Tel Aviv Noir

A man falls for a high-priced prostitute. A lonely grocery clerk becomes infatuated with a customer. A private detective discusses an unsolved case involving a famous writer and an Internet scam with dark ambitions. People blame strange occurrences on spirits called the Shin Bet. The lost work of a poet triggers a bizarre mystery. Tour guides violently compete for territory.

Akashic’s Noir/ series now encompasses dozens of cities, each with its own peculiar flavor and stories to tell, and as more and more foreign cities join the ranks, Akashic pushes the storytelling envelope even further, offering new voices a chance to share in the experience. With Tel Aviv Noir, they tackle one of the most politically sensitive places in the world, yet manage to remain surprisingly non-political.

Most of the stories fall under the umbrella of “small-time crime in an intriguing locale,” but there’s a marvelous underlying tension to them, a paranoid tinge, as if some vast monstrous conspiracy is lurking behind every misdeed and bad stroke of luck. And while your mileage may vary when it comes to some of the stories, others will no doubt grab your attention with ease.