San Diego Noir

Edited by Maryelizabeth Hart. Akashic, $15.95 trade paper (300p) ISBN 978-1-936070-94-7

San Diego, Calif., calls itself "America's Finest City," but apparently it's not "America's Finest City for Noir Fiction," if this uneven anthology is any guide. Perhaps the best entry is T. Jefferson Parker's character-driven "Vic Primeval," about a stripper/hooker and the poor sap who falls for her. Another standout is Don Winslow's "After Thirty," about a "hard case," sailor Charlie Decker, on leave in San Diego in the closing days of WWII. The characters feel real, and the story has a neat, ironic twist at the end. Also notable is Cameron Pierce Hughes's "Moving Black Objects," a grungy exploration of San Diego's underside by a character who will surprise the reader. But most of these 15 stories are subpar, with too much local color and too little plot—and not nearly enough of a noir sensibility. (June)

Reviewed on: 04/11/2011

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