Teaser Tuesday: Where Angels Fear to Tread

"Romance only dies with life. No pair of pincers will ever pull it out of us."

-- Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster

 

 

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday

I've been so busy getting ready for a trial that I don't think I would even notice if something came to my mailbox. But I have a short list for Mailbox Monday because I took a head-clearing break from drafting pleadings to walk to Powell's last Friday.

I must have been thinking of food (or maybe a different career) because I got these two books:

A Cordiall Water: A Garland of Odd and Old Receipts to Assuage the Ills of Man and Beast by M. F. K. Fisher



That's the cover on the copy I bought. It's very pleasant, but I would love to find an old edition with this cover:



Epicurean Delight: The Life and Times of James Beard by Evan Jones

Opening Sentence of the Day: An American Map

"Tucked as it is in a Michigan woods thick with tall maple and ash, the Think House eddies with chill in winter, and remains too-cool and shaded in summer."

-- From "Warming the Flute," the first essay in An American Map by Anne-Marie Oomen.

This book is a collection of essays about and inspired by particular spots across America. This essay is set at the Think House in Empire, Michigan.

I love the perfection of the phrase "eddies with chill." I am ready for some armchair traveling.

Review: Portland Noir

Portland Noir is a collection of original short stories that is all over the map -- if the map is of the Rose City. The stories are set in different neighborhoods that collectively make up the seedy underbelly of Portland.

The anthology, edited by Kevin Sampsell, is part of the Akashic Books Noir series -- "a groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book."

The Portland stories take readers to many a gritty, greasy corner of Portland, where junkies break into the wrong houses, lesbians fantasize about strangling the men in their beds, and love gets strange. The stories come in many shades of dark, from creepy (“Baby, I’m Here”) to clever (“Shanghaied”); violent (“The Wrong House”) to sadly sweet (“Alzheimer’s Noir”).

If there is anything generally missing, it is high-end noir. The stories do not venture much past seedy motels, dive bars, and strip clubs, although there must be plenty of noir to be found in tonier venues. There are a few references to the trendy Pearl District, but a story or two involving the residents of Portland’s ritzier neighborhoods would have enhanced the collection.

And there are slim pickings for those who prefer their noir in the form of hard boiled detective stories. But the two included are a couple of the best pieces in the book because they capture Portland’s soul as well as her geography.

The first, "Coffee, Black" by Bill Cameron, is a great bit of caffeinated noir – a coffee-house mystery that perfectly captures Portland's espresso-fueled and anti-corporate culture. Camron has the hard-bitten prose down flat:

She's a touch thick, not quite shed of her winter fat, but she wears her flesh with oblivious self-assurance. I have no doubt a man with a flatter belly could pay her bar tab and bed her the same night, with no idea of the problems she'll cause over breakfast.

Philip Marlowe could not have said it better himself.

The second is “The Red Room” by Chris A. Bolton. This shakedown caper is set entirely inside Powell’s – the City of Books. There is something metafictional about an independently published story set in the world’s largest independent bookstore that seems very, very Portland.

Not every story in Portland Noir will appeal to every reader, but there is something in there for every noir fan.

NOTES

This book was the #3 fiction bestseller at Powell's when I was there yesterday.

OTHER REVIEWS

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Review of the Day: New Orleans Mourning

Julie Smith won the 1991 Edgar Award for New Orleans Mourning, the first in what became her Skip Langdon series. A former debutante and police rookie, Langdon is a misfit in both high society New Orleans and the blue collar police force. Her oddball status means she must find her own way when given a special assignment to work on the murder of a prominent civic leader.

Langdon is an appealing heroine because she is imperfect. She is six feet tall and hefty, a horrible dresser, and remarkably headstrong for someone who is making it up as she goes along. Smith uses Langdon to present a take on pre-Katrina New Orleans life that is perceptive, irreverent, and for mystery fans, a refreshing change from the always dark and creepy Louisiana of James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux series.

Sometimes the conflicts in the story – between Langdon and her homicide detective co-workers or the amateur filmmaker who she cannot decide wants to love her or use her for a great story – seem forced. But Smith makes up for these flaws with a complicated story that twists several times before all the loose ends get satisfactorily tied up.