Noir The Austin Way

Noir The Austin Way

Bruce Von Stiers

Akashic Books is a publisher with a lot of different types of books. There are memoirs and novels. They also have a series of anthologies that feature noir stories. Each book in the series features a different city or geographic area within a city. From Brooklyn to Beirut, Toronto to Tel Aviv, they publish a whole bookstore isle's worth of noir books.

The latest book in the series features the city of Austin, Texas. The title of the book is Austin Noir. It has fourteen stories that highlight different areas of the city. The book has two hundred ninety-three pages. It is broken down into three parts. The book has an introduction and brief bios on the authors at the end.

Part 1 is titled Crossfire. The first story there is The Pink Monkey. It was written by Gabino Iglesias, the recipient of several awards for his novels. The Devil Takes You Home is his most known and sought-after novel. This story is about a couple of guys who decide to rob a top name adult entertainer. Sasha Fire was headlining at a strip club. Carlos and Manuel think that they can rob Sasha as she leaves the club for the night. But what should have been a simple robbery goes sideways really fast. This was a gritty tale that is both interesting and entirely believable.

I've always had a fascination with stunt people. How they do things like jump out of windows and off the top of buildings, repelling down walls and walking through fire amazes me. One story in this collection deals with a seasoned stuntman. The title of the story is Stunts. It was written by Ace Atkins, the author of the Quinn Colson series. He also has written several books in the Spenser series, originated by Robert B. Parker. In this story, Jason Colson is a retired stuntman. He now makes personal appearances at fan appreciation events. He stunt doubled for Burt Reynolds and makes good use of that fact. But Jason is also in deep debt to some unsavory folks. And they want to collect. A couple of those people show up at an event that Jason is participating in. Well, things go both good and bad for Jason that day. It is a really good story with a main character that is likable but not too much. And the fact that it was about a stuntman was a plus for me.

Amanda Moore has a story in the collection titled Reflections. Sofia is an attorney who lives away. She came back to Austin because her mother needs help. A body has been discovered at the back of her property. The story gives some background as to Sofia's father's death and circumstances surrounding it. And then there is the dead body. Somehow it is connected to the past and the present. The story had a definite twist at the end that I didn't see coming. This was an interesting story of revenge and retribution that didn't quite turn out like you might think. Besides being a writer, Amanda Moore is also an attorney. So having an attorney as the lead character in the story was a good fit.

The Good Neighbor is Jeff Abbott's contribution to the collection. He has written twenty novels and is a three-time Edgar Award nominee. This story is about what could happen between a young man and his step-mother after the father's death. It has a bit of psychological thriller elements along with strong incestuous behavior. Quite an interesting tale, this one.

A diamond ransom exchange is at the heart of A Thousand Bats On An Austin Night. An investigator and his military veteran assistant are swapping a bunch of cash for stolen diamonds. Personalities and quirks play a factor in how well, or poorly, the exchange will happen. The story has a definite noir tone to it. Scott Montgomery, who is a bookseller as well as an author, wrote this story.

The second part is titled Nothing I Can Do About It Now. Richard Z. Santos wrote the first story in this part. A teacher is the main character in this story, titled Rush Hour. Thinking he saved a girl from committing suicide, he gets dragged into the world of credit card theft. Not only is this a great noir tale, but it also gave me some insight on how credit card thefts might occur and the ramifications of such a scheme going off the rails. Santos' debut novel, Trust Me, was a finalist for the Writer' League of Texas Book Award.

It is definitely not one of those take-your-daughter-to-work events in the story Sapphire Blue. Nina cleans up horrible messes left by evicted tenants and sometimes crime scenes. She must take her daughter with her for an especially difficult cleaning assignment. Something went terribly wrong during that time. This was an interesting noir tale with a kind of disturbing ending. It was written by Alexandra Burt, the author of the acclaimed novels, Remember Mia, The Good Daughter and Shadow Garden.

Both a Bram Stoker and Lambda award winner, Lee Thomas wrote the story Charles Bronson. What seems to be a simple job interview turns dark and deadly. This is a terrific noir story with a twist that you might see coming.

Miriam Kuznets is a psychotherapist whose work, both fiction and non-fiction, has appeared in numerous publications. Here story for this collection is titled Saving. It is a story of friendship, just causes, deceit, and treacherous scamming. A friendship turns into an employment relationship for the main character of the story. Only for her to learn later that all is not what it seems. It is a really good story that illustrates that good intentions may not be exactly what's behind the curtain.

Jacob Grovey is the author of many books, including ones on poetry, a few children's books, and some novels. His story, A Time And Place, is included in this collection. In this story, a cop makes a stop at a gas station. Going inside, he sees someone he once knew. Or at least he thinks so. But the guy ends up trying to rob the place, with the cop trying to talk him out of it. The story has a certain human element but with a slightly gritty edge. It was not what I was expecting, as it had what I would consider a bit of a Twilight Zone conclusion.

This Land is the title of the third part of the collection. Chaitali Sen is the author of the first story in this part. The story is The Foundation and is a bit strange. Cheryl wants to help an older woman, paying for the woman's house. But things aren't always what they seem, and neither are some people. I wasn't sure where the story was heading, but it turned out to be a pretty decent noir story. Having had her stories in several publications, Sen is also the author of the novel, The Pathless Sky.

Michael's Perfect Penis is a story about a woman and the man she kind of fell for. The story evolves over time with Michael being an ass and Angela pining for him. But things don't always go as we want them, especially for party people like Michael. This story kind of reminded me of people I've known in my own young and stupid days. People switching partners, cheating on them, flying into jealous rages, all the while partying along. The author of this story is Molly Odintz, who is the senior editor of CrimeReads. She was also the editor for this book, Austin Noir.

Amy Gentry is the author of Last Woman Standing. Her story for this collection is titled Stitches. The story revolves around a co-op student house for the University of Texas at Austin. During a party at the house, a young woman disappears. Decades later, one of the women who lived at the house comes back to Austin. And tries to find out what really happened to Wendi, the young woman who disappeared. This is an intriguing mystery story, that has a couple of twists and more that a bit of angst.

The final story in the collection is Bangface Vs. Cleaning Solutions, Inc. Bangface is a pretty despicable private detective. Irreverent and obnoxious, he almost runs off a perspective client before she can even hire him. But the case is much more than meets the eye. Following a supposed cheating husband, Bangface uncovers a very interesting scheme involving homeless people. I found myself liking Bangface, even if he just isn't the world's most congenial or straightforward detective. This entertaining story was written by Andrew Hilbert, who among other novels wrote one about Bangface titled Bangface and the Gloryhole.

In addition to Molly Odintz, this noir volume was edited by Scott Montgomery and Hopeton Hay. Hay is the former host of radio's KAZI Book Review and currently has the podcast Diverse Voices Book Review.

Austin Noir has many great noir stories. I wasn't familiar with many of the authors featured in the collection. But I am definitely going to check out their other work. This book would be a good addition to someone's detective or noir collection. Or a good way to start one.

Austin Noir is available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon and Bookshop.

To learn a bit more about Austin Noir, or other books in the Noir series, visit https://www.akashicbooks.com/

Back to the BVS Reviews Main Menu

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________