There are sinners, and there are saints. Some folks are one, some the other. NOIR QUARTET: Sinners & Saints presents four tales of mystery and crime from the grim and shadowy netherworld of 'Noir'. Join the lovers and cheaters, the crooks and killers, the innocent and guilty while they prowl dark alleys and dance halls, nightclubs and nightmares searching for their own slice of heaven, but only holding hands on their way to hell. Yes, there are sinners and there are saints. But, which one are you? Whodunits? Not so much. The Noir Quartet series of short story collections by C.J. Thomas are compact reads offering four dark tales of murder, mystery and more, set in the 'then' and the 'now', celebrating classic Noir tropes and then reimagining them in fresh settings.

Restoring proto-modernist little magazines—known as ephemeral bibelots—to the scholarly canon. Emanating from the cabarets of modernist Paris, a short-lived vogue spread around the world for avant-garde journals known in English as "ephemeral bibelots." For a time, it seemed that all the young bohemians passing through Paris started their own bibelots modeled on Le Chat Noir, the esoteric magazine of the famed Montmartre cabaret. These journals were recognizable for their decadence, campy queerness, astounding art nouveau illustrations, fin-de-siècle color schemes, innovative typefaces, and practiced bohemianism. In Ephemeral Bibelots, Brad Evans relays the untold story of this late-nineteenth-century craze for bibelots, dusting off a trove of periodicals largely untouched by digitization. In excavating this forgotten archive, Evans calls into question the prehistory of modernist little magazines as well as the history of American art and literature at the turn of the twentieth century. Considering how artistic movements take shape, move, and disappear, the book is organized around three major themes—"vogue," "ephemera," and "obscurity"—with authors and artists to match. A full-color insert reveals a glorious array of bibelot covers. This revisionary history of print culture incorporates discussions of pragmatist philosophy and relational aesthetics; women writers like Juliet Wilbor Tompkins and Carolyn Wells; the graphic artists Will Bradley, Louis Rhead, and John Sloan; the dancer Loie Fuller; and twentieth-century figures like H. L. Mencken, Amy Lowell, and Anita Loos. Bringing nineteenth-century American literature and culture into conversation with modern art movements from around the world, Ephemeral Bibelots provides new ways of thinking about the centrality of various media cultures to the attribution of aesthetic innovation and its staying power.

Featured In Vanity Fair Beverly Hills Noir explores the city’s true crime history, delving deep inside cases that made headlines, scandals that engulfed Hollywood legends, and more strange-but-true tales that could only happen in the 90210. Beverly Hills Noir chronicles an assortment of jaw-dropping true crime stories spanning the legendary city’s history, each with oh-so-90210 twists—including a high-profile murder mystery in the city’s most extravagant mansion, the daring exploits of a handsome cat burglar with movie star looks, a toxic Tinseltown love triangle that ended in gunplay, a brazen Rodeo Drive jewelry store holdup with tragically stunning finale, an Oscar nominated actress on shoplifting spree and more—complete with major roles and countless cameos by Hollywood idols and cultural icons. A gripping, century-long tour of the glamorous city’s shadowy underbelly through crimes and misdemeanors as over-the-top as the city itself, Beverly Hills Noir collects the kinds of stories you’d expect to be swapped if James Ellroy and Dominick Dunne had met Jackie Collins and Ryan Murphy for cocktails at the Polo Lounge. It’s Sunset Boulevard and Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood turned sordid, face-down-in-the-pool reality.

“Fourteen uniformly strong stories in [this] outstanding noir anthology devoted to Russia’s second city . . . an ideal backdrop for crime fiction.” —Publishers Weekly The origins of St. Petersburg’s rich noir tradition come from the city’s history, urban landscape, and the weather. The freezing winds from the Baltics give rise to hopelessness, despair, and the darkest of humor. The swamps upon which the city was built cloak it in a thick haze that inspires ghostly tales and furtive behaviors. In St. Petersburg Noir, you’ll find original stories by Lena Eltang, Sergei Nosov, Alexander Kudriavstev, Andrei Kivinov, Julia Belomlinsky, Natalia Kurchatova & Ksenia Venglinskaya, Anton Chizh, Vladimir Berezin, Andrei Rubanov, Vadim Levental, Anna Solovey, Mikhail Lialin, Pavel Krusanov, and Eugene Kogan. “The Russian soul is well suited to a style defined by dark, hard-edged moodiness in underground settings. With St. Petersburg, the tsar’s ‘Window on Europe,’ we get European-style existential angst as well—not to mention the scary sociopolitical realities of the new Russia . . . For all sophisticated crime fiction readers.” —Library Journal “A riveting collection. An insightful ‘tour’ of St. Petersburg. And a spellbinding introduction to Russian literature and perspective.” —Killer Nashville

Follow in the footsteps of history to discover the hidden places, extraordinary people, and captivating stories of Paris. Paris: Secret Gardens, Hidden Places, and Stories of the City of Light, Mary McAuliffe’s multilayered exploration of Paris, weaves a narrative that takes the reader into secret and hidden places, even in the midst of the most well-known Paris destinations. McAuliffe’s hidden places can be small but are always revealing, whether a bas-relief on an ignored corner of Notre-Dame or an overlooked courtyard inside an ancient and busy hospital. She takes the reader below the streets and sidewalks of Paris to discover ancient aqueducts and a lost river, and she prompts the reader to notice overlooked treasures in the most trafficked of museums. Always, McAuliffe’s focus is on people and their stories. Evil queens, designing noblemen, bold chevaliers, and desperate lovers mingle with Resistance fighters and obsessed artists rising out of abject poverty into unexpected fame and fortune, adding to the tidal wave of creativity that is the lifeblood of the City of Light. One person, place, and story lead to another, each linked by a common thread within the layered richness of Paris’s past. The story of Paris is not a chronology but an exploration of the many layers of this remarkable city throughout the ages.

The Akashic Noir Series moves fearlessly to the city hosting the European/Asian divide.

Brand-new stories by: Denis Hamill, Malachy McCourt, Maggie Estep, Megan Abbott, Robert Knightly, Liz Mart nez, Jill Eisenstadt, Mary Byrne, Tori Carrington, Shailly P. Agnihotri, K.j.a. Wishnia, Victoria Eng, Alan Gordon, Beverly Farley, Joe Guglielmelli, and Glenville Lovell. Includes the story "Bucker's Error," winner of the 2009 Edgar Award (Robert L. Fish Memorial Award) Robert Knightly is a trial lawyer in the Criminal Defense Division of the Queens Legal Aid Society. In another life, he was a lieutenant in the New York City Police Department. President of the New York chapter of Mystery Writers of America, he was born and raised in New York City and lives in Queens.

This is the first in the history of mankind book of poetry written in five languages by the same author. The five poems are rhymed and ranging from 47 to 416 lines. Not of a surprise that this is created by the first in the history of human affiliations man of 12 occupations in creative fields of humanitarian knowledge: painter, sculptor, poet, novelist, playwright, healer, surgeon, psychoanalyst, actor, singer, martial artist, and politician.

“Offbeat, disturbing, and sometimes darkly comical” crime stories set in upstate New York by Joyce Carol Oates, Lawrence Block, S.J. Rozan, and more (Kirkus Reviews). Buffalo is still the second-largest metropolis in New York State, but in recent years its designation as the Queen City has been elbowed aside by a name that’s pure noir: The City of No Illusions. Presidents came from here—and in 1901 while visiting the Pan-American Exposition, a president was killed here by a man who checked into a hotel under a name that translates as Nobody. As Buffalo saw its prosperity wane, those on the outside could only see harsh winters and Rust Belt grit, chicken wings, and sports teams that came agonizingly close. This collection of crime stories is both a treasure for mystery fans and an atmospheric tour of this moody, gritty city. Featuring brand-new stories by Joyce Carol Oates, Lawrence Block, Ed Park, Gary Earl Ross, Kim Chinquee, Christina Milletti, Tom Fontana, Dimitri Anastasopoulos, Lissa Marie Redmond, S.J. Rozan, John Wray, Brooke Costello, and Connie Porter. “From the Irish enclave of South Buffalo and a Niagara Street bar to a costly house in Nottingham Terrace and a once-grand Gothic structure in Elmwood Village, Buffalo’s past and present come to life . . . by authors who really know their city.” —Kirkus Reviews “Contributors include several mystery heavyweights. . . . Those curious about the criminal side of the second-biggest city in New York will be rewarded.” —Publishers Weekly “Each story represents a different neighborhood and cross-section of the city, and the resulting collection feels like a vivid, comprehensive tour of a distinctive place, administered by locals. There’s nothing quite like noir to shine a light, after all.” —Los Angeles Review of Books “Original short stories by established local authors with flawless credentials . . . .Together, the stories cover cityscapes well-known to Buffalonians—to name a few, Elmwood Avenue, Niagara Street, Black Rock, North Park, Delaware Park, and Allentown. Local landmarks Peace Bridge and the Anchor Bar made it in there, too.” —Examiner “Superb.” —The Buffalo News