This collection is comprised of works of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors’ imaginations. Any resemblance to real events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Published by Akashic Books
©2010 Akashic Books
Series concept by Tim McLoughlin and Johnny Temple
Los Angeles map by Sohrab Habibion
ISBN-13: 978-1-936070-02-2
e-ISBN: 9781617752209
Library of Congress Control Number: 2009911099
All rights reserved | First printing
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Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint the stories in this anthology. “Murder in Blue” by Paul Cain was originally published in Black Mask (June 1933) as “Murder Done in Blue,” © 1933 by Pro-Distributors Publishing Co., Inc., renewed © 1961 by Popular Publications, Inc., assigned to Keith Alan Deutsch, publisher and proprietor of Black Mask Magazine; “I Feel Bad Killing You” by Leigh Brackett was originally published in New Detective Magazine (November 1944), © 1944 by Leigh Brackett, reprinted by permission of the Huntington National Bank for the Estate of Leigh Brackett, c/o Spectrum Literary Agency; “Dead Man” by James M. Cain was originally published in the American Mercury (March 1936), © 1963 by James M. Cain, reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates, Inc.; “The Night’s for Cryin’” by Chester Himes was originally published in Esquire (January 1937), licensed here from The Collected Stories of Chester Himes, © 1990 by Lesley Himes, reprinted by permission of Da Capo/Thunder’s Mouth, a member of Perseus Book Group; “Find the Woman” by Ross Macdonald was originally published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (June 1946), © 1973 by the Margaret Millar Charitable Remainder Unitrust u/a 12 April 1982, reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates, Inc.; “The Chirashi Covenant” by Naomi Hirahara was originally published in A Hell of a Woman: An Anthology of Female Noir (Houston: Busted Flush Press, 2007), © 2007 by Naomi Hirahara; “High Darktown” by James Ellroy was originally published in The New Black Mask No. 5 (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1986), © 1986 by James Ellroy; “The People Across the Canyon” by Margaret Millar was originally published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (October 1962), © 1990 by the Margaret Millar Charitable Remainder Unitrust u/a 12 April 1982, reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates, Inc.; “Surf” by Joseph Hansen was originally published in Playguy (January 1976), © 1976 by Joseph Hansen, reprinted by permission of Johnson & Alcock Literary Agency; “The Kerman Kill” by William Campbell Gault was originally published in Murder in Los Angeles (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1987), © 1987 by William Campbell Gault, reprinted by permission of Shelley Gault; “Crimson Shadow” by Walter Mosley was originally published in Edward Hopper and the American Imagination (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1995), © 1995 by Walter Mosley, reprinted by permission of the Watkins/Loomis Agency, Inc.; “Rika” (excerpted from the novel Understand This) by Jervey Tervalon was originally published by William Morrow & Co., in 1994, © 1994 by Jervey Tervalon; “Lucía” (excerpted from the novel Locas) by Yxta Maya Murray was originally published by Grove Press, in 1997, © 1997 by Yxta Maya Murray, reprinted by permission of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.; “Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta” by Kate Braverman was originally published in Squandering the Blue: Stories (New York: Fawcett, 1990), © 1990 by Kate Braverman.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Page
Introduction
PART I: KISS KISS BANG BANG
PAUL CAIN
Downtown
Murder in Blue
1933
LEIGH BRACKETT
Santa Monica
I Feel Bad Killing You
1944
JAMES M. CAIN
San Fernando
Dead Man
1936
CHESTER HIMES
South Los Angeles
The Night’s for Cryin’
1937
PART II: AFTER THE WAR
ROSS MACDONALD
Beverly Hills
Find the Woman
1946
NAOMI HIRAHARA
Terminal Island
The Chirashi Covenant
2007
JAMES ELLROY
West Adams
High Darktown
1986
PART III: KILLER VIEWS
MARGARET MILLAR
L.A. Canyon
The People Across the Canyon
1962
JOSEPH HANSEN
Venice
Surf
1976
WILLIAM CAMPBELL GAULT
Pacific Palisades
The Kerman Kill
1987
PART IV: MODERN CLASICS
WALTER MOSLEY
Watts
Crimson Shadow
1995
JERVEY TERVALON
Baldwin Hills
Rika
1994
YXTA MAYA MURRAY
Echo Park
Lucía
1997
KATE BRAVERMAN
Bel Air
Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta
1990
Acknowledgments
About the Contributors
INTRODUCTION
TOILING IN THE DREAM FACTORY
Los Angeles is a young city. As recently as the 1860s, it was still a dusty Spanish pueblo where the Zanjero who regulated the water flow from the L.A. River earned more than the mayor.
Unlike the eastern seaboard, whose world of arts and letters predates the American Revolution, Los Angeles literature bloomed late. But our scant history and tradition freed us up to create new myths. We made it up as we went along.
Visiting writers were both intrigued and appalled. They praised the city’s golden light and stunning landscapes while damning its vulgarity, hedonism, and the surreal spectacle of Hollywood.