Prague Noir (Akashic Noir)

Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book.

Brand-new stories by: Chaim Cigan, Martin Goffa, Irena Hejdová, Michaela Klevisová, Štěpán Kopřiva, Ondrej Neff, Markéta Pilátová, Jirí "Walker" Procházka, Petra Soukupová, Petr Stančík, Michal Sýkora, Petr Šabach, Kateřina Tučková, and Miloš Urban.

While Prague might today be one of the world's top tourist destinations, and a cosmopolitan capital of European culture, it remains an open-air monument to a history of violence. Here, Prague's top writers explore the hidden corners of the "City of a Hundred Spires," pulling back the curtain to reveal gloom and despair.

From the introduction by Pavel Mandys:

How to write noir in a city where, until 1990, the profession of private detective hadn't existed? Where the censors insisted on portraying police in the media and literature in a positive light? Where freelance organized crime hadn't existed, but where the largest criminal group was the secret police? Before you delve into the fourteen stories in this collection, a heads-up: most of the stories owe their allegiance more to Prague than the noir genre...but if the concept of "noir" is extended, and considered a characterization of literary works containing elements of crime, danger, threat--or where central characters find themselves in critical life situations--then you will find fourteen such stories in this collection.