Grady Gammage and I have regularly debated the issue of growth. But he's paid me the supreme compliment by saying he knew that Phoenix had arrived as a big city when it received its own noir series, my David Mapstone mysteries. And yes, Mapstone will be back (and in Phoenix). I'm working on the new one now, but it will come out after the May release of my next novel, Deadline Man. I always thought Phoenix was a wonderful muse for fiction of all sorts (and not what is told by the Real Estate Industrial Complex), especially detective stories. Now it has really arrived with the release of Akashic Books' Phoenix Noir.
Akashic has published short story collections about a host of cities. It's gratifying to see Phoenix added to the list with this book edited by historic district homie Patrick Millikin. The authors for Phoenix Noir include Diana Gabaldon, Lee Child, James Sallis, Luis Alberto Urrea, Megan Abbott, Charles Kelly, Robert Anglen, Patrick Millikin, Laura Tohe, Kurt Reichenbaugh, Gary Phillips, David Corbett, Don Winslow, Dogo Barry Graham, and Stella Pope Duarte. My story, "Bull," set in 1940s Phoenix (with a new detective character), is also part of the collection.
You can join in the launch party at 6 p.m. Saturday night at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale -- and mark this unique local business' 20th anniversary. It's retailers like this that make a city, too. So come show your appreciation to Barbara Peters.
Comments