By Akashic Books
Akashic Books

Hold the eggnog: What you need is a draft of "edgy fatalism and sexy recklessness," of flashy crime, gallows humor, and "desperate deals with a variety of devils," served up every year since 2004 by the editors of Akashic Books' brilliant noir anthologies. From Brooklyn to Boston, from Phoenix (where "sunshine is the new noir") to pre- and post-Katrina New Orleans, each volume in the series—featuring stories by the likes of Lee Child, Maggie Estep, Stewart O'Nan—reveals a city's distinctive inner darkness. In this year of financial crisis, Wall Street Noir could be a rich gift.

— Cathleen Medwick