Cover of Richmond Noir

Richmond Noir

The River City emerges as a hot spot for unseemly noir.

Brand-new stories by: Dean King, Laura Browder, Howard Owen, Yazmina Beverly, Tom De Haven, X.C. Atkins, Meagan J. Saunders, Anne Thomas Soffee, Clint McCown, Conrad Ashley Persons, Clay McLeod Chapman, Pir Rothenberg, David L. Robbins, Hermine Pinson, and Dennis Danvers.

Read more

FROM THE INTRODUCTION TO RICHMOND NOIR:

"In The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, Henry Miller tosses off a hard-bitten assessment of the City on the James: 'I would rather die in Richmond somehow,' he writes, 'though God knows Richmond has little enough to offer.' As editors, we like the dying part, and might point out that in its long history, Richmond, Virginia has offered up many of the disparate elements crucial to meaty noir. The city was born amid deception, conspiracy, and violence . . .

"These days, Richmond is a city of winter balls and garden parties on soft summer evenings, a city of private clubs where white-haired old gentlemen, with their martinis or mint juleps in hand, still genuflect in front of portraits of Robert E. Lee. It's also a city of brutal crime scenes and drug corners and okay-everybody-go-on-home-there's-nothing-more-to-see. It's a city of world-class ad agencies and law firms, a city of the FFV (First Families of Virginia) and a city of immigrants—from India, Vietnam, and Africa to Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. It's a city of finicky manners (you mustn't ever sneeze publicly in Richmond) and old-time neighborliness, and it's a city where you think twice about giving somebody the finger if they cut you off on the Powhite Parkway (that's pronounced Pow-hite, not Po-white, thank you very much) because you might get your head blown off by the shotgun on the rack . . ."

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 290 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Richmond Noir? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Richmond Noir. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Orange County Noir Shares short stories, mystery, noir
  2. San Francisco Noir Shares short stories, mystery, noir
  3. Las Vegas Noir Shares short stories, noir, mystery
  4. Indian Country Noir Shares short stories, fiction, mystery

“People who read Richmond Noir tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Cape Cod Noir
  2. Seattle Noir
  3. D.C. Noir 2: The Classics
  4. New Jersey Noir

“If you want more of the same (mystery), start with these.”

  1. Haunting Rachel
  2. Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives: Stories from the Trailblazers of Domestic Suspense
  3. Staten Island Noir
  4. The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman: A Short Story

“If it was the short stories that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Dallas Noir
  2. The Best American Mystery Stories 2004
  3. Chicago Noir: The Classics
  4. Skin

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Providence Noir
  2. New Orleans Noir: The Classics
  3. Belfast Noir
  4. Oakland Noir