First published 2019
Houston Noir presents fourteen original crime stories that span the sprawling Texas metropolis from wealthy River Oaks to the industrial Ship Channel. Editor Gwendolyn Zepeda, former Houston poet laureate, has assembled current and former Houston authors to craft tales of murder, betrayal, and brujería across four distinct areas of the city. The collection captures Houston's unique character as a port city built on swampland with no zoning laws, creating a landscape where horses graze near obvious brothels and drug dens. Contributors include Tom Abrahams, Robert Boswell, Sarah Cortez, and others who mine the dark possibilities lurking in this culturally diverse, ever-changing metropolis. Each story anchors itself in a specific Houston neighborhood, from Tanglewood to Third Ward, exploring how the city's lonely highways, gravity-defying overpasses, and drastic urban sprawl create perfect conditions for noir fiction. The anthology showcases both veteran and emerging voices examining what Zepeda calls "the very worst our city has to offer."
Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful
Tropes: betrayal, murder-mystery
Setting: Houston, River Oaks, Ship Channel, Tanglewood, Third Ward
Period: 21st-century
224 pages · Hardcover · Akashic Books, Ltd.
Content warnings: violence