Manhattan Noir 2: The Classics » (Reprint)

Lawrence Block has won most of the major mystery awards, and has been called the quintessential New York writer, although he insists the city's far too big to have a quintessential writer. His series characters-Matthew Scudder, Bernie Rhodenbarr, Evan Tanner, Chip Harrison, and Keller-all live in Manhattan; like their creator, they would not really be happy anywhere else.

Following the commercial success of the original Manhattan Noir, mystery titan Lawrence Block digs even deeper into New York's noir legacy.

Publishers Weekly

While Akashic's original city-themed anthologies tend to be hit or miss, its third reprint volume (after Brooklyn Noir 2 and D.C. Noir 2) offers 17 sure winners by such literary heavyweights as Edith Wharton, Stephen Crane, O. Henry, Damon Runyon, Donald E. Westlake and Joyce Carol Oates. The tales range in time from 1891 to 2008, giving the book a variety some others in the series have lacked. Block makes a persuasive case in his introduction for including Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven," written in 1845 on what would become Manhattan's Upper West Side, as well as poetic selections by Horace Gregory and Geoffrey Bartholomew, whose works are set respectively in a Chelsea rooming house and McSorley's bar in the East Village. If one had to choose the single story that epitomizes noir, the honors would go to Cornell Woolrich's "New York Blues," a bleak tale of love and loneliness, madness and death. (Sept.)

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Introduction 11

Pt. I The Old School

Mrs. Manstey's View Edith Wharton Wharton, Edith 23

A Poker Game Stephen Crane Crane, Stephen 37

The Furnished Room O. Henry Henry, O. 41

Spanish Blood Langston Hughes Hughes, Langston 50

Sailor off the Bremen Irwin Shaw Shaw, Irwin 60

My Aunt from Twelfth Street Jerome Weidman Weidman, Jerome 73

Johnny One-Eye Damon Runyon Runyon, Damon 79

The Last Spin Evan Hunter Hunter, Evan 96

New York Blues Cornell Woolrich Woolrich, Cornell 107

Pt. II The Poets

The Raven Edgar Allan Poe Poe, Edgar Allan 143

Selections from Chelsea Rooming House Horace Gregory Gregory, Horace 150

Selections from The McSorley Poems Geoffrey Bartholomew Bartholomew, Geoffrey 156

Pt. III Darkness Visible

The Luger Is a 9mm Automatic Jerrold Mundis Mundis, Jerrold 167

Handgun with a Parabellum Action Jerrold Mundis Mundis, Jerrold

The Interceptor Barry N. Malzberg Malzberg, Barry N. 178

Crowded Lives Clark Howard Howard, Clark 192

Young Isaac Jerome Charyn Charyn, Jerome 210

Love in the Lean 'Years Donald E. Westlake Westlake, Donald E. 221

A Manhattan Romance Joyce Carol Oates Oates, Joyce Carol 232

In for a Penny Lawrence Block Block, Lawrence 248

Two Over Easy Susan Isaacs Isaacs, Susan 257