Australia can no longer be held back from the Akashic Noir Series; herein, Sydney reveals itself to be a world-class hub of noir.

Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city.

Brand-new stories by: Kirsten Tranter, Mandy Sayer, John Dale, Eleanor Limprecht, Mark Dapin, Leigh Redhead, Julie Koh, Peter Polites, Robert Drewe, Tom Gilling, Gabrielle Lord, Philip McLaren, P.M. Newton, and Peter Doyle.

From the introduction by John Dale:

Nothing lasts in Sydney, especially good fortune: lives are upturned, shops are sold, roads dug up, trees and houses knocked down, premiers discarded, and entire communities relocated in the name of that economic mantra—growth and progress. Just when you think the traffic can’t get any worse and the screech of the 747s descending over your roof can’t get any louder, along comes a wild electrical storm that batters the buildings and shakes the power lines and washes the garbage off the streets and you stand, sheltered under your broken brolly in the center of Sydney, admiring this big beautiful city.

What never changes, though, is the hustle on the street. My father was a detective in the vice squad shortly after the Second World War, and he told stories of busting SP bookies in Paddington and Surry Hills, collaring cockatoos stationed in the laneways of South Sydney, and arresting sly-groggers. Policing back then was hands-on for the poor and hands-off for the rich. Crime and Sydney have always been inseparable: a deep vein of corruption runs beneath the surface of even its most respectable suburbs.

Author

John Dale

John Dale grew up in Tasmania, having been born in Sydney. He has since returned to Sydney and worked in the Attorney General's Department, taught writing at university and worked as a doorman.

Country of Origin

Books:

Series:

Series: Akashic Noir

Series: Dimitri Telegonus

Mandy Sayer

Mandy Sayer was born in Sydney in 1963. She has lived in Melbourne, Adelaide and many towns in the US. She has a BA in Creative Writing and an MA in English/Creative Writing from Indiana University. She is completing a Doctor of Creative Arts at the University of Technology. Her first novel, MOOD INDIGO was awarded the 1989 Australian/Vogel Award. She wrote BLIND LUCK and then THE CROSS in 1995. THE CROSS is inspired by the life and death of Juanita Nielsen and was short-listed for the Kibble Award, the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Crime Novel, the 3M Talking Book of the Year Award and was nominated for the 1997 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

Country of Origin

Books:

Series:

Series: Akashic Noir

Mark Dapin

Mark Dapin moved to Australia in the late 1980s. He is the author of Strange Country and King of the Cross, has been editor in chief of ACP's men's magazines, and a hugely popular columnist for Fairfax's Good Weekend. He lives in Sydney with his partner and two children.

Country of Origin

Books:

Series:

Series: Akashic Noir

Peter Doyle

Peter Doyle was born in Maroubra, in Sydney's eastern suburbs. He worked as a taxi driver, - musician, and teacher before writing Get Rich Quick, which won the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Crime Novel in 1997. Its sequel, Amaze Your Friends, won the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Novel in 1998, followed in 2001 by The Devil's Jump, the third book in Doyle's Billy Glasheen series. Doyle lives in Newtown, where he divides his time between writing and teaching. He is also a part-time curator at Sydney's Justice and Police Museum.

Country of Origin

Books:

Series:

Series: Akashic Noir

Series: Billy Glasheen

Leigh Redhead

I was born on the eighteenth of November, nineteen seventy-one in Adelaide, to hippy parents. We moved to New Zealand, where my brother was born, then back to Adelaide. 

Country of Origin

Books:

Series:

Series: Akashic Noir

Series: Simone Kirsch

Robert Drewe

Robert Drewe was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1943. He grew up and was educated in Western Australia where he took up journalism with the West Australian in 1961. He was literary editor for the Australian from 1971 to 1974. He won the Walkley Award (Australia's highest such award) for journalism in 1976 and 1981. He currently lives in Sydney.

Country of Origin

Books:

Series:

Series: Akashic Noir

Tom Gilling

Tom Gilling was born in England in 1961 and emigrated to Australian in 1983.  He is the author of The Sooterkinand Miles McGinty, both of which were shortlisted for major prizes in Australia and chosen by the New York Times as notable books of the year.  Tom is the co-author of Bagman, the posthumous memoir of the corrupt Queensland policeman Jack Herbert.  He lives in Sydney.

Country of Origin

Books:

Series:

Series: Akashic Noir

ISBN
9781617756887
Year of Publication
Publisher

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