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A Century of Noir is the Max Allan Collins and Mickey Spillane co-edited anthology that walks through a hundred years of American crime short fiction with the kind of curatorial care that the form rarely gets in mass-market collections. The thirty-two stories include the obvious anchors (Hammett, Cain, Chandler, Spillane himself, Highsmith) and a series of stories from less-anthologized writers that earn their place.
The editorial frame is the unexpected pleasure. Collins is a serious historian of the form, and the contextual notes for each story explain why it matters in the larger development of the American crime tradition. The selections cover every major register: hard-boiled, domestic suspense, psychological, procedural, comic.
Five stars. The kind of anthology that earns reread upon reread. Recommended to anyone interested in the actual history of American crime writing.
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