Manhattan Noir 2

This collection is comprised of works of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors’ imaginations. Any resemblance to real events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published by Akashic Books | ©2008 Akashic Books

Series concept by Tim McLoughlin and Johnny Temple

Manhattan map by Sohrab Habibion

ISBN-13: 978-1-933354-57-6

e-isbn: 9781617752223

Library of Congress Control Number: 2008925934

All rights reserved | First printing

Akashic Books | PO Box 1456 | New York, NY 10009

[email protected] |
www.akashicbooks.com

Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint the stories and poems in this anthology. “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe was originally published in
New York Evening Mirror
(January 29, 1845); “Mrs. Manstey’s View” by Edith Wharton was originally published in
Scribner’s Magazine
(July 1891); “A Poker Game” by Stephen Crane was originally published in
Last Words
by Stephen Crane (London: Digby, Long & Co., 1902); “The Furnished Room” by O. Henry was originally published in
The Four Million
(New York: Doubleday, 1906); the selected poems by Horace Gregory were originally published in
Chelsea Rooming House
by Horace Gregory (New York: Covici-Friede, 1930); “Sailor off the Bremen” by Irwin Shaw was originally published in the
New Yorker
(February 25, 1939), © 1939 by Irwin Shaw; “The Luger Is a 9mm Handgun with a Parabellum Action” by Jerrold Mundis was originally published in
New Worlds
(March 1969), © 1969 by Jerrold Mundis; “New York Blues” by Cornell Woolrich was originally published in
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
(December 1970), © 1970 by Cornell Woolrich; “The Interceptor” by Barry N. Malzberg was originally published in
Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine
(August 1972), © 1972 by Barry N. Malzberg; “Crowded Lives” by Clark Howard was originally published in
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
(October 1989), © 1989 by Clark Howard; “Young Isaac” by Jerome Charyn was originally published in
The Armchair Detective
(Summer 1990), © 1990 by Jerome Charyn; “Love in the Lean Years,” by Donald E. Westlake was originally published in
Playboy
(February 1992), © 1992 by Donald E. Westlake; “A Manhattan Romance” by Joyce Carol Oates was originally published in
American Short Fiction
(Winter 1997), © 1997 by Joyce Carol Oates; “In for a Penny” by Lawrence Block was originally published in
Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
(December 1999), © 1999 by Lawrence Block; the selected poems by Geoffrey Bartholomew were originally published in
The McSorley Poems
by Geoffrey Bartholomew (New York: Charlton Street Press, 2001), © 2001 by Geoffrey Bartholomew.

T
ABLE OF
C
ONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

I
T’S
B
EEN
N
OIR
A
ROUND
H
ERE FOR
A
GES

M
anhattan Noir 2
. How did that happen?

Almost inevitably, it seems to me. Several years ago, Tim McLoughlin edited and Akashic Books published
Brooklyn Noir
. The book earned a warm reception from critics and readers, and spawned a series for the publisher that is rapidly taking over the world. Early on, I had the opportunity to turn the noir spotlight on my part of the world, the island of Manhattan. Because I had the good fortune to recruit some wonderful writers who sat down and wrote some wonderful stories,
Manhattan Noir
drew strong reviews and sold (and continues to sell) a gratifying number of copies.

Early on, Akashic expanded the franchise with
Brooklyn Noir 2: The Classics,
consisting of previously published stories. (I could hardly be unaware of the book, as Tim McLoughlin was gracious enough to reprint a story of mine, “By the Dawn’s Early Light.”) And this sequel, too, was very well received.

While I was editing
Manhattan Noir,
it struck me that Manhattan was a natural setting for noir material, not least because it had served that function ever since Peter Minuit’s celebrated $24 land grab. I thought of all the writers who’d found a home in Manhattan, and of the dark stories they’d set here, and one day I e-mailed Johnny Temple at Akashic to propose the very book you now hold in your hand. Johnny, it turned out, had already noted in his calendar:
Q Block re: Manhattan Noir sequel.
Great minds work alike, as you’ve no doubt been advised, and so do mine and Johnny’s.