Tampa Bay Noir by Colette BancroftMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
There are short story collections that are mildly interesting, and there are collections that grab the reader's attention and won't turn loose until the last page. Tampa Bay Noir is definitely the latter.
Edited by Colette Bancroft (the book editor for the Tampa Bay Times since 2007), Tampa Bay Noir is one of two books representing Florida in publisher Akashic Books's noir series. (Miami is the other Florida city.) As with the other noir anthologies, this book has all new short stories; these are based in different areas of the Tampa Bay area, mainly Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties. Michael Connelly's "The Guardian," set in Hyde Park, opens the anthology; Tim Dorsey, Lisa Unger, and a host of others add stories/mysteries to this quirky, dark collection, ending with Colette Bancroft's "The Bite."
While some of the stories here may not be for the faint-of-heart, I found the book difficult to put down. Each story, each writer, took the book to another level that ensured that I will definitely put this into my rotation of books-to-reread-and-reread, year after year. It also left me with a list of writers who novels will soon be in my to-be-read pile.
For anyone who has lived in the Tampa Bay area, thought about living here, or just plain wants a book to keep one captivated, Tampa Bay Noir is definitely the book to pick up and read, cover to cover.
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