Tampa Bay Noir

by Colette Bancroft

Overview

Tampa Bay joins Miami in representing the (alleged) Sunshine State in the Noir Series arena.

“Fifteen tales that reveal the dark side of sunny Tampa Bay.” —Kirkus Reviews

Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all new stories, each one set in a distinct location within the geographic area of the book.

Brand-new stories by: Michael Connelly, Lori Roy, Ace Atkins, Karen Brown, Tim Dorsey, Lisa Unger, Sterling Watson, Luis Castillo, Sarah Gerard, Danny López, Ladee Hubbard, Gale Massey, Yuly Restrepo Garcés, Eliot Schrefer, and Colette Bancroft.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617759512
Publisher:	Akashic Books, Ltd.
Publication date:	08/04/2020
Series:	Akashic Noir Series
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

COLETTE BANCROFT has been the book editor at the Tampa Bay Times since 2007. In addition to writing reviews and interviewing authors, she directs the annual Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading. She served two terms on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. Bancroft earned degrees in English from the University of South Florida and the University of Florida, and she wishes she had finished her dissertation on the novels of Raymond Chandler.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: Suburb Sinister

“The Guardian” by Michael Connelly (Hyde Park)

“Chum in the Water” by Lori Roy (Tierra Verde)

“I Get the Same Old Feeling” by Karen Brown (Davis Islands)

“Triggerfish Lane” by Tim Dorsey (Palma Ceia)

Part II: Blood in the Water

“Only You” by Lisa Unger (Clearwater Beach)

“Extraordinary Things” by Sterling Watson (Pass-a-Grille)

“Local Waters” by Luis Castillo (Indian Rocks Beach)

Part III: Grifters’ Paradise

“Tall, Dark, and Handsome” by Ace Atkins (Westshore)

“The Midnight Preacher” by Sarah Gerard (34th Street)

“Jackknife” by Danny López (Gibsonton)

Part IV: Family Secrets

“It’s Not Locked Because It Don’t Lock” by Ladee Hubbard (Lake Maggiore)

“Marked” by Gale Massey (Pinellas Park)

“Pablo Escobar” by Yuly Restrepo Garcés (Largo)

“Wings Beating” by Eliot Schrefer (Safety Harbor)

“The Bite” by Colette Bancroft (Rattlesnake)

Editorial Reviews

"[A] lively collection of superior short stories."

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

"At last, the popular Akashic Noir series has adopted the Tampa Bay area . . . The notion of elevating place to the status of a character in a story, a frequent topic in writers workshops, works to maximum effect. The descriptive forays are full of observations that can only be gleaned by living here."

Tampa Bay Times

"Every classic mystery-fiction theme is represented here—murder, fraud, love, sex, money—and, overall, the writing is top quality. Lovers of short crime fiction should eat this one up."

Booklist Online

06/01/2020

Bland varieties of domestic and sexual abuse, hate crimes, lost loves, and past dalliances that come home to roost in the form of revenge murders mark many of the 15 entries in this routine Akashic noir anthology centered on Tampa Bay, Fla. In one of the volume’s better tales, Michael Connelly’s intriguing “The Guardian,” an artist summons retired LAPD homicide detective Hieronymus Bosch, an ex-lover of hers, to investigate the theft of one of her most valuable paintings. The clueless house-flipper in Lori Roy’s “Chum in the Water,” the sex mad college professor in Karen Brown’s “I Get The Same Old Feeling,” and the cookie-cutter family of transplants meeting misfit neighbors in Tim Dorsey’s “Triggerfish Lane” all offer familiar victims of standard motives. Most stories fizzle out with reprehensible, unstable characters, predictable plots, and obvious solutions. This area of Florida may be a “native habitat” for “theft, debauchery, and violence,” as noted in the introduction, but readers should be prepared for a petri dish of noir lite. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"[Tampa Bay Noir] has a contributor list that includes a handful of bestselling crime novelists, but more importantly, the stories are pretty excellent, too."

Mystery Scene Magazine

"Akashic Books has long made a name for itself with an impressive string of award-winning original noir anthologies; thus, it is no surprise that its latest, Tampa Bay Noir, continues in that edgy, first-rate, compellingly dark tradition . . . All [stories] carry a punch and are worth reading. The collective impact rivals any full-length novel from the best of its many excellent authors for suspense and mystery."

Southern Literary Review

"These stories are so rich, detailed and engaging, that it’s hard to say one stands out over another. Each one offers its own dark seductive pleasure. And all embody what it's like to live—and perhaps die—in Paradise."
—Florida Book Review

"Akashic Books has long made a name for itself with an impressive string of award-winning original noir anthologies; thus, it is no surprise that its latest, Tampa Bay Noir, continues in that edgy, first-rate, compellingly dark tradition...All [stories] carry a punch and are worth reading. The collective impact rivals any full-length novel from the best of its many excellent authors for suspense and mystery."
—Southern Literary Review

"Every classic mystery-fiction theme is represented here—murder, fraud, love, sex, money—and, overall, the writing is top quality. Lovers of short crime fiction should eat this one up."
—Booklist

"Fifteen tales that reveal the dark side of sunny Tampa Bay."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Tampa Bay Noir is a strong addition to the Akashic Books noir short story collections. Its fifteen stories are largely atmospheric and dark, exactly what fans hope for when they pick up a new book in the series. Too, this one would be a great introduction to the books for those who are yet to discover them."
—Book Chase

From the Publisher

2020-06-03
Fifteen tales that reveal the dark side of sunny Tampa Bay.

Although editor Bancroft acknowledges that the “Florida Man” meme, which exposes the zany side of the Sunshine State, “found its ground zero around Tampa Bay,” only one story showcases South Florida’s loopier side: “Triggerfish Lane,” in which Tim Dorsey unleashes whack job Serge Storms on peaceful Palma Ceia. Apart from Serge’s brief suburban sojourn, Bancroft sticks to standard noir themes. A third of the stories are tales of lost love. Karen Brown’s “I Get the Same Old Feeling,” Lisa Unger’s “Only You,” and Sterling Watson’s “Extraordinary Things” feature lovers from the distant past whose reunions only bring grief. In Danny López’s “Jackknife,” a woman calls a recent ex-boyfriend to rescue her from a hurricane. And “The Guardian” summons Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch all the way from LA to locate a stolen painting for an ex-girlfriend. Ace Atkins documents a more recent romantic disaster in “Tall, Dark, and Handsome,” whose needy heroine gets taken in by a con man, and Lori Roy flips the script in “Chum in the Water,” whose house-flipper gets scammed by a pretty face. Domestic damage also features prominently. A teenager slowly decompensates after her parents are killed in a train wreck in Gail Massey’s “Marked.” A recent immigrant is befriended by a schoolmate whose family is beyond dysfunctional in Yuly Restrepo Garcés’ “Pablo Escobar.” A father uses a spa vacation to try to connect with his teenage son in Eliot Schrefer’s “Wings Beating.” Perhaps most disturbing of all is editor Bancroft’s “The Bite,” a child’s-eye view of a playmate’s mistreatment.

Nothing too edgy but solid noir.

Kirkus Reviews