Portland Noir

Inspired by the best-selling Brooklyn Noir, Portland Noir is now part of the series of books that investigates the darker side of the city: crime, drugs and murder. Each story is set in a familiar Portland neighborhood, sprinkled with recognizable landmarks, from the Shanghai Tunnels, dog parks, dive bars, sex shops, Powell's Books, Voodoo Doughnuts, the Pearl District, Oaks Amusement Park, to one of our many strip clubs. Violent crime, petty mischief, and personal tragedy run through these mysterious tales. In fact, if you have spent any time at all in the city, many of the characters are instantly recognizable. The most disconcerting stories are the ones that are closest to home, literally. Mt Tabor (my 'hood) is the setting for a house break-in that goes terribly wrong. It was all too real reading about the junky casing the street looking for a house that would be easy to break into. I could almost hear myself thinking, please don't pick our house.

The Portland series includes authors: Gigi Little, Justin Hocking, Christopher Bolton, Jess Walter, Monica Drake, Jamie S. Rich, Dan DeWeese, Zoe Trope, Luciana Lopez, Karen Karbo, Bill Cameron, Ariel Gore, Floyd Skloot, Megan Kruse, Kimberly Warner-Cohen, and Jonathan Selwood. Of course some of the stories are better than others, and in some the locations and local references seem more forced than others, but overall this is an enjoyable collection that was a good read.