Akashic Books is a Brooklyn-based publisher with a winning formula: anthologies of genre fiction featuring local writers who turn a noir eye on their own neighbourhoods. Akashic’s Noir series is fifteen years old, with nearly 1 titles published to date. Together they offer an alphabet of crime, from Amsterdam Noir to Zagreb Noir, with stops in other, equally exotic locations: Baghdad, Beirut, Lagos, Staten Island. Vancouver Noir (edited by Sam Wiebe) is Akashic’s third volume of Canadian noir, following collections set in Montreal and Toronto. Wiebe is one of fourteen local writers featured in Vancouver Noir; some are familiar (Timothy Taylor, a Giller nominee), and some less so. Don English contributes a grim tale set in Crab Park (“Pilot picks up shifts in four bars along the Hastings strip and one illegal booze can above a closed artisanal butcher shop on Powell.”); Nathan Ripley’s “The Landecker Party” is set in Mount Pleasant (“We were surprised he was living in this place, one of the last true dumps on the block, instead of one of the endless condo buildings, only about half of which were tarped and scaffolded up for leaking roof repairs.”); West Vancouver is represented by Robin Spano’s “The Perfect Playgroup” (“Sage is dressed down today, in five-hundred-dollar riding boots and organic green leggings”). Yes, it’s formulaic, but what better gift for out-of-town visitors, who might otherwise be tempted by Vancouver’s seductive cosmetic sheen? It could make a fun party game, guessing which Canadian jurisdiction will next be represented by an all-noir Akashic makeover: Ottawa Noir? (“Revealed: the sickening depravities of federal bureaucrats gone rogue”); Victoria Noir? (“A shocking glimpse into the dank and seamy underside of Canada’s retirement capital”); Stratford Noir? (“Rips aside the curtain to reveal a theatrical frenzy of murder and bloody mayhem”).