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Variously presented as 'the flip side of the Kennedys' and the Cape after the summer preppies have gone home, this is a terrific anthology of unexpected stories, every bit as 'nuanced' as the cover blurb promises, if not always as 'profound' (but then profundity isn't everyone's principle requirement when it comes to noir). Edited by David Ulin, for whom Cape Cod is 'a repository of memory (spanning) forty summers in the same house', the anthology is part of Akashic Books award-winning series. Unlike some anthologies, this contains all-new stories by writers including Jedediah Berry (winner of the Hammett Prize), Dana Cameron (nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, Agatha and Macavity Awards), Boston Globe bestseller, Elyssa East and Adam Mansbach, whose humorous "children's" book Go the F*ck to Sleep was seen flying off UK bookshelves last Christmas. With a splendid map of the hooked arm of the Cape at the front end, the anthology is divided into three parts: Out of Season, Summer People, and End of the Line. Not that this dictates how readers choose where to dive in; like most anthologies, this is best read by opening at random. NINETEEN SNAPSHOTS OF DENNISPORT by Paul Tremblay is a story told in photographs, each one revealing a little more of the plot and the narrator's character. It's a neat conceit that carries the story smoothly to its expected but satisfying conclusion. VARIATIONS ON A FIFTY-POUND BALE by Adam Mansbach tells conflicting accounts of the fate of a bale of wrapped marijuana that comes ashore close to Martha's Vineyard. It's an ingeniously well-told story that demonstrates the inventiveness of the genre and has that fine lick of black humour that's found in the best noir tales. BAD NIGHT IN HYANNISPORT by Seth Greenland begins, 'I was dead. That was the main thing.' (This reader once passed a night in Hyannisport and wonders if the narrator didn't have the right idea.) No doubt it's been done before, and since, but what a great way to start a story. VIVA REGINA by Ben Greenman is told almost entirely in single lines, like a witness statement. You'll have read it before you realise you started. Clever. TWENTY-EIGHT SCENES FOR NEGLECTED GUESTS by Jedediah Berry combines lyrical prose with humour and hubris, crazy characters with mad names, and a dog with stubby legs and round ears. What more could a reader want? Crime writers are responsible for some of the best and most successful narrative tricks in the fiction trade; a skim through this anthology will bear witness to that. From well-placed red herrings to unreliable narrators and twists that will give you whiplash, it's all here. § Sarah Hilary is an award-winning short story author, currently working on a debut crime novel.
Reviewed by Sarah Hilary, February 2012
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