What is Pittsburgh Noir about?
Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book.
Brand-new stories by: Stewart O’Nan, Hilary Masters, Lila Shaara, Rebecca Drake, Kathleen George, Paul Lee, K. C. Constantine, Nancy Martin, Kathryn Miller Haines, Terrance Hayes, Carlos Delgado, Aubrey Hirsch, Tom Lipinski, and Reginald McKnight.
From the introduction by Kathleen George:
“When the steel business faltered and died, ‘the smoky city’ reinvented itself as a white-collar urban site, fueled by its thriving universities. It had been a place so dark with pollution in the steel days that men carried clean shirts with them to work in order to change during the day. Now you can see the hills, the rivers, the rhythmic skyline—and as the cameras are fond of displaying at sports events, the city is now glittering and beautiful . . .
What is Pittsburgh to noir and noir to Pittsburgh? We certainly have our rough streets and grisly murders. But dark crime stories depend on something in addition to killing. The best examples of the genre revolve around private moralities and private law; they are the stories of people pushing against real or imagined oppression. In Pittsburgh Noir, as in most of the novels and films that gave the genre its name, the real story is the dark underbelly of existence, the fear and guilt and rebellion and denial in regular people: the woman buying groceries, the man grilling hot dogs. Their secret lives.“
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part I: Prime Real Estate
“Atom Smasher” by Lila Shaara (Forest Hills)
“Still Air” by Terrance Hayes (East Liberty)
“Duplex” by Steward O’Nan (Bloomfield)
Part II: Three Rivers
“Pray for Rain” by Nancy Martin (Highland Park)
“A Minor Extinction” by Paul Lee (Carrick)
“When Johnny Came Shuffling Home” by K.C. Constantine (McKees Rocks)
Part III: Universities, Park, Recreation
“Intruder” by Kathleen George (Schenley Farms)
“Loaded” by Rebecca Drake (Fox Chapel)
“Far Beneath” by Carlos Antonio Delgado (Morningside)
Part IV: Neighbors Who Care
“At the Buena Vista” by Hilary Masters (Mexican War Streets)
“Homecoming” by Kathryn Miller Haines (Wilkinsburg)
“Cheater” by Aubrey Hirsch (Squirrel Hill)
“Key Drop” by Tom Lipinski (Lawrenceville)
“Overheard” by Reginald McKnight (Homewood)