Rebekah recommends Lone Star Noir, a collection edited by Bobby Byrd and Johnny Byrd:
As editor Bobby Byrd so aptly states in his introduction to Lone Star Noir, “Texas, in all its many places, bleeds noir fiction.” From its hot and humid Gulf Coast to its isolated backroads country and its sprawling metropolises, Texas, with all its diversity, harbors endless possibilities for mystery. Published by New York-based Akashic Books as part of their successful Noir series, the Lone Star edition features a range of Texas-native or Texas-enthusiast authors who capture the multiple facets of this state that make it the ideal setting for crime, violence, and intrigue.
The first installation in the collection, “Phelan’s First Case” by Lisa Sandlin is a perfect example of quintessential detective fiction. This story follows Detective Joe Phelan as he grapples with his first case, which eventually leads him to a rundown barn in the overgrown wilderness surrounding Beaumont. Sandlin’s evocative imagery is disturbing (she describes the missing child, the subject of Phelan’s search, as a “naked gargoyle” with “blinking eyes protrud[ing] from sunken holes”), which exudes major True Detective Season 1 vibes. Couple descriptions like that, which can make your skin crawl, with snappy dialogue that could belong in a hardboiled crime novel, and you’re in for a classic noir treat.
Moving south from Beaumont to Galveston, Claudia Smith gives us “Catgirl,” which may or may not detail the lives of a coven of witches (it’s never actually confirmed if they are witches though). Living in a shabby beachfront bungalow, this family of girls dances unnervingly around bonfires, recites creepy children’s rhymes, and sings Stevie Nicks songs. It’s demonic, it’s spooky, it’s weirdly beautiful, it’s totally matriarchal. And since it’s almost October, it’s the perfect way to start getting into the Halloween spirit.
But Lone Star Noir is not all serious. Tim Tingle’s sardonic voice shines in his story “Six Dead Cabbies,” which is told from the perspective of an eighteen-year-old narrator who falls into bad company with a grizzled, slightly threatening, grown man named Denny. The fact that a middle-aged man would want to hang out with a bunch of teenagers seems like a bit of a red flag, and Tingle’s narrator humorously notes this as he reflects on his choice of companion, saying, “None of us ever questioned the logic of a forty-five-year-old man running around with teenagers. Bobby, Charles, Eddie, and me, we were cool teenagers, cool enough to be Denny’s buds, that was our reasoning.” Naturally, of course, the tale takes a darker twist once the narrator learns that Denny is, in fact, a serial killer, and not just his mentor in petty crime.
As Austinites, the location I’m sure we all want to hear most about is Austin, and Jesse Sublett’s “Moral Hazard” does not disappoint. It is clear from the start that this story is an ode to Cormac McCarthy, one of the most famous and stylistically unique authors within the Western genre. Sublett even goes as far as to name his Robin Hood-esque criminal with a heart of gold “the Kid” (likely a gesture to the character of the same name in McCarthy’s Blood Meridian). Additionally, his main villain is obsessed with McCarthy’s gritty novel No Country for Old Men, which features a truly terrifying, ruthless hitman, if any of y’all have ever read the book or seen the film adaptation that came out a few years back. It goes without saying that if you’re a fan of McCarthy, you’ll appreciate the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) nods to the author set against a backdrop of familiar Austin scenery.
Those are just a few examples of the stories included in this collection, and there’s so much more, ranging from tales about bounty hunters and gambling to kidnapping and prostitution. In each, the things that make Texas Texas, things like the famous pecan trees, the expansive landscapes that seem to extend for miles and miles, the laidback molasses-like pace of life, are all vividly painted. In each, Texas becomes a character in itself. And just like the Lone Star state, Lone Star Noir has something that will satisfy everyone’s craving for a good mystery.