I’ve just finished reading a collection of short fiction entitled, Miami Noir, edited by Les Standiford. Sixteen excellent fiction writers contributed their stories, all set in Miami.  It is part of the Akashic Books Noir Series, and reading this one stirred a desire to read the others in the series. I think I’ll move on to the Dublin Noir collection next. You can see all the titles in this series here: http://www.akashicbooks.com/noirseries.htm.

I discovered this book on John Dufresne’s blog. Dufresne is a favorite writer of mine. I found it well worth my time.  As Standiford points out, “Miami is fertile territory for writers who write well and truly of crime and violence and of the dark side of the human condition.” Quoting Hugo, he says the city is the natural place for writers on the edge. As always, when I read good fiction, I learned more than I intended to. There are so many wonderful phrases in the collection, but here are a couple that particularly caught my fancy:

In “Noir Boudoir” by Lynne Barrett, the narrator says, “Here, I got interested in life’s cast-off paper, and started to buy and sell and learn the worth of the worthless” (294).

John Bond’s narrator in “T-Bird” says, “Poker players make fast decisions, always on incomplete information . . .” (242).

If you like good fiction, I would recommend this collection.