BOSTON NOIR

Caps off the first-ever Boston Book Festival

By RACHAEL KATZ

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Bos•ton (bô'sten), [baw-stuhn, bos-tuhn] – nounThe capital and largest city of Massachusetts, in the eastern part of the state on Boston Bay, an arm of Massachusetts Bay. Founded in the 17th century, it was a leading center of agitation against England in the 18th century and a stronghold of abolitionist thought in the 19th century. Note: site of the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party.

Noir (nwär) – adj., FrenchBlack1. Of or relating to the film noir genre.2. Of or relating to a genre of crime literature featuring tough, cynical characters and bleak settings.3. Suggestive of danger or violence.

A match made in heaven? Yes, there has always been plenty of intrigue in Boston, with so many dodgy characters skulking about. Some have been righteous in their causes, some down on their luck; some have flown in the face of the greater good for personal gain and some were just bored or scared stupid. In honor of these shady bastards, the good folks at Akashic Books have assembled a crackshot team of authors who love Boston so much, they've littered it with crime and sin. Boston Noir is the newest addition to the Akashic Noir Series of crime fiction anthologies. The collection, inspired by our own filthy backyards and edited by Dennis Lehane, takes us on a trip through the metropolis in which there are spooks in the shape of ordinary things around every corner. But here's the thing about Boston Noir (which is really the thing about Boston): What's grimy about it is what's good about it. Why don't we just stroll through and have a quick look-see.

We begin in the noble (yet grim) Beacon Hill neighborhood with author Jim Fusilli, who once referred to Boston as the "epicenter of American crime fiction." The Hill is an area of historic opulence, cloistering its generations of genteel Brahmins. Fusilli's "vaguely autobiographical" story, "The Place Where He Belongs," describes a man displaced by circumstance to a Beacon Hill brownstone, where his feelings of alienation quietly fester. And not even the serenity of the Public Garden can soothe him.

From there, we head to the Financial District, where the gloss of the bright steel and stone buildings betray Boston's rough old underbelly—or what Lynn Heitman calls "the history you can see." Everything is cutthroat here, and you can feel it in the air. In "Exit Interview," Heitman writes of a firm where the alpha generation is everything and making managing director (or not) is enough to push someone over the edge. When Boston's best and brightest go apeshit vigilante, they do it in style—fancy suits and all.

Onward to Roxbury—where gentrification and street crime live side by side in strange harmony. It's here that Itabari Njeri sets her Middle America gone awry in "The Collar." Njeri told me that she set out to write the fury of a "woman scorned" à la Roxbury, and truly, it's a hit. One day, you're cooking lamb chops for the sweet ex-marine you like to shower with, and the next, he's asking about that judge you know 'cause an old flame of his is out for blood. It's a damn shame bad boys are such a hassle, because they're so much more interesting.

Those are just three of the 11 neighborhoods featured, but we'll end the tour here. Read Boston Noir at your own risk—and wear something you don't mind getting ruined. Noir stains are a bitch to get out.

BOSTON BOOK FESTIVAL

SATURDAY 10.24.09

COPLEY SQUARE

10AM-6PM/FREE

617.252.3240

BOSTONBOOKFEST.ORG

BOSTON NOIR LAUNCH

SATURDAY 10.24.09

RABB LECTURE HALL

BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

700 BOYLSTON ST.

BOSTON

6PM-9PM/21+/$15

617.536.5400

AKASHICBOOKS.COM