Philadelphia Noir (Akashic Noir)
The 15 stories in this Akashic noir anthology mostly support Romano's thesis in his introduction:  œPhiladelphia noir is different from the mood, the sensibility, the dimensions, of noir encountered in more glamorous American cities  such as New York or L.A., because it is  œordinary noir--the humble killings, robberies, collars, cold cases that confront people largely occupied with getting by.  Dennis Tafoya, one of the better known contributors, exemplifies Romano's point with  œAbove the Imperial,  about a petty thief with a crush on a woman who works in the Chinese restaurant below his apartment. In contrast, a home invasion at the start of Solomon Jones's well-written  œScarred  turns out to be anything but ordinary. Halimah Marcus's  œSwimming  and Laura Spagnoli's  œA Cut Above  don't break any new ground, but their accounts of violent obsession and table-turning grip. Unsurprisingly, the book as a whole is comparable to Detroit Noir, another volume set in a less glamorous metropolis.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.