Sacramento Noir

by John Freeman (Editor)

The Akashic Noir Series’ exploration of California continues with this spellbinding collection of stories curated by Sacramento native John Freeman.


Featuring brand-new stories Naomi J. Williams, William T. Vollmann, Maureen O’Leary, Reyna Grande, Jamil Jan Kochai, Maceo Montoya, Nora Rodriguez Camagna, Shelley Blanton-Stroud, Luis Avalos, José Vadi, Janet Rodriguez, Jen Soong, and John Freeman.


In his introduction, John Freeman “This book is an attempt to . . . invite you into a variety of houses and apartments and spaces all over Sacramento, to imagine lives, not yours, or perhaps like yours, as told by some of the city’s most talented living writers. What freedom is here in to travel, to visit, to linger, to hear stories from all across the city, and to some degree across time . . . 


“Here is Sacramento in all of its splendor and deep, not-at-all-buried contradictions. A frontier city that quickly used its wealth to gather power. A locale that is somehow not quite sure it is still urban. Darkly compelling, canopied, gusted by river smells, Sacramento emerges from these thirteen stories like a character itself. It’s the kind of place that has sprawled widely enough, and covered enough different landscapes, that it is now many cities, some of which do not interact with each other. Some of which are only remembered in names of neighborhoods which people who once lived there still use with each Sakura City. The West End. Broderick. What a joy and vivid dream it is to see these stories here together, between these covers—for all to visit.”

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

264 pages, Paperback

Published March 4, 2025

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name
For other authors of this name, see:

John Freeman - English poet and essayist, 1880-1929

John Freeman - Book critic, Editor

John Freeman - British politician, diplomat, broadcaster, 1915-2014

Reviews

[Ramsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read! It's fun to see Sacramento at the setting to more stories. Despite growing up there, I didn't really learn a ton of the last century or so of Sacramento history (my school really went in on John Sutter and gold and railroads and quit right there), and reading these stories, especially those set a few decades past, made me want to learn more about the neighborhoods and populations, past and present, that I grew up around.

Would recommend to anyone, and strongly recommend if you're from Sac

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again I was solely here for the geography. None of the stories were really bad, but since noir isn't my genre I was mostly bored. And while there was definitely Sacramento landmarks and flair aplenty, the stories were really too short to really develop much of anything.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sacramento Noir is edited by John Freeman.
Sacramento Noir is a short story anthology, part of a series of anthologies published by
Akashic Books. Sacramento Noir is the latest title, published in March 2025. One of
100+ titles with more forthcoming.
The anthologies highlight the genre of Noir - full of cynicism, fatalism and moral
ambiguity. Noir features hard-boiled, cynical characters and bleak, sleazy settings.
Raw, dark and brooding, Noir has been described as “whiskey, neat”.
The anthologies center on a particular city, state, region or country. Past titles include
Columbus Noir, Cape Cod Noir, Baghdad Noir, Prague Noir, and Trinidad Noir.
I feel as though I have traveled the world with these books and I am a big fan.
The series is very clever, interesting and ‘place-centered’.

Each title is organized the same way, which I like very much. I feel comfortable and
‘at home’ with the set up.
The cover is sepia-toned, dark and brooding.
There is, of course, the Title page, a list of Noir series titles, a map of story locations
(Love the map), a complete Table of Contents, an Introduction written by the editor(s),
About the Contributors - a list of the writers with short bios.
In addition to the editor, John Freeman, contributing authors include:
Luis Avalos - Shelley Blanton-Stroud - Nora Rodriguez Camagna - Reyna Grande -
Jamil Jan Kochai - Maceo Montoya - Maureen O’Leary - Janet Rodriguez -
Jen Soong - Jose Vadi - William T. Vollman - Naomi J. Williams

The writing is always tense, dark and full of surprises. The essence of Noir is captured
perfectly in the stories.
“Here is Sacramento in all of its splendor and deep not-at-all buried contradictions.”
(from the Introduction)

This ARC (Advance Reading Copy) of Sacramento Noir was sent to me by Akashic
Books in exchange for an unbiased, honest review.
****

[Damian Solorzano · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the middle of a reading pile, a book will totally upset the order, and for me, at least, it's always fine.
Sacramento Noir is a compilation of short stories set in my hometown, stories that dredge up the seedy underside of California's Capitol at various points in the 20th and 21st centuries. I powered through the collection in a few hours, the stories offering other perspectives of the tales that I weave in my head of the past of this place, a Midwestern feeling metropolis plunked in the middle of some of the most fertile land in the nation.
Standout stories for me were The Sacrament, Downriver 1949, and Sakura City. Both Downriver and Sakura City are set in the West End of Sacramento, demolished in the 50s to make room for Capitol Mall and other developments; dark stories taking place in a neighborhood of ghosts.
The Sacrament I liked because of the relationship between brothers, and their relation to creativity and art and morality.
I'll stop there, lest I divulge too much.
Sacramento Noir has become a favorite of mine because of its setting and the quality of the stories. I'll be picking up a few more of the series.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Sometimes the Delta breeze just wouldn’t blow.”
-
“But this was not Paris. This was Sacramento, and life was just different here.”
-
I should have known before I started reading that the stories may be a bit unsettling LOL. Quite the few dead bodies. I was mainly here for the Sacramento references, which did not disappoint. Many of the stories featured places I’m familiar with, which helped me imagine the stories well (although the dark tones made Sac seem really unsafe and scary LOL). The stories also displayed Sacramento’s ethnic diversity and some of its history. Some were historic. One was about the stabbings in Davis, which I vaguely remember on the news in semi-recent years. The plots were pretty interesting, too, though I was completely lost in a few of them.
-
Featuring dead bodies, ghosts, drugs, prostitutes, infidelity, embezzlement, and homelessness.

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sacramento Noir

The book is set in three Parts; Part I Family Business, Part II Collisions, Part III A Tale of Two cities.
Each one has with their own flair, with different cultures, different eras, but all centered in and around Sacramento.

They all had original and good themes, with "Ghost Boy" my favorite. I plan on looking into other books by these authors. Overall I enjoyed Sacramento Noir and recommend to those who like Noir and short stories.

List of Authors featured:

Naomi J. Williams, William T. Vollmann, Maureen O’Leary, Reyna Grande, Jamil Jan Kochai, Maceo Montoya, Nora Rodriguez Camagna, Shelley Blanton-Stroud, Luis Avalos, José Vadi, Janet Rodriguez, Jen Soong, and John Freeman.

[Patty Gray]

I picked this up at a Sacramento Poetry Center event that John Freeman was involved with. I dip into it periodically during my afternoon coffee break. Akashic Books has a whole series of these [Insert City Here] Noir books. I was charmed by the fact that John Freeman comes back to the city where he went to high school, and where his stomping grounds were the same as mine (although we did not overlap in time).

[Miranda Summerset · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 STARS! This is such a cool book. Its a collection of short stories by different authors all set in Sacramento & about murders & death. The stories are all so diverse & creative & I loved the flow of them. Definitely a great read, perfect for anyone in a book slump.
Thank you to the publisher for the arc copy!

[Lara Hoekstra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories themselves are wonderfully written. And some are true to the neighborhood. Others are just wrong. The story for Broderick has nothing to do with Broderick. Davis and Broderick couldn’t be more different. It’s also a shame there are no Black authors represented in the book, especially given some of the neighborhoods “recommended”.

[angelofmine1974 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the majority of these stories. My two favorite were Ghost Boy and The Painted Ladies.

For the rest of my review, visit my Vlog at:

https://youtube.com/shorts/9QfEFQF6ge...

Enjoy!

[Les Gehman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, a very nice set of noir short stories from Akashic Books. This time set in Sacraments. My favorite story in this volume is Nora Rodriguez Camagna's beautifully tragic "Painted Ladies."

[Note: The publisher provided me with a review copy of this book.]

[Niklas Braun · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite collection of stories. The setting carried the weight of the interest, the stories not so much.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories capturing so many different perspectives on Sacramento, past and present, with a few real gems.

[Michelle Beese · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed feelings on this one! Some stories were great and a few I was totally lost on!