Category Archives: Noir-esque fiction

New Orleans Noir The Classics – edited by Julie Smith

Posted on February 29, 2016 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “A hurricane is supposed to have a beginning and an end. It tears the earth up, fills the air with fling trees and bricks and animals and sometimes even people, make you roll up into a … Continue reading →

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Memphis Noir – Laureen Cantwell and Leonard Gill (Editors)

Posted on November 19, 2015 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “He played his trumpet for her, blew it soft so it rolled around her curves, pushed all that suede the wrong way and then smoothed it over again. And she sang for him, hummed at first … Continue reading →

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Run Baby Run – Michael Allen Zell

Posted on November 14, 2015 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “He’d been in two worlds his whole life. His tender spot. What gave him perspective and experience beyond most people. It was also what could wound him to the quick like nothing else. Why he lived … Continue reading →

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Calling out to all Alfred Hitchcock fans!

Posted on October 21, 2015 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by J.D. Jung) From the UnderratedReads archives – What You See in the Dark  by Manuel Muñoz “The woman had to live before she could die…Even if it was the vulgarity of real life—the needs and the mistakes, but also the … Continue reading →

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Fatale – Jean-Patrick Manchette, Afterword by Jean Echenoz, (Translated from the French by Donald Nicholson-Smith)

Posted on June 2, 2015 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) ” I don’t tell them I’m a killer. I’m a woman, and they wouldn’t take me seriously. I tell them that I know a killer. Sometimes I let them assume that he is my lover. That … Continue reading →

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In Love – Alfred Hayes (with Introduction by Frederic Raphael)

Posted on February 14, 2015 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “The sense of well-being which had flooded through me as I sat at the table and thought of not having now the burden of another’s life on me had almost entirely vanished, and the humiliation of … Continue reading →

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Errata – Michael Allen Zell

Posted on May 11, 2014 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “New Orleans seems to exist as a blank slate for outsiders to grasp and cast their own aspirations, pretenses, and prejudices upon. A few of the outsiders always end up lingering, holding fast, and adding to … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Modern Literary Fiction, Noir-esque fiction, Our Best | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Busted Valentines and Other Dark Delights – Frank De Blase

Posted on March 16, 2014 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by JD Jung) “‘Twas the night before the night before Christmas and Jack Frost was pissed.” That’s the intro to my favorite story, “The Night Before the Night Before Christmas” in Busted Valentines and Other Dark Delights. But what … Continue reading →

Posted in Modern Literary Fiction, Noir-esque fiction, Short stories | 2 Comments

The Clock – Kenneth Fearing (Introduction by Nicholas Christopher)

Posted on September 7, 2012 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by J.D. Jung) Everyone adjusts their life to the big clock; sometimes it races forward, sometimes it moves backward. It impersonally reaches for some, and forgets others. George Stroud is one who it reaches for, but fortunately misses. Stroud, a married … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime, Mystery and Thrillers, Lost and almost forgotten, Noir-esque fiction, Our Best | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

What You See in the Dark – Manuel Muñoz

Posted on July 2, 2012 by J D Jung

(Reviewed by J.D. Jung) “The woman had to live before she could die…Even if it was the vulgarity of real life—the needs and the mistakes, but also the desire to correct them, the effort toward a forgiveness of herself. A … Continue reading →

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