Boston Noir 2: The Classics

Dennis Lehane returns to coedit, with Cotton & Clarke, the sequel to the best-selling evergreen anthology Boston Noir, culling classic stories from the city’s dark literary legacy.

“The contributor list is delightfully quirky . . . The collection’s unifying element is a deep understanding of Boston’s Byzantine worlds of race and class—as seen terrifyingly in Andre Dubus’s tale of mill town resentment and pampered preppies.” —Boston Globe

Featuring stories by: Linda Barnes, Jason Brown, Andre Dubus, Chuck Hogan, George Harrar, George V. Higgins, Dennis Lehane, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert B. Parker, David Ryan, Kenneth Abel, Barbara Neely, Hannah Tinti, and David Foster Wallace.

From the introduction by Jaime Clarke, Mary Cotton, & Dennis Lehane:

“What is noir and what is not inhabits a gray area. Its definition is continually expanding from the previous generation’s agreed-upon notion that noir involves men in fedoras smoking cigarettes on street corners. Noir alludes to crime, sure, but it also evokes bleak elements, danger, tragedy, sleaze, all of which is best represented by its root French definition: black. We used this idea as our guide for this sequel to the best-selling Boston Noir anthology . . .

“The commonwealth is an endless source of fascinating landscapes: the autumnal light spreading across the Charles River; the ice floes in the wintry Boston Harbor; a spring air tantalizing leaves in Harvard Yard; the salty taste of summer as sunbathers peer into the horizon, shielding their eyes from the glare, squinting into the middle distance. Beyond the postcard fabric, though, lies a community populated by broken families, criminal minds, voyeurs, and outsiders. They look like you and me. These are their stories.”

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Unlike the first Boston Noir (2009)—and, indeed, unlike the Noir series as a whole—this collection features crime stories that have already been published. But that’s OK when you have the likes of Chuck Hogan, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert B. Parker, Linda Barnes, George V. Higgins, Dennis Lehane, and David Foster Wallace all under the same roof. Parker’s “Surrogate,” from 1982, offers Spenser fans a very early look at their favorite Boston PI; an excerpt from Infinite Jest, Wallace’s 1996 novel set in an ironic near future, should send readers to the library to either read or reread the whole book; Barnes’ “Lucky Penny” offers readers the debut appearance of fan favorite Carlotta Carlyle; and the outstanding stories from Lehane and Hogan are each worth the price of admission all by themselves. Followers of Akashic’s long-running Noir series—not to mention, of course, fans of Boston-set crime fiction—should eagerly devour this one. –David Pitt

Review

“This collection features crime stories that have already been published. But that’s OK when you have the likes of Chuck Hogan, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert B. Parker, Linda Barnes, George V. Higgins, Dennis Lehane, and David Foster Wallace all under the same roof . . . Followers of Akashic’s long-running Noir series―not to mention, of course, fans of Boston-set crime fiction―should eagerly devour this one.”
― Booklist

“There are few gifts I enjoy more than a box of dark chocolates. The very best surprise me, each candy layered with unexpected delights that leave me hungry for more. The same may be said of Boston Noir 2. It’s a collection of dark short stories by names you know, set in places familiar to Bostonians.”
― Patriot Ledger

“In a bloody tribute to this great city, Lehane and company have resurrected several out-of-print classics and pushed the meaning of noir into peculiar places . . . For those unfamiliar with Greater Boston and its literary heritage, Boston Noir 2: the Classics is a great place to start.”
― Chicago Center for Literature and Photography

“Akashic Books is this edgy press that you may or may not have heard of . . . Their noir series is sure to please fans of noir, and I recommend picking up one of the many titles, perhaps beginning with Boston Noir 2: The Classics . . . with contributors like David Foster Wallace, Joyce Carol Oates and Andre Dubus, how can you go wrong with Boston Noir 2: The Classics?”
― Sacramento Press

“14 superior selections in this ‘classics’ volume in Akashic’s series of regional dark crime short stories, the works of established writers that have stood the test of time.”
― Publishers Weekly

About the Author

DENNIS LEHANE is the author of the Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro mystery series (A Drink before the War; Darkness, Take My Hand; Sacred; Gone, Baby, Gone; Prayers for Rain; and Moonlight Mile), as well as Coronado (five stories and a play) and the award-winning novels Mystic River, Shutter Island, and The Given Day. Mystic River, Shutter Island, and Gone, Baby, Gone have been made into award-winning films. He is the editor of Boston Noir and coeditor of Boston Noir 2: The Classics.