New Haven Noir

by Amy Bloom (Editor/Author), Michael Cunningham, Jessica Speart

Lisa D. Gray's story "The Queen of Secrets" won the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award! John Crowley's story "Spring Break" won the 2018 Edgar Award for Best Short Story! "In an Ivy League town, Bloom turns Yale's motto-- Lux et Veritas --on its head, finding darkness and deceit in every corner of New Haven...The stories Bloom chooses share a strong sense of place, detailing the quirks that make every corner of New Haven distinctive. But it's the lucid writing and clear, compelling storylines that make her dark tales shine. Maybe she offers a noir version of Light and Truth after all."
-- Kirkus Reviews "Town-gown tensions highlight several of the 15 stories in this stellar Akashic noir anthology set in the Elm City...This [volume] is particularly strong on established authors, many of whom have impressive credentials outside the genre."
-- Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "[It's] a kick to see Elm City haunts and issues weaved into short stories of intrigue by writers who know the turf."
-- New Haven Register "Fifteen writers, many from Connecticut, including Bloom, have contributed stories to the book. Some stories are classic film noir-style, in which an unscrupulous woman leads a desirous man to his own destruction. Some tell stories of criminal youths meeting someone they underestimated, undermining their cocky street-smarts. Other stories tell of Yalies whose sophisticated exteriors hide a seething hunger for recognition. A few stories go full-on eerie, such as the shy catalog artist who is not the person he seems to be, and the unseen man in Room 11 of the Duncan Hotel, whose daily activities are a mystery to the hotel staff. Town vs. gown tensions pop up in several stories, as do dark narratives reflecting the city's history of racial tensions."
-- Hartford Courant "Fifteen of New Haven's literary lights have put ink to paper (or bytes to screen?) to summon that 'noir' city of the imagination that lurks just below the rapidly gentrifying surface."
-- New Haven Independent Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location with the respective city. Amy Bloom masterfully curates a star-studded cast of contributors, including Michael Cunningham, Stephen L. Carter, and Roxana Robinson, to portray the city's underbelly. Brand-new stories Michael Cunningham, Roxana Robinson, Stephen L. Carter, John Crowley, Amy Bloom, Alice Mattison, Chris Knopf, Jonathan Stone, Sarah Pemberton Strong, Karen E. Olson, Jessica Speart, Chandra Prasad, David Rich, Lisa D. Gray, and Hirsh Sawhney. From the introduction by Amy New Haven may be a noir town but, even though noir usually manages not to, we have heart. The chance to bring together some of my favorite writers, in my adopted hometown (in every place I bartended, the cook or the manager carried a .38 in his waistband, and I can still make ten kinds of boilermakers), was a joy and a privilege. Every single story is a noir gem...If you are an optimist, noir may be an antidote, a crisp, dry balance for your sunny outlook. If you are a pessimist (or, as we say, a realist), noir is your home ground, your tribe. It's not just that you expect ants to come to the picnic; you know damned well that there will be ants at the picnic. When they come, you're relieved. When they crawl up your brother's leg, you're reassured and possibly delighted. But the other side of noir is the moral center. The center may be shabby, frayed, and in serious need of a facelift, but it is a center. It's not necessarily heroic. It's likely to be cynical, and its resilience is not the showy kind. Mean streets, as Raymond Chandler once said, not but mean. That's New Haven.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Mystery, Noir, Anthologies

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2017

About the author

Amy Bloom is the New York Times bestselling author of White Houses; Come to Me, a National Book Award finalist; A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist; Love Invents Us; Normal; Away; Where the God of Love Hangs Out; and Lucky Us. Her stories have appeared in The Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Short Stories, The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction, and many other anthologies. She has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, Vogue, O: The Oprah Magazine, Slate, Tin House, and Salon, among other publications, and has won a National Magazine Award.

Reviews

[Tuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

From alachic series. Very nice short stories of intrigue, mystery and deathly murder. One overarching theme is everybody makes fun of Yale

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Posted my review today -- publication day!

Bottom line: A strong and highly enjoyable collection of diverse noir stories that truly give the reader a vibe for the City of New Haven. Get it for yourself or for the Yalie in your life.

Read my full review on my blog: https://wildmoobooks.com/2017/08/03/n...

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

NEW HAVEN NOIR, edited by Amy Bloom, is one of the newest offerings in Akashic Books’s noir series.
I am ‘hooked’ on these noir titles and am very lucky to have been sent many of the titles to read and review. Each title has its own ‘flavor and texture’ and provides a decidedly untourist-like glimpse into locations around the US and the world.
Every title contains an introduction by the editor; a map of the area with story locations marked by body silhouettes; author/contributor information and the stories themselves. (I love the maps.)
NEW HAVEN NOIR’s introduction is quite good - a humorous, teasing, preparatory glimpse of the stories that follow. Information about the authors is very interesting. The book is divided into III parts with 15 stories. Their mood is sinister, bleak and menacing with a hidden or ‘under the surface’ evil. Definitely, a very skewed morality is present. (That’s what noir is all about!)
“Crossing Harry” by Chris Knopf (place: Union Station)
Very weird; crazy; homeless men and body parts
“Call Back” by Sarah Pemberton Strong (place: Audubon Arts District)
I want an ending! Nicky & Cal - what happened to them?
“A woe for every season” by Hirsh Sawhney (place: Dwight)
‘Stale University’ - never heard that before, although I am not familiar with Yale or New Haven.
Josh/Jim/Ink/Narrator
“Sure Thing” by David Rich (place: Long Wharf)
Pete is being set up because he is testifying against a ‘Blackwater’ type - very suspenseful.
“I’ve never been to Paris” by Amy Bloom (place: East Rock)
Great story. Looks can be deceiving. Yale/tenure/murder/scholarships/Paris - many elements to the story.
“The secret societies” by Roxana Robinson (place: Beinecke Library)
Sarah Tenant - travel writer tries to discover the real Alison Ricks at the Beinecke Library.
“The boy” by Karen E. Olson (place: Fair Haven)
Compelling. Don’t mess with older ladies.
“Evening Prayer” by Stephen L. Carter (place: Dixwell Avenue)
So sad that he thought he was going to hell.
“Second Act” by Jessica Speart (place: Food Terminal Plaza)
Very bizarre; acting a part; double identity
“The gauntlet” by Jonathan Stone (place: Edgewood Avenue)
Don’t mess with Lionel and his French horn case.
“ Innovative methods” by Alice Mattison (place: Lighthouse Point Park)
Very depressing - a rogue counselor.
“Spring Break” by John Crowley (place: Yale University)
an eerie story. I didn’t quite understand the speech or scenario, but tension was great.
“Silhouette” by Chandra Prasad (place: Wooster Square)
great quote: “The economy had soured since the crash and factories around Wooster Square were folding like poker hands.” Quite a story - depressing and sick
“The man in Room 11” by Michael Cunningham (place: Chapel Street)
Profoundly sinister
“The queen of secrets” by Lisa D. Gray (place: Bradley Street)
Powerful story on many levels.
I highly recommend NEW HAVEN NOIR and the entire noir series by Akashic Books.

[Tonstant Weader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you know someone heading off to Yale for school? A proud parent of a soon-to-be Yalie? Could their be a more delicious gift than the newest armchair anthology from the Akashic Noir series of geographically-organized noir short stories, New Haven Noir. This collection is by Amy Bloom who successfully gathered fifteen stories from New Haven past, present, and future with a noir sensibility.

On of the most innovative stories was “Spring Break” by John Crowley. It takes place in the future with the children of the class of 2017 coming to experience school, an anachronism in the wired world of the future. Crowley invents the English of the future, a language dramatically altered by texting. The protagonist wears droops and a swechirt, suggesting the language changed more than the fashions. A ghost story of the future, it was a delight to experience this imagined future language.

As always, the collection is a mix of more traditional mysteries like the editor’s “I’ve Never Been to Paris” that has a detective, a body, and a mystery to the urban legend “The Man in Room Eleven” by Michael Cunningham. Noir is a sensibility, not a genre and that is made evident in the variety of stories Bloom selected.



New Haven Noir appeals to everything I like, short stories, mystery, and innovative writing. It’s no secret I think the Akashic Noir series is a brilliant idea and a never-ending delight. Nonetheless, some in the series are better than others. With New Haven Noir, the variety of stories guarantees you will enjoy several of them. I liked them all, though Stephen L. Carter’s “Evening Prayer” seemed structured to deliver a punch line – if punch lines can be heartbreaking social commentary. Nonetheless, it made me want to read more by the author.

Some of the stories are so fresh they are post-election, in the trauma of this new less decent America that has abdicated its promise, full of the angst of living in a country that would elect someone whose only consistent promise was how much he could hate the same people they hate. Our collective national abandonment of democracy and pluralism is starting to show up in our literature and it’s fascinating to see its effect. If only it were fiction.

New Haven Noir will be released August 1st. I received an e-galley from the publisher through Edelweiss.

New Haven Noir at Akashic Books
Akashic Noir Series by Akashic Books
Amy Bloom author site

★★★★
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I lived in New Haven for a number of years, downtown, in a high-rise between Yale's campus and Yale -New Haven Hospital. I always suspected NH to be a noir-ish town and the collection of short stories by New Haven-affiliated writers proves it beyond the shadow of a doubt. I like to read material that is based on real physical locations, and everyone of these 15 stories is noir from start-to-finish and is set in a real place in New Haven, for example: East Rock, Dwight, Beinecke Library, Wooster Square, Audobon Arts District and Edgewood Avenue, or the Graduate Ghetto, where my first Hew Haven apartment was located and where someone tried to break in by crashing a window in my kitchen when, earlier in the evening I finished the first section of "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote, where the family was murdered and laid in bed with the light outs and wondered if someone would sneak into the apartment and murder me. I kid you not.
Purchased on a whim at Atticus, the morning of my youngest son's wedding - Yale College graduate and attending Yale Graduate School right now to a former Yale Art History major. I may let them borrow this.
I may also buy a host of other books in this series by Akashic Books because they are in the same ilk - Noir stories for Brooklyn, LA, Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, Baltimore, Brussels, and give them to people that I know living there. In fact, I have visited many of the cities and would probably enjoy everyone. I started reading on the beach, got side-tracked with other things and came back to finish. Great stories. Fun stories.

[Darcia Helle · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with most anthologies, I enjoyed some stories in this collection more than others. While this was not my favorite of the Noir series, there are some definite gems here.

All the authors do a great job of putting us in New Haven, Connecticut. We see the working class against the backdrop of Yale and academia.

Overall, I think this collection leans more into literary fiction than the noir genre it is supposed to be. Some stories, for me, miss the noir feel completely. A few have almost a pompous feel. Even so, this is an entertaining mix of stories worth a read.

*I received a copy from the publisher, via LibraryThing, in exchange for my honest review.*

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven, as to be expected, but reasonably entertaining. The result is a good sense of place, but I think you'd have to be familiar with New Haven to enjoy it; it won't stand up on its own.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having spent many hours in the creepy stacks of Sterling Library at Yale, I had to laugh out loud at John Crowley's Poe-ish tale, "Spring Break". I liked the way he wrote it, in a kind of texting shorthand which made the characters real and likable.
Another favorite story was "The Gauntlet", about the seemingly clueless Nebraska farm boy Yalie
living on Edgewood Ave. in the 70's.
Hirsh Sawhney's "A Woe for Every Season" reflects the New Haven of today as well as yesterday, the town/gown divide, and the very real racism.
Dixwell Ave. is the setting and the 1940's the time period for Stephen Carter's "Evening Prayer".

Every one of the places in the collection were familiar to me: the Lindsey Chittendon English Lit building, Wooster Square, Audobon Arts District, the sacrosanct atmosphere of the Beinecke, etc. I was immediately 'there' as the murders and mayhem unfolded, which made it an extraordinary read.
Especially if you know New Haven, this is a fun and affecting read. It truly captures the feel and spirit of the place.

[Sherrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to start off with the note, I don't typically care for short stories, that being said my introduction to New Haven Noir, Edited by Amy Bloom totally brought me around. All of the stories are based in or around New Haven and generally bringing in Yale, and obviously most embark on the cynical or seamy side of life. A few of my favorites; a story involving a homeless man at Union Station and a man in a beautiful dark blue cashmere coat and then comes body parts in Crossing Harry by Chris Knoff, another is I've Never Been to Paris by Amy Bloom making you wonder did she or didn't she, and another of the many obscure stories is The Boy by Karen E Olson is just scary. I highly recommend this juicy read and I look forward to reading from the list of Akashic Books Noir Series.
Thanks to Goodreads for the ARC!

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I visited my childhood home of New Haven, CT with my brother for his 60th bday. A trip down memory lane . . . the Victorian Queen Anne we grew up in near East Rock Park, our air bnb on all-black Dixwell Avenue, the fancy-dress Shubert Theater on College, the old fake-gothic Yale buildings, the rusted-out Winchester arms factory, Pepe's Italian Pizza on Wooster Square . . . So this little book of detective stories, each set in one part of the city, was perfect. And who doesn't love Amy Bloom's work? The stories are funny, smart, surprising, silly, and/or insightful. A real treat.

[Harriett Milnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories, liked some more than others. Good to read from so many different authors; and fun to read about a place I lived for 20 years.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of the stories related to Yale than I had expected. The stories were decent, but somewhat flat. I had previously enjoyed one of the other Noir series books and was expecting more from this one. It was a good way to pass the time, but not something I particularly looked forward to picking up. The book would likely resonate much better with someone who has a specific connection to Yale or New Haven.
I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to the author/publisher for participating.

[Dun's · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first Akashic Noir collection and I really enjoyed it. I am familiar with New Haven and Yale. I couldn't stop picturing in my head all the locations mentioned in the stories that are put under the spotlight of evil, cynicism, blood and darkness. It's a very good selection of short stories. I look forward to my next Noir book.

[Vera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Akashic Books for sending me an ARC of New Haven Noir! I thoroughly enjoyed the stories in this collection! They were diverse and each one had its own unique flavor. They were deliciously creepy and definitely kept me guessing. Highly recommend!

[Ann Theis]

PW

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was utterly unaware of this series, in which an array of writers create original stories about a specific setting; in this case, New Haven, our chosen residence. Local writer and pal Amy Bloom edited the collection, and contributes a story of her own.

The twist is that they're all in a noir vein - murder, violence, betrayal, lust. Each story takes place in a different locale within the city, or just outside. As with any collection, they vary quite a bit. Of course, I loved the one about skullduggery and betrayal inside the Yale faculty. Less pleasing was a story about "Stale University," where the attempted satire falls utterly flat.

But most of the chapters are not set in the white elite center of Yale. Sisters struggle through years of shared secrets. A respected Deacon, the moral backbone of his community, takes his son to his day job, where the boy learns some shocking truths about the dichotomy of black and white worlds. An actress at Long Wharf befriends a local deli man, who is so smitten with her that he fails to understand what she truly has in mind.

Some follow the laws of classic noir - scheming women, dopes who fall for them. But most of these stories refract these conventions. The gorgeous last tale, "The Queen of Secrets," perhaps best exemplifies this novel approach to noir, as a woman with a troubled past gets caught up in drama beyond her control.

There are dozens of these collections, from the first, set in Brooklyn, to Abu Dhabi and seemingly everywhere in between. I don't know how many I will venture to read, but I definitely know my new favorite hostess gift!

[David Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection - three and a half stars, can't quite give it four. Maybe it should be titled Yale University Noir, because the hallowed institution is everwhere in it - not every story is set at Yale but even those that aren't often have a character who works there or who knows someone who does. And that's fitting, because Yale is New Haven's main reason for existing. Departmental politics and academic career-climbing form the basis of several stories and they were good, but my favourites were the ones in which Yale is more peripheral, such as Evening Prayer by Stephen L Carter, about a Black family in the immediate post-World War II years (the mother works as a maid at Yale). My favourite would have to be The Secret Societies by Roxana Robinson, which doesn't actually delve into the univerity's secret societies except by describing the buildings that house them. Instead it is an intriguing mystery tale in which a biographer uncovers the secrets of the life of Alison Ricks, a famous writer. Her archives are kept at Yale and the biographer does her research there but the tale isn't about the university as such. I finished it almost believing Ricks was a real person. Another thing I liked about New Haven Noir was the variety of time-settings of the stories, from the present day to the 1970s to the 1930s and 40s. It provided a good mix of perspectives on New Haven and Yale.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of noir fiction and generally I don't like anything that's creepy. Some of the stories were thought-provoking, a few were creepy. Since I am a Yale librarian, I was moderately amused by the one set in the Beinecke, but the many inaccuracies (the author taught at Yale for 10 years--!!) spoiled my enjoyment. The one set in Sterling Memorial Library was creepy so not to my taste at all, though its depiction of "spring break" as tourism in an apparently abandoned & dystopian future Yale campus was inventive. Several of the stories dealt openly with New Haven's troubled race relations as a theme; two of them were successful at this (I'll let you figure out which ones).

[Michael Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthologies are usually hit and miss. Akashic's Noir anthologies are usually more hit than miss. Same is the case in New Haven Noir. I've never been to New Haven, or anywhere close to it, but the stories did a really good job at making me feel like I was transported there. As with all anthologies, there are some great, some okay, some awful, but New Haven Noir has more of the great, and less of the okay and awful stories.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I realize I'm not wholly sure how I'd define 'noir'; certainly some of these stories meet the classic idea of it more than others. But many of them were good and a few were great, while there was only one story that I really shook my head at how terribly it was written. And yes, a big part of the fun is recognizing locales and streets and restaurants and etc. But fun is fun, and much of this anthology was, while also being reasonably thought-provoking.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a book for everyone, HOWEVER, if you live near New Haven you will recognize every street, restaurant, location and some characters. Makes every story more entertaining. Stories are short and dark, but well written.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this because New Haven was my place of birth. Although the writing was magnificent, I am not one to enjoy dark stories. Perhaps I prefer hanging on to the innocence of another time and place.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mildly entertaining.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

These were well-written stories. Good collection. I am from Connecticut, but unfamiliar with New Haven.

[Ron Henry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly read this for kicks, since I lived in New Haven for a few years in the late 80s and wondered what local landmarks and culture I would recognize in the stories. (Answer: less than I anticipated.) Still, a few of the stories were worthwhile and entertaining.

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being from New Haven I was very excited to read this collection. I was disappointed, most stories were underdeveloped and not unnerving enough to really be noir.

[Melissa T]

I chose to read this book because I grew up in New Haven and it was lovely to see my city represented in literature. Some of the stories were hit or miss but I still enjoyed it