San Francisco Noir 2: The Classics

Personally, I found this anthology great reading all the way through. I have a long history with SF, so that might help. True, the old classics are wonderful, but the excerpt from "Homeboy" alone ("Street Court") is worth the price of the book. Vollman's nightmarish "The Woman Who Laughed" is another standout from an author who is arguably the greatest living writer in the US. This surreal gem ironically captures the reality of the Tenderloin street. Joe Gores's take on the death penalty is tone-perfect, and persuasively argues that this barbaric holdover diminishes everyone. And it doesn't get any more "noir" than Fletcher Flora's 1953 story, "The Collector Comes After Payday," or Bill Pronzini's "Souls Burning." In general, this is an exceptionally strong collection in the "Noir" series, and that has a lot to do with the fact that, even today, SF is Noir City. Just look down any alleyway, in Chinatown, in the Mission, South of the Slot, the Tenderloin...its all there, and always has been.