I enjoy mysteries. I like the puzzle-solving aspect, the attention to characterisation, the recognition of the world's chaos and the restoration of order. I don't like detailed descriptions of brutality—some writers seem to compete to gross our the reader—but a good writer can overcome my reluctance. Dennis Lehane is one of those writers. He captured me with his first book, A Drink Before the War, and continues to engross me with his artistry.
I also like Boston. I lived nearby for some time and always meant to return. Perhaps I still will. So the combination made this book the perfect holiday gift for me. The stories are set in and around Boston, including Cambridge, North Quincy, and Watertown. Some of my favorite authors are represented: Stewart O'Nan, John Dufresne, and Brendan Du Bois. Some are new to me: Dana Cameron, Don Lee, and Lynne Heitman, among others.
The part I liked best was Lehane's introduction. He portrays Boston and her people in ways that I immediately recognized—the knucklehead humor, the war of gentrification. And he gives a succinct take on what constitutes noir. He suggests it can be characterised as a “working-class tragedy”, its heroes not going out in a blaze of Aristotelian glory, but rather “clutching fences or crumpled in trunks”. His terse and brilliant summation is that “Noir is a genre of loss, of men and women unable to roll with the changing times, so the changing times instead roll over them.”
It's hard to pick a favorite story from this collection, but it might be “Dark Waters” by Patricia Powell. It's about a woman who answers the door one night when the lights have gone out. “Her name was Perle, she was forty-seven, and just six months ago she got up one morning and decided she was leaving her marriage.” The subtle changes Perle and the person at her door undergo in these few pages left me breathless with admiration, sadness, and sympathy.
This book is part of a series, each set in a different location with an editor associated with that place. I find them an interesting way to visit or revisit cities here and abroad.
Have you read a book recently that is set in a place that is meaningful to you?
