Philadelphia True Noir

Philadelphia True Noir
Author: George Anastasia
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 9781933822266

The stories presented here are true slices of life taken from an underworld where people don't play by the rules and where the good guys don't always win. These are real-life stories about wiseguys and drug dealers, con men and murders. In these pages, you'll find the true noir stories that have bubbled up under the magnifying glass of a 30-year veteran reporter at the The Philadelphia Inquirer. It's a fascinating look into the minds, crimes, fates, and lives of Philadelphia's most intriguing criminals. So sit back and enjoy this illuminating look into the dark world of Philadelphia True Noir.

Philadelphia Noir

Philadelphia Noir
Author: Carlin Romano
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2010
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1936070634

Residents of Philadelphia have been nagging Akashic Books for years to see their own entry in the award-winning Noir series. The time has finally arrived - but the city must beware as there may be no recovery from the tarnishing of this collection of 15 original crime stories. Features brand-new stories by Diane Ayres, Cordelia Frances Biddle, Keith Gilman, Cary Holladay, Solomon Jones, Gerald Kolpan, Aimee LaBrie, Halimah Marcus, Carlin Romano, Asali Solomon, Laura Spagnoli, Duane Swierczynski, Dennis Tafoya and Jim Zervanos.

Pipe Dream

Pipe Dream
Author: Solomon Jones
Publisher: Villard
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2001-09-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0375506594

The lawyer turned on the tape recorder, handed his client a cigarette, and lit it for him. Black drew hard, squinting as the smoke rushed into his lungs. "Where do you want to start?"the lawyer said, lighting a cigarette of his own. "I guess there’s only one place to start; at Broad and Erie." Johnny Podres, a politician whose record against corruption had been propelling him straight to the mayor’s office, is found murdered in a North Philly crack house. Enter Samuel Jackson, a.k.a. Black, a drug addict who knows better, a man embittered by the fact that he can’t seem to escape from his addiction to crack cocaine or, for that matter, from himself. Though he was once a family man with a wife and son, Black’s only concern these days is getting his next high, that is, until he stumbles across a friend and fellow addict, Leroy, and both become prime suspects in the Podres murder. Black and Leroy hook up with two female pipers: Clarisse, a registered nurse who is slowly losing to crack any semblance of a respectable life, and Pookie, who already has lost it. Soon the hunt is on for all four as they try to stay one step ahead of a police department under tremendous pressure to solve the case—because if a killer isn’t found soon, this could blow up into one of the biggest scandals in Philadelphia history. Solomon Jones weaves a suspenseful story against the backdrop of corruption in the Philadelphia police department and centers it on a group of drug addicts who, in the process of fleeing the law, come to terms with their own addiction, leading to some devastating consequences.

Black Fire

Black Fire
Author: Robert Graysmith
Publisher: Crown
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2013-10-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 0307720578

The first biography of the little-known real-life Tom Sawyer, told through a harrowing account of Sawyer's involvement in the hunt for a serial arsonist who terrorized mid-nineteenth century San Francisco. When San Francisco Daily Morning Call reporter Mark Twain met Tom Sawyer in 1863, he was seeking a subject for his first novel. He learned that Sawyer was a volunteer firefighter, local hero, and a former “Torch Boy,” racing ahead of hand-drawn fire engines at night carrying torches to light the way. When a mysterious serial arsonist known as “The Lightkeeper” was in the process of burning San Francisco to the ground, Sawyer played a key role in stopping him, helping to contain what is now considered the most disastrous and costly series of fires ever experienced by an American metropolis. By chronicling how Sawyer took it upon himself to investigate, expose, and stop the arsonist, Black Fire details Sawyer’s remarkable life and illustrates why Twain would later feel compelled to name his iconic character after him when writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. A vivid portrayal of the gritty, corrupt, and violent world of the Gold Rush-era West, Black Fire is the most vibrant and thorough account of Sawyer’s relationship with Mark Twain, and of the devastating fires that baptized San Francisco.

Philadelphia Noir

Philadelphia Noir
Author: Carlin Romano
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2010-10-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1617750026

“A collection enhanced by an unerring sense of place, with no clinkers . . . that will please the most discriminating lovers of the dark side.” —Kirkus Reviews From its posh Main Line to its blue-collar enclaves, Philadelphia is a city of contrasts. History has shown that brotherly love and murderous intentions can exist, if not side-by-side, then at least on the same block. Its this dichotomy that gives local writers their inspiration in this gritty collection of stories from Meredith Anthony, Diane Ayres, Cordelia Frances Biddle, Keith Gilman, Cary Holladay, Solomon Jones, Gerald Kolpan, Aimee LaBrie, Halimah Marcus, Carlin Romano, Asali Solomon, Laura Spagnoli, Duane Swierczynski, Dennis Tafoya, and Jim Zervanos. “It took long enough for Akashic’s noir series to get to Philly. Now that it has, compiled under the shadowy auspices of Inquirer literary critic/West Philly native Carlin Romano, the fun begins.” —Philadelphia City Paper “One of the US’s oldest, and darkest cities has a collection of its own . . . Overall, this collection was excellent, but left me wanting more.” —MostlyFiction Book Reviews

New Jersey Noir

New Jersey Noir
Author: Jonathan Safran Foer
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2011-11-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1617750816

Discover the darker side of the Garden State with this anthology of gritty mystery stories. Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each volume is compromised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct location within the geographical area of the book. In New Jersey Noir, a star-studded cast of authors sifts through the hidden dirt of the Garden State. Featuring brand-new stories (and a few poems) by Joyce Carol Oates, Jonathan Safran Foer, Robert Pinsky, Edmund White & Michael Carroll, Richard Burgin, Pulitzer Prize–winner Paul Muldoon, Sheila Kohler, C.K. Williams, Gerald Stern, Lou Manfredo, S.A. Solomon, Bradford Morrow, Jonathan Santlofer, Jeffrey Ford, S.J. Rozan, Barry N. Malzberg & Bill Pronzini, Hirsh Sawhney, and Robert Arellano. Praise for New Jersey Noir “Oates’s introduction to Akashic’s noir volume dedicated to the Garden State, with its evocative definition of the genre, is alone worth the price of the book . . . Highlights include Lou Manfredo’s “Soul Anatomy,” in which a politically connected rookie cop is involved in a fatal shooting in Camden; S.J. Rozan’s “New Day Newark,” in which an elderly woman takes a stand against two drug-dealing gangs; and Jonathan Santlofer’s “Lola,” in which a struggling Hoboken artist finds his muse . . . . Poems by C.K. Williams, Paul Muldoon, and others—plus photos by Gerald Slota—enhance this distinguished entry.” —Publishers Weekly “It was inevitable that this fine noir series would reach New Jersey. It took longer than some readers might have wanted, but, oh boy, was it worth the wait . . . More than most of the entries in the series, this volume is about mood and atmosphere more than it is about plot and character . . . It should go without saying that regular readers of the noir series will seek this one out, but beyond that, the book also serves as a very good introduction to what is a popular but often misunderstood term and style of writing.” —Booklist, Starred Review “A lovingly collected assortment of tales and poems that range from the disturbing to the darkly humorous.” —Shelf Awareness

The Philadelphia Quarry

The Philadelphia Quarry
Author: Howard Owen
Publisher: Permanent Press (NY)
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre: Murder
ISBN: 9781579623357

Hardly anyone doubts that Richard Slade did it. Who could blame him? But Willie has his doubts. When the full weight of the city's old money falls on him, trying to crush the story, he only becomes more determined to chase the things that always seems to get him in trouble - the truth. The fact that Richard Slade is his cousin, a link to his long-dead African-American father, only makes Willie more tenacious.

Busted

Busted
Author: Wendy Ruderman
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2014-03-11
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 0062085468

In the vein of Erin Brockovich, The Departed, and T. J. English's Savage City comes Busted, the shocking true story of the biggest police corruption scandal in Philadelphia history, a tale of drugs, power, and abuse involving a rogue narcotics squad, a confidential informant, and two veteran journalists whose reporting drove a full-scale FBI probe, rocked the City of Brotherly Love, and earned a Pulitzer Prize . In 2003, Benny Martinez became a Confidential Informant for a member of the Philadelphia Police Department's narcotics squad, helping arrest nearly 200 drug and gun dealers over seven years. But that success masked a dark and dangerous reality: the cops were as corrupt as the criminals they targeted. In addition to fabricating busts, the squad systematically looted mom-and-pop stores, terrorizing hardworking immigrant owners. One squad member also sexually assaulted three women during raids. Frightened for his life, Martinez turned to Philadelphia Daily News reporters Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker. Busted chronicles how these two journalists—both middle-class working mothers—formed an unlikely bond with a convicted street dealer to uncover the secrets of ruthless kingpins and dirty cops. Professionals in an industry shrinking from severe financial cutbacks, Ruderman and Laker had few resources—besides their own grit and tenacity—to break a dangerous, complex story that would expose the rotten underbelly of a modern American city and earn them a Pulitzer Prize. A page-turning thriller based on superb reportage, illustrated with eight pages of photos, Busted is modern true crime at its finest.

True Crime Philadelphia

True Crime Philadelphia
Author: Kathryn Canavan
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2021-11-15
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1493036165

Serial killer H.H. Holmes built his murder castle in Chicago, but he met the hangman in Philadelphia. Al Capone served his first prison sentence here. The real-life killers who inspired HBO’s Boardwalk Empire lived and died here. America’s first bank robbery was pulled off here in 1798. The country’s first kidnapping for ransom came off without a hitch in 1874. A South Philadelphia man hatched the largest mass murder plot in U.S. history in the 1930s. His partners in crime were unhappy housewives. Catholics and Protestants aimed cannon at each other in city streets in 1844. Civil rights hero Octavius V. Catto was gunned down on South Street in 1871. Take a walk with us through city history. Would you pass Eastern State Penitentiary on April 3, 1945, just as famed bank robber Willie Sutton popped out of an escape tunnel in broad daylight? Or you might have been one of the invited guests at H.H. Holmes’ hanging at Moyamensing Prison on a gray morning in May 1896. It still ranks as one of the most bizarre executions in city history. Or, if you walked down Washington Lane on July 1, 1874, would you have been alert enough to stop the two men who lured little blond Charley Ross away with candy? You might have stopped America’s first kidnapping for ransom, the one that gave rise to the admonition, “Never take candy from a stranger.” The case inspired the Leopold and Loeb kidnapping. Then there was the bank robber whose funeral drew thousands of spectators and the burglary defendant so alluring that conversation would stop whenever she entered the courtroom. Mix in murderous maids, bumbling burglars, and unflinching local heroes and you have True Crime Philadelphia.

Swampoodle

Swampoodle
Author: D. P. Curran
Publisher:
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2017-01-29
Genre:
ISBN: 9781520463872

Our story begins leading up to the Easter Rising in Ireland. Seamus O' Suileabhain, having Americanized his name to James Sullivan, escapes to America with an English bounty on his head. Aided and mentored by Anegus O'Boyle, a master of disguise and the most feared man in Ireland and the British Isles. James takes up a life of crime, under the protection of the O' Boyles, who are shielded by politicians at the highest level, including in Center City, Philadelphia. Marriage to Bridget O'Boyle leads to raising a familly in the Irish section of North Philadelphia, known as Swampoodle, where James works for his "American Sponser," Liam Donnelly. And under the guise of a construction foreman, James emerges as one of the most brutal and effective enforcers of the underworld in Philadelphia and Atlantic City. Our novel then focuses on a power shift during the beginning of what would be the boon of Prohibition. This saga plays out with the understanding of James Sullivan's eventual return to Ireland, to settle a personal score with the English Captain, known as, "The Lion". A story of assimilation, crime, loyalty, and the power of an unshakable bond between husband and wife, James and Bridget Sullivan...