South Central Noir [Paperback]

This collection of noir short stories is a perfect introduction to the crime fiction genre and an unrelenting tour of one of LAs most iconic neighborhoods from the Watts Towers to the Holiday Bowl to the Dunbar Hotel. South Central is hardly a monolith; these stories are set all over South Los Angeles. What they share is a deep sense of place, or maybe we should say: of what came before . . . This is noir as mirror. This is noir as lens. This is work that enlarges our sense of what noir is and what it does. The 14 tales in this strong entry in Akashics noir series focus on the robust past and present of one of the most notorious areas not just in Southern California but the country . . . Phillips and his contributors dig deep, presenting a rich tapestry of stories varied in tone and perspective.