Birmingham Noir

For fans of gritty British crime drama, here's a collection of 23 stories set in and around Birmingham. Like the Los Angeles of Raymond Chandler or James Ellroy, Birmingham is industrial and multicultural, the ideal setting for noir fiction. These stories, by both newcomers and veterans (including John Harvey, whose Charlie Resnick series was set in Birmingham), demonstrate that it is possible to work almost infinite variations on a theme. They are all set in the same locale, with the same general theme, but each is unique. It's not just a matter of style, though each writer brings his or her own voice to the material; it's a question of point of view and context. The book is a like a collage in which all the photographs are of the same subject, but taken from various angles and distances under diverse lighting conditions: each photo makes the subject look entirely different from its companions. And, remarkably, there's not a dud in the bunch. Highly recommended for British noir fans.""--Booklist