Honolulu Noir (Akashic 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: Alan Brennert, Kiana Davenport, Tom Gammarino, Stephanie Han, Scott Kikkawa, B.A. Kobayashi, Chris McKinney, Morgan Miryung McKinney, Christy Passion, Mindy Eun Soo Pennybacker, Michelle Cruz Skinner, Lono Waiwai‘ole, and Don Wallace.

From the introduction by Chris McKinney:

“When one thinks of Honolulu, I’m sure ‘noir’ is not the first word to pop into one’s mind. Instead, one thinks surfing and hula—white sandy beaches and crystal-blue waters . . . Yet we do have our problems. To this day, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders are disproportionately incarcerated and victims of poverty in a place where the average cost of a single-family home has skyrocketed to a million dollars. It’s not uncommon for four generations of a family to live in the same house. Drugs, homelessness, child abuse, and sex trafficking are pervasive . . .

I was excited to be tasked with editing this anthology because the setting of Honolulu for the purposes of noir is and always has been full of possibility. Wherever crime, poverty, and corruption exist, noir is easy, and despite its glossy reputation, Honolulu has all these things. On top of that, I’m betting this will be one of the most diverse anthologies in Akashic Books’s impressively popular and abundant collection . . . We all mostly get along in this city in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, about 2,500 miles from the closest continent. And when we don’t? Well, you can read all about it here in Honolulu Noir.”