Los Angeles Noir 2: The Classics »

Denise Hamilton writes the Eve Diamond series. Her books have been shortlisted for the Edgar, Macavity, Anthony and Willa Cather awards. The Los Angeles Times named 'Last Lullaby' a 'Best Book of 2004' and it was also a USA Today Summer Pick and a finalist for a Southern California Booksellers Association 2004 award.'

The sequel to Los Angeles Noir, an award-winning Los Angeles Times bestseller.

Publishers Weekly

Like Manhattan Noir 2 and other previous “classics” entries in Akashic’s noir series, this entry, with its high-quality stories from such genre masters as Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain, outshines the typical all-original anthology in the series. Hamilton has been wise to select lesser-known works by legendary writers, guaranteeing that the volume will appeal both to fans unfamiliar with the stories and readers new to their hard-edged prose. The two best come from the pens of husband and wife Ross Macdonald and Margaret Millar. Macdonald’s Lew Archer looks into an actress’s disappearance in his taut “Find the Woman,” while Millar’s “The People Across the Canyon,” about a young girl who forms an unhealthy attachment to some new neighbors, offers an unconventional look at the darkness in the human soul. With the exception of Walter Mosley’s “Crimson Shadow,” the tales in the final “modern” section fall short by comparison. (Apr.)