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You cannot do wrong when renowned literary critic Carlin Romano agrees to do edit a collection of short stories taking place in Philadelphia. There is no one who knows more about contemporary Philadelphia literature than he does. He has been writing about it for twenty-five years for the Philadelphia INQUIRER and he knows what makes a good story. In his clever introduction to PHILADELPHIA NOIR, he thanks his contributors for "their limited references to hoagies, cheesesteaks, water ice, soft pretzels…." He then goes on to say, "Truth is, we don't talk much about those things. We just live our lives." It is a great attitude and an auspicious start to a great collection of stories. For the most part, the majority of the stories are just about ordinary people in Philadelphia trying to live their lives and trying to be successful in one way or another. There is the waitress in Aimee LaBrie's Princess who manages to outwit a desperate criminal, as well as Meredith Anthony's story Fishtown Odyssey where a wannabe socialite who will do whatever she has to to be part of the club. There are also tales of unrequited love where some of the characters go to extreme measures such as in Laura Spagnoli's "A Cut Above," Halimah Marcus's "Swimming," and Duane Swierczynski's "Lonergan's Girl. As well, some stories take place in Philadelphia's past where the good times weren't always so good. It is an impressive anthology where ordinariness is not a crime, but underestimating the tales would be. Most of the authors featured in this collection are not household names, but they do know their city and do know how to write a good story. There are those for whom Philadelphia is just another city where nothing really happens. Romano may agree with you to some degree, but there is a wealth of talent there and of good stories coming out of it, as you can see from this book. § Angel L. Soto is an equal opportunity reader and a book editor at a New Jersey academic publisher.
Reviewed by Angel L. Soto, October 2010
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