The Best American Noir of the Century [Paperback]

Calling your collection "The Best American Noir of the Century" takes major guts. Creating a collection that spans more than 700 pages takes .44-caliber cojones. Thankfully, James Ellroy and Otto Penzler were up to the task. "Noir" is, in a word, fantastic. The collected stories are arranged chronologically, beginning with a 1923 piece from Tod Robbins (whose story was the inspiration for Tod Browning's classic horror film FREAKS), and ending with a 2007 entry from Lorenzo Carcaterra. There is a strong emphasis on recent noir (the 30s get one entry, the 60s and 70s two), but everything ultimately balances out, and you'll have a hard time telling which stories come from which decades (except for the fact that they're clearly labeled as such).

Many of the expected names are here: Ellroy himself; James M. Cain; Mickey Spillane; Patricia Highsmith; James Lee Burke; Dennis Lehane; Joyce Carol Oates (who manages to appear in every collection of every genre, somehow); Lawrence Block; Elmore Leonard. We get a nice little horror story from David Morell, a sci-fi story from Harlan Ellison, and a straight-noir piece from horror author Ed Gorman. If this sounds like an eclectic collection (and it is), that's because Ellroy and Penzler are working from a certain definition of noir. They draw a distinct line between "noir" and "detective" fiction, insisting that noir's Hollywood counterpart (film noir) isn't representative of the literature itself (thus, no Dashiell Hammett). It still leaves enough room for pieces that push the boundary, though, and the result is a collection aimed to please. These are hard-hitting stories that star characters with few redeeming features; these stories are dark and twisted, violent and obsessive. They'll scare you, they'll thrill you, they'll make you want to take a shower. "The Best American Noir of the Century" may be a debatable title, but no one can argue that this isn't at least SOME of the best noir America has created.

This anthology has taken me over a week to complete. With 39 writers and stories all who share the same qualities of noir storytelling. This anthology is not for the squeamish or easily frightened. It is for those of us who enjoy taking a short visit on the dark side of humanity but will always return to the light.

39 stories in this anthology are unique and could be even expanded to novel format. They have inspired films and television programming. The authors are listed below with the year of the story's publication, the title, and my own personal comments without it sounding like a summary. I do believe that if you are an avid reader that you will find this anthology to both fascinating and frightening all at once.

Author Year Title Comments

Tod Robbins: 1923 Spurs An interesting tale that inspired the film, Freaks, about a midget and his lady love and unhappily ever after.

James M. Cain: 1928 Pastorale Interesting but I need to read it a few times to get the gist of it.
Steve Fisher: 1938 You'll Always Remember Me-It's dark, entertaining, and there's a twist that you didn't see coming. Classic Noir.

Mackinlay Kantor: 1940 Gun Crazy Okay but not great.
Day Keene: 1945 Nothing to Worry About: The not-so perfect murder and a twist that you didn't see until the end.

Dorothy B. Hughes: 1946: The Homecoming: It's okay.

Howard Browne: 1952: Man in the Dark: Interesting and has some twists that you couldn't imagine.
Mickey Spillane: 1953: The Lady Says Die!: It's okay but not that interesting.
David Goodis: 1953: Professional Man: Fascinating Tale about Freddy Lamb, the ordinary guy, and Pearl.
Charles Beaumont: 1955: The Hunger: It's okay but ends before it reaches a climax.

Gil Brewer: 1956: The Gesture: A trapped couple in an unhappy marriage.
Evan Hunter: 1956: The Last Spin: It's not that great but very short.

Jim Thompson: 1960: Forever After: A new spin on the afterlife.
Cornell Woolrich: 1968: For The Rest of Her Life: It's okay for the most part.

David Morrell: 1972: The Dripping: A Short horrifying tale! One of the best in this book.
Patricia Highsmith: 1979: Slowly, Slowly In the Wind: The Queen of American Noir's personal favorite short story. It's doesn't have a happy ending of course.

Stephen Greenleaf: 1984: Iris: Sad tale about black market babies but one of the best stories in this book.

Brendan DuBois: 1987: A Ticket Out: A cautionary tale about trying to get out of small town Americana with tragic results.

James Ellroy: 1988: Since I Don't Have You: A contributor and author who specializes about the dark nature of tinseltown in all of his works. He has a short story worthy of reading for all Ellroy fans out there.

James Lee Burke: 1991: Texas City 1947: Another tale about child abuse in a small town and an unforgettable nun named Sister Roberta.

Harlan Ellison: 1993: Mefisto in Onyx: A great noir short story classic The relationship between the killer and the psychic is not what it seems to the reader. A noir classic! Worth reading!

Ed Gorman: 1995: Out There in the Darkness: Inspired the book and film, "The Poker Club." A noir classic!

James Crumley 1996: Hot Springs: It's a hit or miss story for me. I didn't care for it.
Jeffrey Deaver: 1996: The Weekender: A twisted weekend resident in a country town causes more problems than he's worth. Classic noir!

Joyce Carol Oates: 1997: Faithless: a surprisingly dark tale about a minister and his estranged wife. Classic Noir!
Tom Franklin: 1998: Poachers: Okay story but not great!
Lawrence Block: 1998: Like a Bone in the Throat: a classic noir story about a victim's brother and his sister's brutal killer/rapist from the trial to a death.

James W. Hall: 1999: Crack: A voyeuristic story reaches almost classic noir status.
Dennis LeHane: 1999: Running Out of Dog: A story about post-traumatic stress syndrome from a Vietnam vet. Interesting but not a personal favorite of mine.

William Gay: 2000: The Paperhanger: I didn't get it overall.
F.X. Toole: 2001: Midnight Emissions: a boxing tale from the author of "Million Dollar Baby." Okay but not great.

Elmore Leonard: 2002: When The Women Come Out to Dance: A good short story about an unhappy marriage in Florida.

Scott Wolven: 2002: An interesting tale about a man who takes another identity.
Christopher Coake: 2003: All Through the House: One of the best noir stories that I have read in this anthology. Perhaps, one of the best stories written anywhere. Clear, concise, classic noir. It could make a brilliant novel.

Thomas H. Cook: 2005: What She Offered: An odd tale about Veronica and an author in NYC.
Andrew Klavan: 2005: Her Lord and Master: a kinky relationship between two NYC professionals ends tragically.

Chris Adrian: 2006: Stab: a strange story about children's deadly path of destruction.
Bradford Morrow: 2006: The Hoarder: I didn't care for it.
Lorenzo Carcaterra: 2007: Missing the Morning Bus: Another short story that's okay but not great.

"The Best American Noir of the Century" is a collection of 39 short stories selected by author James Ellroy and Otto Penzler, who is also the series editor of "The Best American Mystery Stories". The stories were written 1923-2007, so I'm not sure which century the title refers to. Later decades are represented more heavily, which may disappoint some readers. Only 9 stories were written before 1955, during the peak years of hard-boiled fiction. There are 10 stories each from the 1990s and 2000s. I don't know if the sparse selection from the hard-boiled genre's strongest years is due to copyright issues or the editors' wish to promote newer material.

Casual readers may be surprised to find that no stories by Dashiell Hammett are included. He is, after all, the father of hard-boiled fiction whose Continental Op stories are still widely read. Otto Penzler explains in his foreword that he considers private detective fiction and "noir" fiction to have "mutually exclusive philosophical premises". In short, private detectives are too heroic, insufficiently flawed, and their vision of the universe not pessimistic enough for "noir". I don't think that dichotomy holds much water, myself. A principled detective can function in a fundamentally disordered universe, and there are plenty of fictional PIs who succumb to their baser impulses, in any case.

But they're excluded from this "noir" collection. The stories that are included are probably best described as having dark themes. Given Penzler's criteria, it's surprising to note that relatively few stories take place in a fundamentally disordered universe, and there are plenty in which the protagonist is acting as a detective. I would even venture to say that some are morality plays. Several stories that were written in later years take place in the 1940s. There are femme fatales and plenty of cruel ironies. The quality is generally solid and occasionally exceptional. There is a lot of good material here for readers who like their humor mocking and their cultures irredeemable.

Some familiar names whose stories are included are: James M. Cain, Steve Fisher, Mickey Spillaine, David Goodis, Jim Thompson, Patricia Highsmith, James Ellroy, Harlan Ellison, Joyce Carol Oates, Dennis Lehane, and Elmore Leonard. MacKinlay Kantor's 1940 story "Gun Crazy" is here. It's focus is different than the superb 1949 film noir of the same name, but it's very good. "Noir", as in "Série noire", was applied to fiction before film, by the way. It was (and is) a line of hard-boiled crime fiction. There seems little point in academics muddying the definition. In his bold introduction, James Ellroy says that "noir will never die -it's too dementedly funny not to flourish..." I like his attitude.