Havana noir / edited by Achy Obejas.

The title of each story is followed by the area of Havana in which it takes place. Each area is shown on the map at the front of the book.

Contributor Yoss is also known as José Miguel Sáchez Gómez.

Part I: Sleepless in Havana --

Nowhere Man (Old Havana) / Miguel Mejides -- The last passenger (Vedado) / Ena Lucía Portela -- The scene (Malecón) / Mylene Fernández Pintado -- Starring at the sun (Marianao) / Leonardo Padura --

Part II: Escape to Nowhere --

The dinner (Flores) / Carolina García-Aguilera -- Johnny Ventura's seventh try (Jaimanitas) / Pablo Medina -- Shanghai (Siboney) / Alex Abella -- Murder at 503 La Rosa (Ayestarán) / Moisés Asís -- Murder according to my mother-in-law (El Cerro) / Arturo Arango --

Part III: Sudden rage --

The orchid (Santos Suárez) / Mariela Varona Roque -- What for, this burden (Vibora) / Michel Encinosa Fú -- The red bridge (Lawton) / Yoss -- La Coca-Cola del Olvido (Centro Habana) / Lea Aschkenas --

Part IV: Drowning in silence --

Zenzizenzic (Chinatown) / Achy Obejas -- Virgins of Regla (Regla) / Mabel Cuesta -- Olúo (Casablanca) / Arnaldo Correa -- Settling of Scores (Cojímar) / Oscar F. Ortíz -- Abikú (Alamar) / Yohamma Depestre --

"Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. In Havana Noir, celebrated Cuban-born fiction writer Achy Obejas gathers a groundbreaking crew of authors to examine the dark side of a city characterized by ironic and wrenching contradictions." -- from the back cover

"To most outsiders, Havana is a tropical sin city: a Roman ruin of sex and noise, a parallel universe familiar but exotic, and embargoed enough to serve as a release valve for whatever desire or pulse has been repressed or denied. Habaneros know that this is neither new--long before Havana collapsed during the Revolution's Special Period, all the way back to colonial times, it had already been the destination of choice for foreigners who wanted to indulge in what was otherwise forbidden to them--nor particularly true. In the real Havana--the lawless Havana that never appears in the postcards or tourist guides--the concept of sin has been banished by the urgency of need. And need--aching and hungry--inevitably turns the human heart darker, feral, and criminal. In this Havana, crime, though officially vanquished by revolutionary decree, is both wistfully quotidian and personally vicious. In the stories of Havana Noir, current and former residents of the city--some international sensations such as Leonardo Padura, others exciting new voices like Yohamna Depestre--uncover crimes of violence and loveless sex, of mental cruelty and greed, of self-preservation and collective hysteria." -- from goodreads.com

Gift of Karen Wald.

Johnny Temple and Akashic Books were honored with the 2013 Ellery Queen Award, “given to editors or publishers who have distinguished themselves by their generous and wide-ranging support of the genre.” Akashic was honored for the growing Noir Series of location-based mystery & crime stories.