Denver Noir brings this iconic series back to its roots in the mean streets of Everywhere, this time in Denver, Colorado. I am always intrigued when the Noir Series features a city from a place that has no noir tradition, where the invited writers are, in a way, inventing a new genre. But I love coming back to books edited and written by authors who understand noir in their bones. That is what puts Denver Noir near the top of my Noir list.

It’s not that Cynthia Swanson, the writer who edited Denver Noir, avoided risk-taking. She include a graphic (illustrated) short story by R. Allan Brooks, that was quite wonderful. I’ve only read a couple graphic novels and usually get tired by the format, but as a short story, it hits the sweet spot for me.

There are fourteen stories in three sections. The first section has stories from “the longest, wickedest street in America.” These are stories of people on the downside of power, struggling to  make ends meet, to live their lives with what dignity they can, and the grifters, cons, and miscreants that always, always kick down. The middle section is about the Colorado-ness of it all, they outdoors, the urban counterculture, the influx of people, gentrification, and surely the bleakest story of them all, “No Gods” that takes place one night at a local bar being forced out of business. The third part is innovative in that the focus is stories with youth. Editors find different ways of filters stories into sections, but I’ve read most in the Noir series, and I think this is the first time I’ve come across that focus. It worked. Sometimes I think our teen years are the most noir years of our lives, the uncertain future, the scramble to fit in, the hierarchies, and the lax permission structure for bullying. It’s great to see that captured.

I loved Denver Noir. Swanson did an excellent job of including diverse voices, not just ethnic  diversity, but also age, from young people to retirees, from the right and the wrong side of the law and the ambiguous who are neither. The stories are well-written, demonstrating the short story writers’ skills at saying a lot with a little.

I have probably become tedious in my admiration for and proselytizing about Akashic Noir books, but I remain as enthusiastic as ever. When I went to Spain in high school, my friend and I got lost in Cordoba with very little cash because the bank had closed and we couldn’t cash our travelers’ checks (long ago) we were wandering around looking for a place that looked cheap, got lost, and met two women who took us to a commissary for the Guardia Civil where our $3 between us bought a huge meal and the soldiers bought us lots of beer. We became friends with the women and the took us to the Mosque though it was closed for repairs, snuck in by a friendly guard. We went to Spanish Drivers’ Ed, taught by one of them. It was the best experience and the closest thing to “travel tourings” was our late night illicit tour of the Mosque. Akashic Noir is like that. It takes you to a place and shows you what is under the surface, what is not on postcards. And I love the series for that.

I received a copy of Denver Noir from the publisher through Shelf Awareness