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Milwaukee Noir
Derrick Harriell has received the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for his story, "There's a Riot Goin' On," presented by the Mystery Writers of America! Jennifer Morales 's story "Cousins" has been named an Honorable Mention for the Zona Gale Short Fiction Award , presented by the Council for Wisconsin Writers. Milwaukee Noir is a Boswell Book Company best #1 Paperback Fiction Bestseller for the week ending May 25, 2019, and a #2 Paperback Fiction Bestseller for the week ending May 4, 2019! "Luxuriate in the seedy, wallow in the angry and shiver at the horrors that surely await you around the corner...The sheer localness of Milwaukee Noir is superb, and the seediness of many characters here would qualify them for membership in a Tom Waits song."
-- Milwuakee Journal Sentinel "Fourteen fictional tales of people behaving badly in the city and the 'burbs, including top-shelf writers Valerie Laken, Jane Hamilton, Larry Watson and Nick Petrie."
-- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel , included in Summer Reading 2019; Editor's Pick "In Milwaukee Noir , among the latest titles in Akashic Books' Noir series, 14 writers who've lived here offer a sinister tour of Brew City's radically diverse neighborhoods...Many of these pieces...work effectively not only as atmospheric fiction but also as influential social commentary."
-- Shepherd Express "Akashic's distinctive series of crime fiction anthologies arrives in Brewtown. The fourteen contributors include familiar Wisconsin writers Valerie Laken, Jennifer Morales, Jane Hamilton, Larry Watson, Nick Petrie and my Journal Sentinel colleague James E. Causey. Like other volumes in this series, Milwaukee Noir foregrounds specific for example, Watson's story has a Yankee Hill setting, and Morales' is set in the Silver City neighborhood."
-- Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal 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 within the respective city. Brand-new stories Jane Hamilton, Reed Farrel Coleman, Valerie Laken, Matthew J. Prigge, Shauna Singh Baldwin, Vida Cross, Larry Watson, Frank Wheeler Jr., Derrick Harriell, Christi Clancy, James E. Causey, Mary Thorson, Nick Petrie, and Jennifer Morales. From the introduction by Tim Presently, Milwaukee is going through a renaissance--abandoned factories being converted to condos, craft breweries and distilleries pushing out corner taverns--yet at the same time it is among the most segregated and impoverished big cities in the country. The gentrification of neighborhoods outside of downtown bear the impact of twentieth-century redlining efforts, forcing residents out due to housing demand, adding fuel to the affordable-housing crisis. Such an environment and atmosphere make excellent fodder for noir fiction... The book you're holding is the first of its kind--a short fiction collection about Milwaukee, by writers who've experienced life here. The crime/noir genre at its best can be one of the purest forms of social commentary. I've gathered contributors who can tell not just a fine story, but who can write about the struggles and resilience of the people who live here...I'm honored to compile a body of work that represents what I love, and fear, about Milwaukee. I love my city's lack of pretension; its stubbornness and pride in the unpolished corners. I fear that my city faces an uncertain future--that as it becomes more divided it may pushes our best and brightest to find somewhere else to shine.
-- Milwuakee Journal Sentinel "Fourteen fictional tales of people behaving badly in the city and the 'burbs, including top-shelf writers Valerie Laken, Jane Hamilton, Larry Watson and Nick Petrie."
-- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel , included in Summer Reading 2019; Editor's Pick "In Milwaukee Noir , among the latest titles in Akashic Books' Noir series, 14 writers who've lived here offer a sinister tour of Brew City's radically diverse neighborhoods...Many of these pieces...work effectively not only as atmospheric fiction but also as influential social commentary."
-- Shepherd Express "Akashic's distinctive series of crime fiction anthologies arrives in Brewtown. The fourteen contributors include familiar Wisconsin writers Valerie Laken, Jennifer Morales, Jane Hamilton, Larry Watson, Nick Petrie and my Journal Sentinel colleague James E. Causey. Like other volumes in this series, Milwaukee Noir foregrounds specific for example, Watson's story has a Yankee Hill setting, and Morales' is set in the Silver City neighborhood."
-- Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal 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 within the respective city. Brand-new stories Jane Hamilton, Reed Farrel Coleman, Valerie Laken, Matthew J. Prigge, Shauna Singh Baldwin, Vida Cross, Larry Watson, Frank Wheeler Jr., Derrick Harriell, Christi Clancy, James E. Causey, Mary Thorson, Nick Petrie, and Jennifer Morales. From the introduction by Tim Presently, Milwaukee is going through a renaissance--abandoned factories being converted to condos, craft breweries and distilleries pushing out corner taverns--yet at the same time it is among the most segregated and impoverished big cities in the country. The gentrification of neighborhoods outside of downtown bear the impact of twentieth-century redlining efforts, forcing residents out due to housing demand, adding fuel to the affordable-housing crisis. Such an environment and atmosphere make excellent fodder for noir fiction... The book you're holding is the first of its kind--a short fiction collection about Milwaukee, by writers who've experienced life here. The crime/noir genre at its best can be one of the purest forms of social commentary. I've gathered contributors who can tell not just a fine story, but who can write about the struggles and resilience of the people who live here...I'm honored to compile a body of work that represents what I love, and fear, about Milwaukee. I love my city's lack of pretension; its stubbornness and pride in the unpolished corners. I fear that my city faces an uncertain future--that as it becomes more divided it may pushes our best and brightest to find somewhere else to shine.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published May 7, 2019
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January 7, 2025
Noir In Milwaukee
I was born in Milwaukee and lived in the city through the 1950s and 1960s. When I finally left the city to attend law school, I never looked back. I didn't return to Milwaukee until 2015 for a 50th anniversary high school reunion. The city grew on me with absence. I spent time when I returned in seeing places I knew. I hope to return and revisit Milwaukee again soon.
I developed a love for reading in Milwaukee but began to read noir fiction only many years after I had left. I had read some of the many books in the Akashic Noir series and wondered if there ever would be a book about Milwaukee. Somehow, it didn't seem to me a noir city from a childhood and youth that seemed to me on the whole bland and conventional. I had been anxious to leave.
After many books of place-specific noir set in the United States and abroad, Akashic Noir at last published this book on "Milwaukee Noir", and I read it eagerly. The editor of the book, Tim Hennessy, owns a bookstore in Milwaukee. I have memories of browsing Milwaukee's bookstores as well as its libraries. The book consists of 14 original stories by as many writers, both familiar and unfamiliar, set in Milwaukee and its environs together with Hennessy's introduction. The book also includes a little map of the neighborhoods discussed in the stories together with various city landmarks. I was moved just be seeing the map and it brought back memories.
Hennessy points to what I recognized as the bland reputation of Milwaukee and of what he sees as the reluctance of some of its residents to make large scale change and take risks in their lives. Yet I, and many others, left the city to make their lives elsewhere. Hennessy shows a love for the city and for its stubbornness. Milwaukee changed a great deal in the years since I left. With the decline of manufacturing it has become prey to crime and poverty and has been in the process of reinventing itself. Hennessy describes Milwaukee's decline, and he writes:
"I love my city's lack of pretension: its stubbornness and pride in the unpolished corners. I fear that my city faces an uncertain future -- that as it becomes more divided it may push our best and brightest to find somewhere else to shine."
As far as stories go, the works in this collection are mixed in terms of literary merit. They are also mixed in how place-specific they are to Milwaukee. Even more than literary quality, I wanted stories that captured something of Milwaukee as opposed to stories which could just as easily have been set somewhere else. Most of these stories were well tied to place. Thus I enjoyed the book in that it brought me back to Milwaukee during the time I was there and during the long intervening years.
Places I know include Washington Park and Washington High School, Sherman Park, the downtown area, West Allis, Whitefish Bay, the East side around UW-M, and more. All these and more were covered in the stories. I remember Milwaukee's buses and bridges, and they too are covered here. I remember the old, seedy adult theater, the Princess, which is the subject of one of the best stories in the book, Matthew Prigge's "Third Street Waltz". I also knew about the old amusement parks which graced the city well before my time, and one of them is featured in Mary Thorson's "Wonderland". I was an inveterate bus rider in Milwaukee and Frank Wheeler Jr's story "Transit Complaint Box" brought back memories of the days. Larry Watson's story "Night Clerk" seemed to me rooted in a highly Milwaukean type of hotel. Finally, Derrick Harrell's "There's a riot going on"
took me back to some old stomping grounds near Sherman Park and brought home to me the changed character of the area and of the city.
I was glad to read this book and to catch up through noir stories with my old city. My fondness for the city has grown with distance and with the years. I enjoy thinking about Milwaukee and its formative impact on my life.
Robin Friedman
I was born in Milwaukee and lived in the city through the 1950s and 1960s. When I finally left the city to attend law school, I never looked back. I didn't return to Milwaukee until 2015 for a 50th anniversary high school reunion. The city grew on me with absence. I spent time when I returned in seeing places I knew. I hope to return and revisit Milwaukee again soon.
I developed a love for reading in Milwaukee but began to read noir fiction only many years after I had left. I had read some of the many books in the Akashic Noir series and wondered if there ever would be a book about Milwaukee. Somehow, it didn't seem to me a noir city from a childhood and youth that seemed to me on the whole bland and conventional. I had been anxious to leave.
After many books of place-specific noir set in the United States and abroad, Akashic Noir at last published this book on "Milwaukee Noir", and I read it eagerly. The editor of the book, Tim Hennessy, owns a bookstore in Milwaukee. I have memories of browsing Milwaukee's bookstores as well as its libraries. The book consists of 14 original stories by as many writers, both familiar and unfamiliar, set in Milwaukee and its environs together with Hennessy's introduction. The book also includes a little map of the neighborhoods discussed in the stories together with various city landmarks. I was moved just be seeing the map and it brought back memories.
Hennessy points to what I recognized as the bland reputation of Milwaukee and of what he sees as the reluctance of some of its residents to make large scale change and take risks in their lives. Yet I, and many others, left the city to make their lives elsewhere. Hennessy shows a love for the city and for its stubbornness. Milwaukee changed a great deal in the years since I left. With the decline of manufacturing it has become prey to crime and poverty and has been in the process of reinventing itself. Hennessy describes Milwaukee's decline, and he writes:
"I love my city's lack of pretension: its stubbornness and pride in the unpolished corners. I fear that my city faces an uncertain future -- that as it becomes more divided it may push our best and brightest to find somewhere else to shine."
As far as stories go, the works in this collection are mixed in terms of literary merit. They are also mixed in how place-specific they are to Milwaukee. Even more than literary quality, I wanted stories that captured something of Milwaukee as opposed to stories which could just as easily have been set somewhere else. Most of these stories were well tied to place. Thus I enjoyed the book in that it brought me back to Milwaukee during the time I was there and during the long intervening years.
Places I know include Washington Park and Washington High School, Sherman Park, the downtown area, West Allis, Whitefish Bay, the East side around UW-M, and more. All these and more were covered in the stories. I remember Milwaukee's buses and bridges, and they too are covered here. I remember the old, seedy adult theater, the Princess, which is the subject of one of the best stories in the book, Matthew Prigge's "Third Street Waltz". I also knew about the old amusement parks which graced the city well before my time, and one of them is featured in Mary Thorson's "Wonderland". I was an inveterate bus rider in Milwaukee and Frank Wheeler Jr's story "Transit Complaint Box" brought back memories of the days. Larry Watson's story "Night Clerk" seemed to me rooted in a highly Milwaukean type of hotel. Finally, Derrick Harrell's "There's a riot going on"
took me back to some old stomping grounds near Sherman Park and brought home to me the changed character of the area and of the city.
I was glad to read this book and to catch up through noir stories with my old city. My fondness for the city has grown with distance and with the years. I enjoy thinking about Milwaukee and its formative impact on my life.
Robin Friedman
April 5, 2022
Decent but uneven short story collection. All of the stories take place in and around Milwaukee (which is why I was interested in the first place, having gone to Marquette and lived in the city for almost 15 years), but the setting is somewhat incidental for most of them. Sure, the characters say they are doing this and that "on Oakland" or they have to "cross Burleigh", or whatever, but the action could just as easily happen in another medium-sized industrial American city. The best stories are 3rd Street Waltz (end of an era for a skeezy porno movie theater in the 1970s), Transit Complaint Box (days in the life of Milwaukee city bus cops), and Night Clerk (weird things happen on the overnight shift at a residential hotel). In all three of these, Milwaukee is an identifiable and relevant element of the story in addition to their being very good stories in general.
May 7, 2019
Milwaukee Noir is the latest in the Akashic Noir series that explores the world through noir fiction. As with every edition in the series, a local is chosen to enlist writers in the project and shepherd their work to completion. However, this time the editor is a reader, a used bookstore owner, who I think brings a new and positive sensibility. Tim Hennessy is not trying to impress us with himself but with his city and its writers.
There are fourteen stories in three sections. The first, Schlemiels and Schlimazels, may recall LaVerne and Shirley but there is no nostalgia in these down and out stories of foster children, out of work newcomers, seniors eking a living, and low-rent workers. The stories feature more or less decent people trying to do the best they can so in that way they are like the Happy Days duo, but they live in a city that no longer wants them. The stories in Sweet Misery Blues will make you wonder for the future of humanity. What Made Milwaukee Famous gives us stories of neighborhood feuds and lost children, stories that are close to home.
The stories that really stood out for me were Jane Hamilton’s Friendship which revealed just how much or little friendship can mean. Cristi Clancy’s Mocking Season has the neighbors love their lawns altogether too much. It seems odd, but Nick Petrie’s The Neighbor also focused on lawn maintenance but with a far different outcome. I liked both stories a lot and was amused by how emotional people can get over their patch of green.
I was excited to see Larry Watson, a favorite author, included in the anthology but I thought his Night Clerk was one of the weaker stories. I didn’t much care for Frank Wheeler, Jr.’s Transit Complaint Box which began with a tired joke and a transit cop’s initial “lesson” to his probie that was recycled “Blue Lives Matter” rant dismissing legitimate concerns about racism in law enforcement. The character’s actions did not reflect his political persona, but that’s no big revelation. It’s the reason the country is full of racists with one Black friend.
All in all, I liked Milwaukee Noir a lot and I think choosing an independent bookseller to edit was ingenious. He did a great job. Every collection has stories readers like more or less than others and this anthology had many more that I liked a lot. Even Watson’s disappointing story was only disappointing relative to expectations.
Unlike most of the books in the series, I have been to Milwaukee and while I did not experience the noir side of the city, reading this did recall the neighborhoods with houses shoulder to shoulder and the streets of old brick storefront that I remember. I know I have said this again and again, the Akashic Noir Series is a wonderful way to do your armchair traveling.
I received an e-galley of Milwaukee Noir from the publisher through Edelweiss
Milwaukee Noir at Akashic Books
Akashic Noir Series
Tim Hennessy on Twitter
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
There are fourteen stories in three sections. The first, Schlemiels and Schlimazels, may recall LaVerne and Shirley but there is no nostalgia in these down and out stories of foster children, out of work newcomers, seniors eking a living, and low-rent workers. The stories feature more or less decent people trying to do the best they can so in that way they are like the Happy Days duo, but they live in a city that no longer wants them. The stories in Sweet Misery Blues will make you wonder for the future of humanity. What Made Milwaukee Famous gives us stories of neighborhood feuds and lost children, stories that are close to home.
The stories that really stood out for me were Jane Hamilton’s Friendship which revealed just how much or little friendship can mean. Cristi Clancy’s Mocking Season has the neighbors love their lawns altogether too much. It seems odd, but Nick Petrie’s The Neighbor also focused on lawn maintenance but with a far different outcome. I liked both stories a lot and was amused by how emotional people can get over their patch of green.
I was excited to see Larry Watson, a favorite author, included in the anthology but I thought his Night Clerk was one of the weaker stories. I didn’t much care for Frank Wheeler, Jr.’s Transit Complaint Box which began with a tired joke and a transit cop’s initial “lesson” to his probie that was recycled “Blue Lives Matter” rant dismissing legitimate concerns about racism in law enforcement. The character’s actions did not reflect his political persona, but that’s no big revelation. It’s the reason the country is full of racists with one Black friend.
All in all, I liked Milwaukee Noir a lot and I think choosing an independent bookseller to edit was ingenious. He did a great job. Every collection has stories readers like more or less than others and this anthology had many more that I liked a lot. Even Watson’s disappointing story was only disappointing relative to expectations.
Unlike most of the books in the series, I have been to Milwaukee and while I did not experience the noir side of the city, reading this did recall the neighborhoods with houses shoulder to shoulder and the streets of old brick storefront that I remember. I know I have said this again and again, the Akashic Noir Series is a wonderful way to do your armchair traveling.
I received an e-galley of Milwaukee Noir from the publisher through Edelweiss
Milwaukee Noir at Akashic Books
Akashic Noir Series
Tim Hennessy on Twitter
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
May 31, 2019
Milwaukee and its surrounding suburbs will always be the place I consider home even after having lived in many different cities and states. Reading the varied stories in this collection gave me different perspectives that were missing, or at least just blurry outlines, in my love, admiration and sometimes outright horror of Milwaukee. While a couple stories were quickly forgotten, the rest I either adored or at least respected. I loved the flow and overall feel it gave me.
June 3, 2019
Fourteen short stories in fourteen neighborhoods around Milwaukee County, mostly in the city. A good collection of well-written pieces although some stories get darker than the others. A two-page map shows where the action happens between these covers.
Yards, lawns and gardens play their roles in a few of these stories. A couple of tales unfold well enough but wind up with unsatisfying endings, including one about a Whitefish Bay kid who wanted to play marimba in the youth symphony. A five-star story until the end. In another, we travel with transit security for a week in Midtown.
Each bionote in the appendix includes a photo of the writer. More anthologies need to include bio pics, which make a writer real.
Two Milwaukee anthologies published this spring. This is the stronger one because of the stronger writing.
Four and a half stars.
Yards, lawns and gardens play their roles in a few of these stories. A couple of tales unfold well enough but wind up with unsatisfying endings, including one about a Whitefish Bay kid who wanted to play marimba in the youth symphony. A five-star story until the end. In another, we travel with transit security for a week in Midtown.
Each bionote in the appendix includes a photo of the writer. More anthologies need to include bio pics, which make a writer real.
Two Milwaukee anthologies published this spring. This is the stronger one because of the stronger writing.
Four and a half stars.
May 12, 2019
Read my full review here: http://mimi-cyberlibrarian.blogspot.c...
I am constantly enthralled by the way authors and editors define noir fiction, and the new book, Milwaukee Noir, which came out this week, continues to redefine the style of writing that can be considered “noir.” This collection is unique, just like the stories in all the other collections from Akashic.
The editor, Tim Hennessy, is a book seller and writer. His introduction to the book also appeared in the website Crime Reads. It appeared earlier this week on the site the day the book came out. He mentions that society doesn’t think much of Milwaukee, but he goes on to elaborate all the literary figures who have lived or died, as the case may be, in the city. Of Milwaukee he notes:
“Presently, Milwaukee is going through a renaissance—abandoned factories being converted to condos, craft breweries and distilleries pushing out corner taverns—yet at the same time it is among the most segregated and impoverished big cities in the country. The gentrification of neighborhoods outside of the downtown bear the impact of twentieth-century redlining efforts, forcing residents out due to housing demand, adding fuel to the affordable-housing crisis. Such an environment and atmosphere make excellent fodder for noir fiction—an outlook out of step with the romanticized nostalgia that Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley created of Milwaukee.”
The collection had my attention with the first name on the cover, Jane Hamilton. Her book, The Excellent Lombards, was my favorite fiction book of 2016. Her entry, Friendship, is the tale of what happens when three New York friends journey to Milwaukee to visit their friend, Sally John, who has moved to this strange midwestern city. Hamilton incorporates much of the city in the story, including the marvelous art museum right on the lake. Hamilton speaks to this: “What city would commission Santiago Calatrava to design their art museum, a city with a gorgeous body of water as backdrop, and blot it out in the approach with a third-rate heap of orange-painted steel I-beams!” She is a marvelous writer and the story, while perhaps a stretch to call it noir, doesn’t disappoint.
One of my favorite stories is by Larry Watson called Night Clerk. This is more traditional noir, as is Summerfest ’76 by Reed Farrel Coleman. My favorite line about Milwaukee is in Coleman’s story: “. . .all I ever saw out of Lisa’s window was grayness. Oh, that’s not totally fair. It was grayness interrupted every other day by lake-effect snow.” (Lake-effect snow is the bane of the existence of any one who lives on the Lake Michigan shoreline.)
I am constantly enthralled by the way authors and editors define noir fiction, and the new book, Milwaukee Noir, which came out this week, continues to redefine the style of writing that can be considered “noir.” This collection is unique, just like the stories in all the other collections from Akashic.
The editor, Tim Hennessy, is a book seller and writer. His introduction to the book also appeared in the website Crime Reads. It appeared earlier this week on the site the day the book came out. He mentions that society doesn’t think much of Milwaukee, but he goes on to elaborate all the literary figures who have lived or died, as the case may be, in the city. Of Milwaukee he notes:
“Presently, Milwaukee is going through a renaissance—abandoned factories being converted to condos, craft breweries and distilleries pushing out corner taverns—yet at the same time it is among the most segregated and impoverished big cities in the country. The gentrification of neighborhoods outside of the downtown bear the impact of twentieth-century redlining efforts, forcing residents out due to housing demand, adding fuel to the affordable-housing crisis. Such an environment and atmosphere make excellent fodder for noir fiction—an outlook out of step with the romanticized nostalgia that Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley created of Milwaukee.”
The collection had my attention with the first name on the cover, Jane Hamilton. Her book, The Excellent Lombards, was my favorite fiction book of 2016. Her entry, Friendship, is the tale of what happens when three New York friends journey to Milwaukee to visit their friend, Sally John, who has moved to this strange midwestern city. Hamilton incorporates much of the city in the story, including the marvelous art museum right on the lake. Hamilton speaks to this: “What city would commission Santiago Calatrava to design their art museum, a city with a gorgeous body of water as backdrop, and blot it out in the approach with a third-rate heap of orange-painted steel I-beams!” She is a marvelous writer and the story, while perhaps a stretch to call it noir, doesn’t disappoint.
One of my favorite stories is by Larry Watson called Night Clerk. This is more traditional noir, as is Summerfest ’76 by Reed Farrel Coleman. My favorite line about Milwaukee is in Coleman’s story: “. . .all I ever saw out of Lisa’s window was grayness. Oh, that’s not totally fair. It was grayness interrupted every other day by lake-effect snow.” (Lake-effect snow is the bane of the existence of any one who lives on the Lake Michigan shoreline.)
March 23, 2020
This book is an assembly of beautifully rich stories of the Greater Milwaukee area that could only be written by experienced residents, but can be appreciated by all.
March 20, 2020
4.5 A must read for anyone who has ever lived or spent any time in Milwaukee. A great exploration of the cities various neighborhoods. Loved it.
July 5, 2019
Milwaukee Noiris a nice collection, with a strong set of writers, but the most notable stories were Summerfest ‘76, by Reed Farrel Coleman, about a love which burned bright, fizzled quick, and led two people down unexpected paths, Transit Complaint Box,by Frank Wheeler, which told the story of mental health and poverty through the experience of two bus transit officers, and 3rd Street Waltz, by Matthew Prigge, about a man looking for one last hurrah.
There’s an intensity to every story but—unlike other books I’ve read in the Akashic series—they don’t have a gritty, underbelly feel to them.
The bulk of these stories seemed more focused on showing the desperation and frustrations caused by class and race.
Each character has a darkness to them, yes, but it’s draped in a cloth of poverty, loneliness, or social invisibility; which is to say each story offers a person looking for something to validate their existence but often finding that validation comes at a price—one they’re not always always prepared to pay.
For me, at least, that distinguishes this from the cold-blooded nature displayed within the stories of other books within the Noir series.
Either way, it’s a collection with more hits than misses, and it’s clear Tim Hennessy chose some of Milwaukee’s finest to contribute.
*Thank you to Edelweiss+ and Akashic Books for this Advanced eGalley. Opinion is my own and was not influenced.
There’s an intensity to every story but—unlike other books I’ve read in the Akashic series—they don’t have a gritty, underbelly feel to them.
The bulk of these stories seemed more focused on showing the desperation and frustrations caused by class and race.
Each character has a darkness to them, yes, but it’s draped in a cloth of poverty, loneliness, or social invisibility; which is to say each story offers a person looking for something to validate their existence but often finding that validation comes at a price—one they’re not always always prepared to pay.
For me, at least, that distinguishes this from the cold-blooded nature displayed within the stories of other books within the Noir series.
Either way, it’s a collection with more hits than misses, and it’s clear Tim Hennessy chose some of Milwaukee’s finest to contribute.
*Thank you to Edelweiss+ and Akashic Books for this Advanced eGalley. Opinion is my own and was not influenced.
June 17, 2019
This is an anthology that is far better in theory than in execution. I’m a big fan of the noir genre, but with few exceptions, the stories are simply gritty explorations of life in current day Milwaukee.
Larry Watson and Nick Petrie contribute the best stories in a murky lot. Both authors have a good sense of pacing and plotting. A handful of the stories are didactic, and therefore tiresome. Shauna Singh Baldwin’s contribution was odd and confusing.
I gave the book three stars for the nostalgia factor alone. It was a kick reading about a hometown I moved away from 20 years ago.
Perhaps there are better anthologies in the Noir series. If so, I’d love to know which ones actually measure up to the standard of great noir.
Larry Watson and Nick Petrie contribute the best stories in a murky lot. Both authors have a good sense of pacing and plotting. A handful of the stories are didactic, and therefore tiresome. Shauna Singh Baldwin’s contribution was odd and confusing.
I gave the book three stars for the nostalgia factor alone. It was a kick reading about a hometown I moved away from 20 years ago.
Perhaps there are better anthologies in the Noir series. If so, I’d love to know which ones actually measure up to the standard of great noir.
June 21, 2019
Essential reading for any literary-minded resident (or former resident) of Milwaukee, one of America's most overlooked cities. "Noir" here covers the seedy, the squalid, and the somewhat mysterious, not just the hard-boiled and the violent. And Milwaukee, with its crumbling industrial infrastructure and its persistent poverty, provides a lot of material for such a focus, despite the creative startups and the truly impressive little restaurants.
The quality of the writing is very good, and the pleasure of a recognizable setting that is not Los Angeles or New York City is not to be underestimated.
The quality of the writing is very good, and the pleasure of a recognizable setting that is not Los Angeles or New York City is not to be underestimated.
March 25, 2019
I have read many of the books and this series. There are some good short stories in this collection, but overall the writing is uneven in quality. I think writers confuse the noir style with just depressing stories.
October 27, 2020
A really good collection of thoughtful, well-written noir crime-fiction based in Milwaukee...
May 3, 2019
MILWAUKEE NOIR edited by Tim Hennessey is Akashic Books latest anthology in its very prolific, very popular Noir series.
I have read and enjoyed many of the titles in this series. A familiar layout makes for ease of reading. There is a very dark, sepia-colored cover; and a map (I love the map) of areas/neighborhoods where the various stories take place. (In MILWAUKEE NOIR we are in West Allis, Whitefish Bay, Ogden Avenue, and Cambridge Hills to name a few.) There is a Table of Contents which lists the stories, authors and locations. MILWAUKEE NOIR contains an Introduction, “Disturbing Reverberations” by Tim Hennessey; three Parts - Schlemiels & Schlimazels; Sweet Misery Blues and What Made Milwaukee Famous and 14 stories by:
Valerie Laken - Matthew J. Prigge - Reed Farrel Coleman - Jennifer Morales - Vida Cross - Jane Hamilton - Frank Wheeler Jr. - Derrick Harriell - Christi Clancy - Shauna Singh Baldwin - Larry Watson - James E. Causey - Nick Petrie - Mary Thorson.
There is also About the Contributors which contains short bios of the authors.
The Introduction sets the tone of the book and often contains facts and history about the city where we are residing. I like the line of Mr. Hennessey’s about the problem facing Midwesterners, “How do you move into the future and hold onto what you love about the past?”
The writing is dark, very dark, gritty and bleak - noir at its finest.
The characters include teenage sewer tunnel thieves to the Princess Theater’s (specializing in adult entertainment) manager to the night clerk at the Whitcomb Hotel.
The plots are just as eclectic.
Our editor, Tim Hennessey says, “The crime/noir genre at its best can be one of the purest forms of social commentary.”
My favorite quote is from Frank Wheeler Jr.’s “Transit Complaint Box”, “The sad thing about paying attention to history is you know what’s going to happen, and you’re powerless to stop it.”
From the gritty writing to the sleazy, cynical characters and plots, MILWAUKEE NOIR is a treasure chest for the noir aficionado.
I have read and enjoyed many of the titles in this series. A familiar layout makes for ease of reading. There is a very dark, sepia-colored cover; and a map (I love the map) of areas/neighborhoods where the various stories take place. (In MILWAUKEE NOIR we are in West Allis, Whitefish Bay, Ogden Avenue, and Cambridge Hills to name a few.) There is a Table of Contents which lists the stories, authors and locations. MILWAUKEE NOIR contains an Introduction, “Disturbing Reverberations” by Tim Hennessey; three Parts - Schlemiels & Schlimazels; Sweet Misery Blues and What Made Milwaukee Famous and 14 stories by:
Valerie Laken - Matthew J. Prigge - Reed Farrel Coleman - Jennifer Morales - Vida Cross - Jane Hamilton - Frank Wheeler Jr. - Derrick Harriell - Christi Clancy - Shauna Singh Baldwin - Larry Watson - James E. Causey - Nick Petrie - Mary Thorson.
There is also About the Contributors which contains short bios of the authors.
The Introduction sets the tone of the book and often contains facts and history about the city where we are residing. I like the line of Mr. Hennessey’s about the problem facing Midwesterners, “How do you move into the future and hold onto what you love about the past?”
The writing is dark, very dark, gritty and bleak - noir at its finest.
The characters include teenage sewer tunnel thieves to the Princess Theater’s (specializing in adult entertainment) manager to the night clerk at the Whitcomb Hotel.
The plots are just as eclectic.
Our editor, Tim Hennessey says, “The crime/noir genre at its best can be one of the purest forms of social commentary.”
My favorite quote is from Frank Wheeler Jr.’s “Transit Complaint Box”, “The sad thing about paying attention to history is you know what’s going to happen, and you’re powerless to stop it.”
From the gritty writing to the sleazy, cynical characters and plots, MILWAUKEE NOIR is a treasure chest for the noir aficionado.
June 4, 2019
Milwaukee Noir, edited by Tim Hennessy, is part of Akashic's Noir series. I am fairly new to the series, this is maybe my third volume, but I am loving them so far.
First is a map of the city, with the neighborhoods highlighted in the collection marked. While the map probably isn't absolutely necessary I do really like having it. It gives a nice geographical grounding that simply saying "Milwaukee" doesn't do. I have visited the city several times, while stationed at Great Lakes years ago, so the map had me trying to figure out where I had been.
In both this volume and the series as a whole the concept of what is noir is left fairly open. The writers can make it about crime or they can make it just plain old dark and oppressive. Atmosphere is key and the writers all tell compelling stories. Like any collection, there are ones I like more and ones I like less but all in all this is a strong collection of short stories, period. They also happen to be of the same genre.
Social commentary is a big part of noir fiction and this volume illustrates some of the issues we face in society. The perspectives are likely different from the reader's, they were for me, even on topics I might have given thought to. So on top of being entertaining (well, as entertaining as dark literature can be) the stories are also thought provoking.
I highly recommend this to readers of short stories, fans of noir or crime stories, and of course anyone familiar with Milwaukee. Nothing makes a book more compelling than knowing the locations mentioned throughout. I'm not familiar enough to be part of that third group, but the first two are definitely me.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
First is a map of the city, with the neighborhoods highlighted in the collection marked. While the map probably isn't absolutely necessary I do really like having it. It gives a nice geographical grounding that simply saying "Milwaukee" doesn't do. I have visited the city several times, while stationed at Great Lakes years ago, so the map had me trying to figure out where I had been.
In both this volume and the series as a whole the concept of what is noir is left fairly open. The writers can make it about crime or they can make it just plain old dark and oppressive. Atmosphere is key and the writers all tell compelling stories. Like any collection, there are ones I like more and ones I like less but all in all this is a strong collection of short stories, period. They also happen to be of the same genre.
Social commentary is a big part of noir fiction and this volume illustrates some of the issues we face in society. The perspectives are likely different from the reader's, they were for me, even on topics I might have given thought to. So on top of being entertaining (well, as entertaining as dark literature can be) the stories are also thought provoking.
I highly recommend this to readers of short stories, fans of noir or crime stories, and of course anyone familiar with Milwaukee. Nothing makes a book more compelling than knowing the locations mentioned throughout. I'm not familiar enough to be part of that third group, but the first two are definitely me.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
May 6, 2022
More like a 3.5, but that is how short stories usually go.
"Transit Complaint Box", "There's a Riot Going On", and "'Mocking Season" were my favorites, and I would give those three 5 stars. I really liked the stories in the middle, and genuinely don't remember the ones in the end, but that could just be because I was reading it in a Panera Bread so I could finish it that day because that was my deadline for it. Oops!
If you look at noir based on the stereotypes, it's not noir, but it definitely is noir in my opinion.
Overall, it was an enjoyable read partially because I was reading it for a program at work, because I live in Milwaukee, and there was just overall some great social commentary.
"Transit Complaint Box", "There's a Riot Going On", and "'Mocking Season" were my favorites, and I would give those three 5 stars. I really liked the stories in the middle, and genuinely don't remember the ones in the end, but that could just be because I was reading it in a Panera Bread so I could finish it that day because that was my deadline for it. Oops!
If you look at noir based on the stereotypes, it's not noir, but it definitely is noir in my opinion.
Overall, it was an enjoyable read partially because I was reading it for a program at work, because I live in Milwaukee, and there was just overall some great social commentary.
May 14, 2022
These stories were pretty hit or miss. I've visited Milwaukee and fell in love with the city so anytime something is set there, I want to read it. I'm learning Milwaukee has a lot of problems and there's a lot of darkness to this city (besides the obvious infamous Dahmer cases). I do think Milwaukee seems to stand for the epitome of the late stage capitalism era Midwest.
These stories were well-written and covered a lot of different walks of life within the city. There were a few badass female characters that I adored, a couple of everyday people, a couple of terrible people, and some really heartbreaking stories.
"Transit Complaint Box" and "Mocking Season" were the standouts to me.
These stories were well-written and covered a lot of different walks of life within the city. There were a few badass female characters that I adored, a couple of everyday people, a couple of terrible people, and some really heartbreaking stories.
"Transit Complaint Box" and "Mocking Season" were the standouts to me.
September 10, 2019
Fourteen stories set in various areas around Milwaukee, from West Allis to Whitefish Bay. Some of the authors included are Jane Hamilton, Reed Farrell Coleman, and Larry Watson. Some of my favorites are Matthrew J. Prigge’s “Third Street Waltz” about the closing of a porn theater; “Cousins” by Jennifer Morales about a Latinx named Carlisa who returns from Afghanistan and wants to be called Carlos; and “Mocking Season” –a story reminiscent of Ira Levin, about Whitefish Bay neighbors whose children are being poisoned by lawn chemicals.
May 29, 2020
This is an anthology. I only got it for Nick Petrie's short so this rating only applies to it. And I only got it because I liked Nick Petrie's Peter Ash series. Unfortunately this short story doesn't have anything to do with Peter Ash. Still my average rating doesn't have to do with that. My average rating is that I felt the short story was a bit pointless. At least, I didn't understand it, so a bit of a disappointment.
July 11, 2020
A fun collection of stories from different parts of the Milwaukee area (not all strictly set in Milwaukee), with uneven results. Noir is a difficult genre to capture and, in many cases, while these stories are quite good, they aren't noir. That's fine by me. The stories are what matter and there are some strong contenders here. Always reliable authors Jane Hamilton, Reed Farrell Coleman, Larry Watson, Nick Petrie are solid here, but others contribute equally good works.
September 27, 2023
Excellent short stories
I love the Akashic Noir series so much. Getting to experience authors from different states, regions and countries is so interesting. Stories by known and new authors.. what could be better! Larry Watson is a favorite of mine and I have read his novels. I'll be searching for more from the other authors now..
Always a varied story, surprising, deeply felt... never tire of them...
I love the Akashic Noir series so much. Getting to experience authors from different states, regions and countries is so interesting. Stories by known and new authors.. what could be better! Larry Watson is a favorite of mine and I have read his novels. I'll be searching for more from the other authors now..
Always a varied story, surprising, deeply felt... never tire of them...
December 23, 2019
Good book. Great Short Stories. Anyone who has lived in the Milwaukee area who likes mystery thriller should read this book. Filled with random Milwaukee trivia and facts from years gone by. Really fun to read about places you have been or could go to. Great Book would highly recommend to anyone from Milwaukee/living in Milwaukee/or thinking about moving to Milwaukee.
September 24, 2022
I have read maybe a half dozen of Akashic's Noir series. You could make the case that I enjoyed this one more than most because I live in Milwaukee and know all the settings for these stories well. While there are a couple of story lines that are not quite as strong as others, there were no real clunkers.
June 26, 2019
It's an uneven as they come, some of the essays are fascinating, some are trying way too hard. Some fit the genre perfectly, others are just there it would appear to attempt to reference as much of Milwaukee as possible.
But you know what? I enjoyed it.
But you know what? I enjoyed it.
May 24, 2020
Fun (in a noir sense) book filled with stories from different neighborhoods in Milwaukee by some great write's I knew and some great writers I just discovered. Can't go wrong with Jane Hamilton, Nick Petrie and Reed Farrel Coleman, to name a few.
May 10, 2019
No review
June 5, 2019
This is a book of short stories where some were very good and others not so good. The best were by Reed Farrel Coleman, Nick Petrie, Larry Watson and James E. Causey.
January 19, 2020
It is a little hard to rate this book, as it is a collection of short stories by different authors, so some were better than others. But any book based in Milwaukee is always worth the read to me.
February 20, 2020
Meh....
Read for a book club. It really didn’t hold my interest at all.
Read for a book club. It really didn’t hold my interest at all.
April 21, 2020
A beautiful collection of stories by some of Milwaukee's top authors. An absolute must-read for both Wisconsin natives and visitors to The Badger State.
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