Noir The Cleveland Way

Noir The Cleveland Way

Bruce Von Stiers

Cleveland is known for the Guardians baseball team, the Browns football team, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. And just to the west is my favorite amusement park, Cedar Point.

Cleveland is also known for having some very talented fiction writers. A few of those writers are included in a new book in Akashic Books Noir series. The title for this new volume is Cleveland Noir.

As with others in this series, the book features stories that are influenced by, or take place in, various locations in Cleveland. There are stories that feature Settler's Landing, Little Italy, Parma, Tremon, Shaker Heights, Coventry, and Fairfax.

Michael Rulman and Meisha Wilson Headon edited the book. They also provided stories for the volume. It is broken down into four parts: City Center, The Outliers, The Trendy and The Heights.

Love Always is the first story. It's a story of two teen girls who use the lure of sex to rob men. It's a great gig but doesn't end well. The story is from Paula McLain, who has written several bestselling novels, including The Paris Wife and When The Stars Go Dark.

A sports death that may not have been an accident is the foundation for The Silent Partner. The story involves a sportswriter for a Cleveland newspaper and an article he's going to writing on a baseball death from decades earlier. This was a very interesting story with a delicious noir twist. Reading it made me think of a friend of mine from high school, who until some staff cutbacks a few years ago, was a sportswriter for the Kansas City Star. This story is from Susan Petone, the author of The Heebie-Jeebie Girl, A Body At Rest and The Super Ladies.

Under The Hill is a tale of a guy trying to find a woman. But just not any woman. This one is extra special and somehow has his heart tied up in knots. But where she can be found is something that eludes him. It is a story where you might guess what's going on, but maybe not. Mary Grimm is the author of this story. Besides having stories published in publications like the New Yorker, she wrote Left to Themselves and Stealing Time.

Even before The Sixth Sense, there were films and stories about people seeing and talking with dead people. In the story Bus Stop, there is a guy who communes with dead girls. He's trying to solve their murders. The murders have taken place over several years. But in true noir fashion, the story has a twist you might not see coming. The story was by Dana McSwain, who novel Roseneath was the recipient of four major literary awards.

In the story Sugar Daddy, a cop is asked to cover up a murder. The killer is the sister of the cop's old girlfriend, who is now in prison. But the tale takes a couple of turns and has a great noir twist at the end. Abby Vandiver wrote this story. Besides writing the Romaine Wilder cozy mystery series, she also writes under the names Abby Collette and Cade Bentley.

Jock Talk deals with a teen boy who is gay. But his cop father seems to think that through therapy or other means, the boy can be his version of normal. Both sad and tragic, the story is also complicated due to the boy being half Native-American. It was written by Sam Conrad, himself a Native-American and founder of an underground student newspaper exposing racism, corruption and homophobia.

Bitter is a tale of revenge and retribution. Sadie lost her brother to a woman whose motives were more sinister than loving. Now the woman must pay. In more ways than one. As the story unfolded, I wasn't sure what Sadie had in mind, but enjoyed the result. Bitter was by Angela Cook, who has written three novels, Fat Chance, Chasing Navah and Maria's Song.

Besides having been an engineer specializing in rehabbing historical structures, D.M. Pulley has written multiple novels inspired by true crime. Her entry in this book is Tremonster. Reenie now lives alone in an apartment in Tremont. Her and Dan were supposed to get married, but he left. A chance encounter with a young boy makes up for an empty hole in Reenie's life. But as things go along, there is something not quite right about the way the boy Landon comes around. The story is really good as it has a touch of mystery and a decidedly noir ending.

At one time, I was heavily involved with a neighborhood church. I was on various committees and had occasion to interact with the church treasurer. So, I found the story, The Book of Numbers, very believable. Kay Hatcher is a Baptist church bookkeeper. But she has a scam going on the side to pad the bills on certain tasks that were being done at the church. While the senior pastor might be clueless, there is a new pastor coming to the church. So, Kay will need to fix things so that everything looks normal. But as this is a noir tale, things don't go as Kay planned. Not even close. This great story is by Miesha Wilson Headen. Aside from being a writer, she is a bookseller and a former mayor of a Cleveland suburb. Oh, and she's also a preacher's kid. And she helped edit this collection.

The House On Fir Avenue is a tale of a man and his son dealing with loss. The loss of a wife and mother and the loss of a home due to foreclosure. The more the son slides into depression, the more the father is angry at life and their situation. A vengeful streak on the part of the father leads him down a path that provides a decent twist to the story. Alex DiFrancesco wrote this story and is the author of the novels Psychopomps, All City and Transmutation.

What's a noir collection without a private detective story? The one here is The Laderman Affair. Melissa Hinton is a fledgling private investigator. Her boss finally lets her go on her first solo assignment. It was to track a philandering wife and get the goods on her. But things don't quite go as planned, as the assignment unintentionally overlaps Melissa's personal life. With deadly consequences. This is probably my favorite story in this collection. It was written by J.D. Belcher, who besides being an author, is also a screenwriter and journalist.

I know that sometimes they are included, but I hadn't seen a poem in a noir collection. There is one here titled Mock Heart. It's noir as a dream, with angst, longing and twisted desire. It was written by Jill Biaolosky, a poet, novelist and author of two memoirs.

The Fallen is a tale of two people. One is a woman whose jealousy has driven a wedge between her and her partner. The other is a predator, a killer. Their paths run separately during most of the story. But a chance encounter proves deadly. This is a solid noir tale written by Thrity Umrigar, whose nine novels include the Reese Book Club pick, Honor.

The Ultimate Cure is a fun story that has elements that might make you think of Strangers On A Train or Double Indemnity. Roxanne meets Warren at a bar. The relationship moves fast and then Warren soon makes overtures about getting rid of his soon-to-be ex-wife. But things aren't quite what they seem to be. Michael Ruhlman is the writer of this twisty story. His writing credentials include fiction, non-fiction, memoirs, and cookbooks. And he was the co-editor of this collection.

A washed-up old rock star is the central character of the final story in Cleveland Noir. Lenny, But Not Corky is narrated by Anders, who is giving an interview to a newspaper reporter. The interview centers around Alex, who by happenstance became a fringe member of the rock-n-roll scene. But as the interview continues, there is just something below the surface that could explode things. This is a great story that provides a cool rocker tone mixed with subtle noir. Daniel Stashhower wrote this story. He is a three-time Edgar winner whose recent books include one about a manhunt conducted by Elliott Ness.

Akashic Books has done well with this new volume of their Noir series. Cleveland Noir has ghosts, cops, private detectives, thieves, and sports writers among the cast of interesting characters. The stories are solidly written and present a good cross-section of what today's noir is made up of.

Cleveland Noir will be available on August 1 st . 2023.

To find out more about Cleveland Noir, or to possibly order your copy, visit https://www.akashicbooks.com/

Back to the BVS Reviews Main Menu

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________