and its new headmaster, which he expanded into his first book, Boys Themselves: A Return to Single-Sex Education (1996).
For his second book, The Making of a Chef (1997), Ruhlman enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America, completing the course, to produce a first-person account -- of the techniques, personalities, and mindsets -- of culinary education at the prestigious chef's school. The success of this book produced two follow-ups, The Soul of a Chef (2000) and The Reach of a Chef (2006).
Ruhlman grew up in Cleveland and was educated at University School (a private boys' day school in Cleveland) and at Duke University, graduating from the latter in 1985. He worked a series of odd jobs (including briefly at the New York Times) and traveled before returning to his hometown in 1991 to work for a local magazine.
While working at the magazine, Ruhlman wrote an article about his old high school and its new headmaster, which he expanded into his first book, Boys Themselves: A Return to Single-Sex Education (1996).
For his second book, The Making of a Chef (1997), Ruhlman enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America, completing the course, to produce a first-person account -- of the techniques, personalities, and mindsets -- of culinary education at the prestigious chef's school. The success of this book produced two follow-ups, The Soul of a Chef (2000) and The Reach of a Chef (2006).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
January 14, 2023
Akashic Noir continues its intrepid nomadic wandering with a jaunt through a Cleveland, which having survived the river being on fire, is one of the more interesting and little known midwestern cities with clearly delineated neighborhoods. Each story in this selection hits a different neighborhood.
First up are the City Center neighborhoods with Paula McClain's Love Always set in Settler's Landing. Here you have two teenage bad girls with holes in their hearts and souls as big as Kansas who hit upon a scheme taking advantage of jerks in bars and relieving them of let's say stuff. Not only do you get a real feel for the way the neighborhoods change from poor to rich so quickly but you get a real down to earth narrative voice. This is an excellent choice to open the anthology.
Next, Susan Petrone's The Silent Partner takes the reader on a journey through Cleveland's sordid baseball history and the difficulty of delving into it too closely. MARY GRIM's Under the Hill takes place in The Flats. It's a bit of a different feel to it, dark, mysterious, filled with dark magic. It's about seeking something you thought you lost, someone who may or may not be real. You never feel quite safe in this story as if it is close to all coming apart at the seams.
DANA MCSWAIN's Bus Stop is set in Little Italy, one of the best little neighborhoods anywhere and there's a bit of namedropping of familiar restaurants like Mama Santa's. The meeting on the park bench might start out as a Sixth Sense kind of thing, but it gets quite a bit creepier from there
ABBY L. VANDIVER's Sugar Daddy s set in the rough hood of East Cleveland. As Jim Morrison used to say, No One Here Gets Out Alive. East Cleveland isn't far from decent areas, but it's gone to seed and it ain't ever coming back. This story illustrates just how much decency it will such out of a person and what bare skeletons are left behind.
SAM CONRAD's Jock Talk is set in the suburb of Parma and it's one of the roughest no-holds-barred stories in this collection. You think it will be just a quiet sojourn in the countryside, but not when the protagonist is a Native American homosexual teenager with no one in his corner and everyone out to change him.
ANGELA CROOK's Bitter is set in Hough gives life to what so much of Cleveland has become - abandoned, empty factories, apartments, and houses. Scavengers peeling off what they could get. Once upon a time people lived here and grew up here, riding their bikes. This is a story about being your brother's keeper.
D.M. PULLEY's Tremonster is set in Tremont and the story title is the nickname the locals have for the yuppies who are gentrifying the old beatup neighborhood where a remodeled beauty can abut a dilapidated crackhouse. It's a neighborhood where anything can happen to anyone.
MIESHA WILSON HEADEN, one of the editors, Offers The Book of Numbers set in Fairfax. It is a cleverly written tale about a church and church money and how it keeps going out the door.
ALEX DIFRANCESCO's The House on Fir Avenue set in Gordon Square and it's a story about what happens to man when he loses everything. In such a case, there still has to be someone to blame, someone to pay for what the cancer had taken.
J.D. BELCHER's The Laderman Affair set in Lakewood is one of the only stories in this collection featuring an actual private eye, but even that actually goes sideways.
JILL BIALOSKY's Mock Heart is set in Shaker Heights. This is probably the shortest piece here and it's far different in format than anything else.
THRITY UMRIGAR's The Fallen is set in Cleveland Heights. The Big homes and the broad leafy streets are misleadingly peaceful here as is the initial couple's quarrel. Even down these quiet grand streets lurks something sinister and dangerous.
MICHAEL RUHLMAN's The Ultimate Cure is set in Shaker Square and once again don't be fooled by the upscale environs and the happy couples. Something is still rotten in Denmark.
DANIEL STASHOWER's Lenny, but Not Corky is set in hip Coventry, Cleveland's last vestige of tie-dyed hippiedom. This one takes the form of a stream of consciousness interview at the classic Tommy's on Coventry.
First up are the City Center neighborhoods with Paula McClain's Love Always set in Settler's Landing. Here you have two teenage bad girls with holes in their hearts and souls as big as Kansas who hit upon a scheme taking advantage of jerks in bars and relieving them of let's say stuff. Not only do you get a real feel for the way the neighborhoods change from poor to rich so quickly but you get a real down to earth narrative voice. This is an excellent choice to open the anthology.
Next, Susan Petrone's The Silent Partner takes the reader on a journey through Cleveland's sordid baseball history and the difficulty of delving into it too closely. MARY GRIM's Under the Hill takes place in The Flats. It's a bit of a different feel to it, dark, mysterious, filled with dark magic. It's about seeking something you thought you lost, someone who may or may not be real. You never feel quite safe in this story as if it is close to all coming apart at the seams.
DANA MCSWAIN's Bus Stop is set in Little Italy, one of the best little neighborhoods anywhere and there's a bit of namedropping of familiar restaurants like Mama Santa's. The meeting on the park bench might start out as a Sixth Sense kind of thing, but it gets quite a bit creepier from there
ABBY L. VANDIVER's Sugar Daddy s set in the rough hood of East Cleveland. As Jim Morrison used to say, No One Here Gets Out Alive. East Cleveland isn't far from decent areas, but it's gone to seed and it ain't ever coming back. This story illustrates just how much decency it will such out of a person and what bare skeletons are left behind.
SAM CONRAD's Jock Talk is set in the suburb of Parma and it's one of the roughest no-holds-barred stories in this collection. You think it will be just a quiet sojourn in the countryside, but not when the protagonist is a Native American homosexual teenager with no one in his corner and everyone out to change him.
ANGELA CROOK's Bitter is set in Hough gives life to what so much of Cleveland has become - abandoned, empty factories, apartments, and houses. Scavengers peeling off what they could get. Once upon a time people lived here and grew up here, riding their bikes. This is a story about being your brother's keeper.
D.M. PULLEY's Tremonster is set in Tremont and the story title is the nickname the locals have for the yuppies who are gentrifying the old beatup neighborhood where a remodeled beauty can abut a dilapidated crackhouse. It's a neighborhood where anything can happen to anyone.
MIESHA WILSON HEADEN, one of the editors, Offers The Book of Numbers set in Fairfax. It is a cleverly written tale about a church and church money and how it keeps going out the door.
ALEX DIFRANCESCO's The House on Fir Avenue set in Gordon Square and it's a story about what happens to man when he loses everything. In such a case, there still has to be someone to blame, someone to pay for what the cancer had taken.
J.D. BELCHER's The Laderman Affair set in Lakewood is one of the only stories in this collection featuring an actual private eye, but even that actually goes sideways.
JILL BIALOSKY's Mock Heart is set in Shaker Heights. This is probably the shortest piece here and it's far different in format than anything else.
THRITY UMRIGAR's The Fallen is set in Cleveland Heights. The Big homes and the broad leafy streets are misleadingly peaceful here as is the initial couple's quarrel. Even down these quiet grand streets lurks something sinister and dangerous.
MICHAEL RUHLMAN's The Ultimate Cure is set in Shaker Square and once again don't be fooled by the upscale environs and the happy couples. Something is still rotten in Denmark.
DANIEL STASHOWER's Lenny, but Not Corky is set in hip Coventry, Cleveland's last vestige of tie-dyed hippiedom. This one takes the form of a stream of consciousness interview at the classic Tommy's on Coventry.
August 4, 2023
So proud to be part of this incredible collection of Cleveland stories!
August 16, 2023
Excellent. Delicious, dark and gritty, much like Cleveland itself. All well told tales that made up my favorite of the Akashic Noir series…so far.
January 22, 2024
Gritty and diverse. Fun to read about the neighborhoods of my city. I plan to read more by two of the authors. I strongly disliked 3 or 4 of the writings and felt a few of the contributions were formulaic.
.
.
August 21, 2023
Akashic Books has published more than one hundred books in its City Noir collection. They focus on cities all over the world in every continent except Antarctica: the neighborhoods, the people, the economic changes. Each volume contains short stories and poems from known writers from each of the cities. Their latest edition, CLEVELAND NOIR, features Cleveland, Ohio, some of its suburbs.
Each of the fifteen chapters takes place in a different neighborhood, identified on a map in the beginning of the book. Some are loosely based on actual events that occurred at that location and each involves a murder committed there.
One chapter in CLEVELAND NOIR is about baseball and talks about Big Ed Delahanty who fell or was pushed off a train over Niagara Falls in 1903. It compares him with Cleveland player Ray Chapman who died from a pitch to his head by a New York pitcher in 1920. Fifty years later, the Yankees had won twenty world series titles, the Cleveland team, two. Was that pitch deliberate?
Another features a man who talks to dead girls as he tries to learn the circumstances of their unsolved deaths. Beverly Potts, who was ten years old when she disappeared in 1951, is one of the girls.
Some chapters discuss racism against Native Americans and Blacks and economic differences in the city. Some of the killers are psychopaths. Others are manipulated into murdering someone..
All the stories are well-written by professional writers, mostly based on their own experiences or events they knew. They have different writing styles and focus points but all end in deaths, sometimes by or of the main character. The murders are not gruesomely described. CLEVELAND NOIR provides a different perspective from which to view the city.
I received a review copy of this book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
Each of the fifteen chapters takes place in a different neighborhood, identified on a map in the beginning of the book. Some are loosely based on actual events that occurred at that location and each involves a murder committed there.
One chapter in CLEVELAND NOIR is about baseball and talks about Big Ed Delahanty who fell or was pushed off a train over Niagara Falls in 1903. It compares him with Cleveland player Ray Chapman who died from a pitch to his head by a New York pitcher in 1920. Fifty years later, the Yankees had won twenty world series titles, the Cleveland team, two. Was that pitch deliberate?
Another features a man who talks to dead girls as he tries to learn the circumstances of their unsolved deaths. Beverly Potts, who was ten years old when she disappeared in 1951, is one of the girls.
Some chapters discuss racism against Native Americans and Blacks and economic differences in the city. Some of the killers are psychopaths. Others are manipulated into murdering someone..
All the stories are well-written by professional writers, mostly based on their own experiences or events they knew. They have different writing styles and focus points but all end in deaths, sometimes by or of the main character. The murders are not gruesomely described. CLEVELAND NOIR provides a different perspective from which to view the city.
I received a review copy of this book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
May 30, 2024
Still mad I missed the submission call for this, though my story would've had a happy or at least bittersweet ending, so they probably wouldn't have taken it.
Meaning: yo, the endings are almost all BLEAK. So that was tough for me. I read Noir as detectives and people being bad, but ultimately you find a way through?
My favorites were Susan Petrone's baseball crime caper "The Silent Partner", D. M. Pulley's violence-in-times-of-gentrification, "Tremonster", Meisha Wilson Headen's delightfully crooked church drama "Book of Numbers", Thrity Umrigar's simple but richly told "The Fallen", and the last two stories, Michael Ruhman's unfolding double cross, "The Ultimate Cure" and Daniel Stashtower's delightfully conversational "Corky, but not Lenny".
Meaning: yo, the endings are almost all BLEAK. So that was tough for me. I read Noir as detectives and people being bad, but ultimately you find a way through?
My favorites were Susan Petrone's baseball crime caper "The Silent Partner", D. M. Pulley's violence-in-times-of-gentrification, "Tremonster", Meisha Wilson Headen's delightfully crooked church drama "Book of Numbers", Thrity Umrigar's simple but richly told "The Fallen", and the last two stories, Michael Ruhman's unfolding double cross, "The Ultimate Cure" and Daniel Stashtower's delightfully conversational "Corky, but not Lenny".
March 17, 2024
For a Native Clevelander, even one who isn’t big on the noir genre, this collection hit all the right notes. The last 3 stories were my favorites, but each one has something unique to offer.
(I now live in Florida, and found this paperback at my local library. I have no idea why Good Reads doesn’t have a paperback option, since I’m holding one in my hand!)
(I now live in Florida, and found this paperback at my local library. I have no idea why Good Reads doesn’t have a paperback option, since I’m holding one in my hand!)
November 14, 2025
This is such a diverse set of stories both in content and approach. Mostly I loved them. Only one or two fell flat and there was one story in particular I wish I could have bleached out of my soul after reading*. Otherwise a really fun, unsettling, romp around the greater Cleveland map.
*If you can’t stomach reading graphic rape/ incest then just skip Jock Talk.
*If you can’t stomach reading graphic rape/ incest then just skip Jock Talk.
November 28, 2023
What a great "find", and thanks to my wife for turning me on to this one. This is a wonderful compilation of short stories, all located in the Cleveland, Ohio areas, and all very, very, dark. There are some really twisted minds out there that can produce such an array of mysteries that keep you guessing until the last page, and I mean, the last page. This read VERY quickly and left em with a desire to check out the "Noir" series in other cities. Good stuff.
July 18, 2025
Nicely short stories. Not my cup of tea, but fun. Many of the stories had woefully predictable endings. Be
August 1, 2023
Full Review: https://www.fearsomequeer.net/blog/bo...
Excerpt: “Akashic has been publishing locale-themed noir anthologies for almost two decades. As a life-long library wanderer, I’ve seen spines like Manhattan Noir (ed. Lawrence Block), Baltimore Noir (ed. Laura Lippman), and Dallas Noir (ed. David Hale Smith) on shelves, but I’d never cracked one open—despite growing up on Turner Classic pulp—probably because I lacked a connection to anywhere outside of the Great Lakes area until adulthood. And now I realize how silly I was to wait for an installment about a place I know.
Because if the rest are anything like Cleveland Noir, each volume is a dark and sharply constructed city tour, more revealing and entertaining than any Visitors Center would willingly provide! In total, we have fifteen short stories here, divided into four sections: City Center, The Outliers, The Trendy, and The Heights. Each represents a different neighborhood, or area, of the metroplex.”
Excerpt: “Akashic has been publishing locale-themed noir anthologies for almost two decades. As a life-long library wanderer, I’ve seen spines like Manhattan Noir (ed. Lawrence Block), Baltimore Noir (ed. Laura Lippman), and Dallas Noir (ed. David Hale Smith) on shelves, but I’d never cracked one open—despite growing up on Turner Classic pulp—probably because I lacked a connection to anywhere outside of the Great Lakes area until adulthood. And now I realize how silly I was to wait for an installment about a place I know.
Because if the rest are anything like Cleveland Noir, each volume is a dark and sharply constructed city tour, more revealing and entertaining than any Visitors Center would willingly provide! In total, we have fifteen short stories here, divided into four sections: City Center, The Outliers, The Trendy, and The Heights. Each represents a different neighborhood, or area, of the metroplex.”
December 9, 2023
I read the e-book, which doesn't appear in Goodreads list of editions.
This book was a disappointment. It's the second of the "noir" series that I have read, the first being Tel Aviv Noir, which I read in Hebrew and which was quite good. Although this book included stories by some well-known authors, some of whom I have encountered before and liked, they punched below their weight here. The stories had plenty of place-dropping and some name-dropping so it satisfied the need to feel that Cleveland was the setting but, what a lack of variety and creativity. I know it's a noir series but one would think that it was impossible to write a noir story about Cleveland without the first person narrator ( that's the form for most of them) being dissolute. Moreover, a substantial number of first person narrators narrated their own demise. This crew could have done a lot better. The book reads like the authors got together for a party and all wrote at the same time while they were drunk.
This book was a disappointment. It's the second of the "noir" series that I have read, the first being Tel Aviv Noir, which I read in Hebrew and which was quite good. Although this book included stories by some well-known authors, some of whom I have encountered before and liked, they punched below their weight here. The stories had plenty of place-dropping and some name-dropping so it satisfied the need to feel that Cleveland was the setting but, what a lack of variety and creativity. I know it's a noir series but one would think that it was impossible to write a noir story about Cleveland without the first person narrator ( that's the form for most of them) being dissolute. Moreover, a substantial number of first person narrators narrated their own demise. This crew could have done a lot better. The book reads like the authors got together for a party and all wrote at the same time while they were drunk.
May 24, 2024
As is the case, with most short story collections, some of them are hits, and some of them are misses… But, in this case, I actually liked more of them than I expected! Some of my favorites: Bus Stop, Sugar Daddy, Tremonster, The Book of Numbers, The Laderman Affair, and The Ultimate Cure…. Probably only two or three that I really disliked/hated. Overall, I thought this was a really great collection, and I enjoyed reading stories set in my beloved hometown!
October 2, 2023
I have read many of the books in this series, but I was not engaged by these stories.
September 1, 2024
I’d had to read this. Covered cops in Cleveland as a cub reporter. Worked out of the Justice Center. Saw dead bodies. But for me, the attractions of this book of short stories is not the crime but the locale—old Municipal Stadium, the red-brock apartments off Shaker Square, Tommy’s on Coventry. The plots were moderately interesting, but i could “see” the places, agree that September was the best month in verdant, underrated Cleveland, get a charge when someone mentioned graphic writer Harvey Pekar, who would regale me with the genius of writer George Ade as he was on the front end of an undoubtedly unfinished mission to read great American authors, alphabetically. This book held a charm over me—and got me wanting to tap out memories/stories of a magical place.
Oh, the stories! They range from an unexpectedly dangerous feature article into Cleveland Indian Roy Chapman’s slaying to a Moreland Court murder plot to a bad stumble during a jog. I don’t know why I couldn’t get into “DC Noir” and “LA Noir” but devoured this collection.
Oh, the stories! They range from an unexpectedly dangerous feature article into Cleveland Indian Roy Chapman’s slaying to a Moreland Court murder plot to a bad stumble during a jog. I don’t know why I couldn’t get into “DC Noir” and “LA Noir” but devoured this collection.
September 6, 2023
Wonderfully entertaining short stores written by Cleveland authors! Highly recommend these stunning, well-written, intense stories all set in Cleveland neighborhoods. Never read any of the Noir series ... this is really worth it!
November 6, 2022
A spotty, but readable collection of crime noir and horror stories. The shared setting brings back good memories of Cleveland. Read an advance copy, forthcoming Aug '23
December 16, 2023
An absolutely excellent compilation - I couldn’t put this book down. Really captures the city of Cleveland at its best and worst. I hope they make a second one!
May 1, 2025
Sorry! Maybe the genre and setting in combination made this feel too voueuristic and slimy. Each story ended with a twist which became quite predictable.
April 9, 2025
These are collected stories of multiple authors. I chose to read it because Paula McLain is one of the authors. I happen to know that she is awesome. All the stories were good, some gripping, some mysterious, some sad.
This is just one book of a Noir Series each based in a U.S. metropolis. I am prompted to read more. I don't usually read crime mystery.
This is just one book of a Noir Series each based in a U.S. metropolis. I am prompted to read more. I don't usually read crime mystery.
August 3, 2023
Read my full review here: http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.c...
When Akashic sent me Cleveland Noir to review, I noticed immediately that I had read books by Paula McLain and Thrity Umriger, both of whom had stories in this iteration of the noir genre and the great series that Akashic publishes. The book was published this week and is very much worth a read.
Apparently the city of Cleveland has had it’s share of real life noir, including Eliot Ness, who worked for a while as Cleveland’s Director of Public Safety, the disappearance of Beverly Potts that has been an unsolved crime for the last 60 years, and the murder of Marilyn Sheppard, which resulted in her husband Dr. Sam Sheppard being charged and subsequently acquitted for her murder. All of these brought crime in Cleveland to the nation’s attention.
The stories in Cleveland Noir have a lot going for them. Each story oozes atmosphere and compelling danger. The editors suggest: “ It’s this mix of the wealthy and the working class that makes the city—an urban center of brick and girders surrounded by verdant suburbs—a perfect backdrop for lawlessness.” They also suggest that these stories are love letters to their city and suburbs. I must also note that several of the stories take place or mention the lake and the beach, which, of course, is Lake Erie.
The first story in the book is by Paula McLain. In that story, two teenagers enter into a “business” of robbing drunk people of their property, credit cards, whatever. My favorite sentence in the story is “We had accidentally landed on a planet where the air was to thin for guilt to populate.” Says a lot, doesn’t it!
I had to look up the facts related to Susan Petrone’s story, “The Silent Partner.” The story retells the story of Ray Chapman, a Cleveland Indians player who was killed by a pitch—the only major league player to ever die from an injury received during a major league game. Fifty years later, a reporter is exploring the death for an anniversary story and comes across information that seems to indicate that the incident wasn’t an accident. I’ll leave you to guess what happened as a result.
And the stories go on and on. I really enjoyed Cleveland Noir. Look up the Akashic Noir series of more than 100 books. If you are going on a trip, use the list as a guide to the underbelly of whichever city you are going to visit. You won’t be wasting your time, and you can find whatever crimes you might enjoy to explore.
When Akashic sent me Cleveland Noir to review, I noticed immediately that I had read books by Paula McLain and Thrity Umriger, both of whom had stories in this iteration of the noir genre and the great series that Akashic publishes. The book was published this week and is very much worth a read.
Apparently the city of Cleveland has had it’s share of real life noir, including Eliot Ness, who worked for a while as Cleveland’s Director of Public Safety, the disappearance of Beverly Potts that has been an unsolved crime for the last 60 years, and the murder of Marilyn Sheppard, which resulted in her husband Dr. Sam Sheppard being charged and subsequently acquitted for her murder. All of these brought crime in Cleveland to the nation’s attention.
The stories in Cleveland Noir have a lot going for them. Each story oozes atmosphere and compelling danger. The editors suggest: “ It’s this mix of the wealthy and the working class that makes the city—an urban center of brick and girders surrounded by verdant suburbs—a perfect backdrop for lawlessness.” They also suggest that these stories are love letters to their city and suburbs. I must also note that several of the stories take place or mention the lake and the beach, which, of course, is Lake Erie.
The first story in the book is by Paula McLain. In that story, two teenagers enter into a “business” of robbing drunk people of their property, credit cards, whatever. My favorite sentence in the story is “We had accidentally landed on a planet where the air was to thin for guilt to populate.” Says a lot, doesn’t it!
I had to look up the facts related to Susan Petrone’s story, “The Silent Partner.” The story retells the story of Ray Chapman, a Cleveland Indians player who was killed by a pitch—the only major league player to ever die from an injury received during a major league game. Fifty years later, a reporter is exploring the death for an anniversary story and comes across information that seems to indicate that the incident wasn’t an accident. I’ll leave you to guess what happened as a result.
And the stories go on and on. I really enjoyed Cleveland Noir. Look up the Akashic Noir series of more than 100 books. If you are going on a trip, use the list as a guide to the underbelly of whichever city you are going to visit. You won’t be wasting your time, and you can find whatever crimes you might enjoy to explore.
July 10, 2023
Cleveland Noir edited by Michael Ruhlman and Miesha Wilson Headen is Akashic Books latest addition to their award-winning Noir series.
This series, with over 100 titles, began in 2004 with the publication of Brooklyn Noir. The series is comprised of original Noir anthologies representing countries, regions, and cities from all over the world - from Brooklyn to Cleveland to Nairobi to Sydney to Montana.
The series is fascinating and encompasses all that is Noir - a genre of crime fiction characterized by cynicism, fatalism and moral ambiguity. There are ‘hard-boiled’ and cynical characters in
bleak and sleazy settings. It has been described as “Whiskey. Neat.”
Each anthology has the same format (which I love). It enables easy and familiar navigation.
There is a dark, sepia-toned cover. A map (Love the map). A very complete Table of Contents. An Introduction by the editor(s) sets the tone of the country, state, city or area where the stories take place. Acknowledgements. About the Contributors. And, of course, the stories themselves.
The Introduction says “Cleveland is a working-class town, though its great institutions were founded by 20th century robber barons and magnates.”
“It’s this mix of of the wealthy and working class that makes the city a perfect backdrop for lawlessness.”
What always impresses me about this series is the writing of the contributing authors.
Cleveland Noir is no exception.
I don’t have a favorite. All the stories are good in certain ways. An overriding emotion for me is sadness and hopelessness.The following authors contributed stories to Cleveland Noir.
J.D. Belcher - Jill Bialosky - Sam Conrad - Angela Crook - Alex DiFrancesco - Mary Grimm - Miesha Wilson Headen - Paula McLain - Dana McSwain - Susan Petrone -
D.M. Pulley - Michael Ruhlman - Daniel Stashower - Thrity Umrigar - Abby L. Vandiver
Excellent Title. Excellent Series. Excellent Reading. ****
This series, with over 100 titles, began in 2004 with the publication of Brooklyn Noir. The series is comprised of original Noir anthologies representing countries, regions, and cities from all over the world - from Brooklyn to Cleveland to Nairobi to Sydney to Montana.
The series is fascinating and encompasses all that is Noir - a genre of crime fiction characterized by cynicism, fatalism and moral ambiguity. There are ‘hard-boiled’ and cynical characters in
bleak and sleazy settings. It has been described as “Whiskey. Neat.”
Each anthology has the same format (which I love). It enables easy and familiar navigation.
There is a dark, sepia-toned cover. A map (Love the map). A very complete Table of Contents. An Introduction by the editor(s) sets the tone of the country, state, city or area where the stories take place. Acknowledgements. About the Contributors. And, of course, the stories themselves.
The Introduction says “Cleveland is a working-class town, though its great institutions were founded by 20th century robber barons and magnates.”
“It’s this mix of of the wealthy and working class that makes the city a perfect backdrop for lawlessness.”
What always impresses me about this series is the writing of the contributing authors.
Cleveland Noir is no exception.
I don’t have a favorite. All the stories are good in certain ways. An overriding emotion for me is sadness and hopelessness.The following authors contributed stories to Cleveland Noir.
J.D. Belcher - Jill Bialosky - Sam Conrad - Angela Crook - Alex DiFrancesco - Mary Grimm - Miesha Wilson Headen - Paula McLain - Dana McSwain - Susan Petrone -
D.M. Pulley - Michael Ruhlman - Daniel Stashower - Thrity Umrigar - Abby L. Vandiver
Excellent Title. Excellent Series. Excellent Reading. ****
August 29, 2023
An entertaining anthology of short stories all set in Cleveland and it's suburbs, written by local authors. As with most anthologies, some pieces are stronger than others, but overall I found this to be a very solid collection. If you're looking for happy endings, you won't find many here which kept me on my toes for each story, not knowing what to expect. My favorite stories were "Bus Stop" by Dana McSwain, Susan Petrone's "The Silent Partner". Abby Vandiver's "Sugar Daddy" and Angela Crook's "Bitter". McSwain and Petrone's stories in particular have a wonderful dark undercurrent of the supernatural. Very much recommended for any mystery fans who are familiar with Cleveland, but this would be a fun read even if you've not personally been to Cleveland, as the writers make these stories all quite accessible.
July 8, 2024
I don't usually read short stories -- I'm more a novel-type of person. However, I was curious about this collection, because my kids went to college in Cleveland, Ohio, so I'm familiar with some of the geographical areas featured in the collection. Of the 15 stories, only two would rate lower than five stars for me, and those would still get four stars. So I give the collection an overall rating of five stars.
This collection is appropriately titled "Noir" because the stories are indeed dark. Some are disturbingly dark; some have very clever twists that elicited a "whoa" from me. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the stories!
This collection is appropriately titled "Noir" because the stories are indeed dark. Some are disturbingly dark; some have very clever twists that elicited a "whoa" from me. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the stories!
September 1, 2023
This story collection is full of gritty characters and settings- much like the city of Cleveland itself. Each story takes place in a different neighborhood, with landmarks and neighborhood vibes transporting the reader to the streets of Cleveland. If you love supernatural stories, whodunits, creepy tales, or a classic murder mystery, you'll find a story for you in this collection.
This was the first Akashic Noir collection that I have read, but it won't be the last.
This was the first Akashic Noir collection that I have read, but it won't be the last.
July 17, 2024
This is yet another solid entry in the Akashic Noir Series. Packed full of stories of the unlucky, unfortunate, and sometimes criminal residents of Cleveland. There are quite a few excellent stories here, but my favorite has to be "The Silent Partner" by Susan Petrone which perfectly captures the feel of an old time baseball mystery.
March 30, 2024
Some stories good, some blah. Don't know how you can have a Cleveland Noir without a contribution from Vivien Chien.
June 4, 2024
It was okay. I think because it was based in Cleveland it be a little different.
July 10, 2024
Great fun read. Loved the little local references and the twisted stories.
November 3, 2024
Spine tingling short stories of murder and mayhem. Lesson? Be careful what you wish for!
Each story has its own twist, its own set of shivery endings. Noir at its best.
Each story has its own twist, its own set of shivery endings. Noir at its best.
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