Queens Noir

From Publishers WeeklyThe ethnically diverse New York borough of Queens is the setting for this solid entry in Akashic's noir anthology series (Brooklyn Noir, etc.). Rather than featuring big name authors only loosely connected to Queens, Knightly has brought in a crew of local writers that includes many unknowns. The result is a satisfying if unspectacular volume, with protagonists ranging from a young woman out for revenge (Denis Hamill's Under the Throgs Neck Bridge) to a trigger-happy cop protecting her cousin from an abusive ex-husband (Stephen Solomita's Crazy Jill Saves the Slinky). The husband-and-wife team writing as Tori Carrington (Sofie Metropolis) weighs in with a gritty whodunit set in a Greek diner in Last Stop, Ditmars. The standout by far is Hollywood Lanes by Megan Abbott (The Song Is You), a bleak and masterful story of passion and betrayal set in a Forest Hills bowling alley. There's plenty to enjoy here for Akashic completists and anyone who's ever cheered (or jeered) the Mets. (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Product DescriptionAll-new stories by: Denis Hamill, Maggie Estep, Megan Abbott, Robert Knightly, Liz Mart'nez, Jill Eisenstadt, Mary Byrne, Tori Carrington, Shailly P. Agnihotri, k.j.a. Wishnia, Victoria Eng, Alan Gordon, Beverly Farley, Joe Guglielmelli, and Glenville Lovell.Queens used to be dismissed as the "bedroom of Manhattan"--daily disgorging its sons and daughters by elevated rail and the Queensboro Bridge to their jobs in "New York" (as Manhattan was known to us in the outer boroughs). By 2007, Queens had become the borough of immigrants--2.2 million residents, forty-eight percent of whom are foreign-born, the vast majority of them Asian. In fifty-plus distinct neighborhoods, speaking 140 different languages, reside: Chinese, Koreans, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Guyanese, Jamaicans, Haitians, Trinidadians, Colombians, Ecuadorians, Dominicans, Mexicans, Filipinos, not to mention Greeks.Queens county is the largest borough accommodating two beaches, two airports, Aqueduct Racetrack, three elevated train structures, and Shea Stadium. Queens Noir has set twenty original crime stories in the neighborhoods and at the "Big A," Shea Stadium, JFK Airport, Rockaway Beach, and aboard the elevated Flushing 7 subway line.