Manhattan Noir 2: The Classics

They're classics for a reason: this collection, unlike the first Manhattan Noir, includes stories (and poems) that were all previously published, rather than commissioned for the anthology. While, as with any collection, I didn't like all the selections, I was impressed by a much higher percentage in this second volume. Some stories were by authors I knew, and knew it would be hard to go wrong with, like Edith Wharton, O. Henry, Langston Hughes, and more, but there were others by authors I was unfamiliar with (although I had heard of some of them) but whose work stunned me, such as amazing stories by Cornell Woolrich and Evan Hunter and others by Irwin Shaw and Donald E. Westlake. As with the earlier volume, the conceit is that each story represents a Manhattan neighborhood and, as with it, in most cases the story is just located in that neighborhood rather than being specific to it in some way. But, all in all, a fun collection.

liked these old stories better than the new ones in noir 1. ( )