Hamburg Noir [Paperback]

This is a solid . . . collection of dark tales written around the German city of Hamburg . . . You may not have heard of most or even any of these writers but most assuredly you will remember their tales of Hamburg long after you close the covers of this engrossing assortment of their talents. Even the supposedly most beautiful city in the world has its dark sides. This well-edited anthology impressively shows them in literary form. Powerful stories: Hamburg from below. Hamburg, the metropolis on the River Elbe, has always been an important trading city, a gateway to the world, a center for musicals, and a tourist magnet. But there are other sides to Hamburg [and] the editor of this volume shows this in his fourteen short stories by renowned authors . . . These are short crime stories, but they are also character and milieu studies, masterfully and pointedly told, despite and precisely because of their brevity, and they cast a spotlight on Hamburgs dark side. Absolutely worth reading, even if you dont live on the Alster, and therefore recommended to all readers. Fourteen new stories emphasize the contrast between Hamburg as a home for the affluent and a place for the stranded . . . Hamburg certainly deserves a noir to call its own, and Karsten is clearly happy to provide one. [A] vivid and memorable portrait of Hamburgs seedy past and present. Hold the eggnog: What you need is a draft of 'edgy fatalism and sexy recklessness,' of flashy crime, gallows humor, and 'desperate deals with a variety of devils,' served up every year since 2004 by the editors of Akashic Books' brilliant noir anthologies. From Brooklyn to Boston, from Phoenix to pre- and post-Katrina New Orleans, each volume in the series reveals a city's distinctive inner darkness. Over the past few years, some of the best collections of short stories have been the Noir anthologies published by Akashic . . . To me, these collections are total gems, a quality read from some of today's best authlĠ