I found this good-condition trade paperback at Savers, and was intrigued - it's a noir anthology themed on a Richmond, Virginia setting. Some stories focus on historical events or characters - one's even set in the 1800s - while others deal with modern concerns, including some heart-wrenching situations.

I found all the stories compelling, with some more memorable than others; among my favorites:

Pir Rothenberg's "The Rose Red Vial," which deals with an ardent fan of Poe memorabilia, and the young woman who seems smitten with a vial of perfume allegedly given by Poe to his young wife. This one gets very twisty early on.

"Homework" by David L. Robbins is a disturbing tale of a man who's very much down on his luck, and after dwelling on one of the few positive memories from his childhood, chooses to commit a crime against the one person who was good to him. One of the passages here got to me: "In every life, at some point, we can't predict when, a snapshot goes off, and there you stay. I'm seventy-seven years old now, but inside I'm just fourteen. You, I can tell, you're still nine. You still hurt." I've had that "I'm still the same person I was at 13" feeling myself, though I hope that isn't a bad thing {wry grin}.

Dennis Danvers' "Texas Beach" deals with the death of an illegal migrant worker, which the finder of the body pursues well past the point of comfort for the man's friends - not to mention the wealthy landowner who may have been responsible.

"The Fall Lines" by Dean King (whose Skeletons on the Zahara I've been reading) is set in the early 1800s against the backdrop of the treason trial of Aaron Burr.

"Midnight at the Oasis" by Anne Thomas Soffee is perhaps my favorite story here, in part because it has one of the more upbeat endings (which is tricky, with a noir story!). It's about a woman who's very much in trouble, owing lots of money to a crack dealer and with no chance of finding it. And then, while cleaning out a trailer as a part-time job, she comes across finger-cymbals and other paraphernalia from a previous owner - and begins to have dreams urging her to use them... Cue a successful foray into belly-dancing, though it isn't enough to clear her debt - what to do? I really enjoyed this one.

"The Apprentice" by Clint McCown is a darkly funny tale of a not-all-there guy who's been given a lot of make-work jobs to keep him out of trouble. [The story's told from his point of view, where we make out varying degrees of delusion, but for all that he seems to be well-intentioned enough.] When a co-worker at the cemetery-maintenance job (they're working to shore up the crumbling edges of a historic cemetery, where several former Presidents lie) gets in trouble for fooling around with the boss's wife, he decides to use our poor narrator to get revenge - by tricking him into using the heavy equipment to open the grave of Confederate president Jefferson Davis, where he claims a great treasure is hidden... Things - do not go well!

I'm sending this in a box of books to BCer bookczuk in South Carolina, to help stock a new book-swap shelf - or to be used as desired! Enjoy!

*** Released for the 2014 E-less Challenge, for books with no "E" in the title. ***

This book is an inaugural addition to the book exchange at The Bristol, here in Charleston, SC. It was sent by GoryDetails and received with much gratitude. The lure of Noir might be too much to resist a quick read before releasing, though!

I love mysteries. I love noir. I'm just not a short story fan. Despite that, I gave this a good try, ultimately skipping through to read the ones GoryDetails highlighted. The Red Rose Vial and Midnight at the Oasis were ultimately my favorites (and yes, I am a Poe fan and belly-dance). Still, I think this series is an interesting project, and I suspect each volume holds great delight for people more familiar with the cities involved than I am with Richmond (which I know mainly through reading or driving through on I-95). Off to the bookshelf today!

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