Like most of the others I've read from the Akashic Noir series, Austin Noir has some gems and some relative duds. This is probably the series' greatest strength and weakness; there's a little something for everyone, but it's tough to get to 5-star ratings when trying to please as many people as possible.

The ghost of a previous Austin haunts this collection, as the city loses its former character under the weight of constant growth (like so many before it, such as Vegas, Miami, Nashville, San Francisco, etc.). To quote a character in Lee Thomas's story, "The city used to have some cool. Now it's just popular." That theme echoes across most of these stories, with varying degrees of resonance.

For my money, standout stories here include "Stunts" by Ace Atkins (an aging stuntman blurs the line between his art and life), "Rush Hour" by Richard Z Santos (where everyone is a victim eventually), the grim "Charles Bronson" by Lee Thomas (no one outruns the sins of their past in this collection), and "Stitches" by Amy Gentry (a meandering whodunit journey through the unreliable characters populating days of college past).

The lows may be forgettable, but the highs in this collection are enjoyable enough to make the effort of finding them worthwhile. ( )

"Austin Noir" is an anthology of short stories that explore Texas capital. It takes you on a journey through he darker side of that area. From the suburbs to downtown, the stories in this collection feature a diverse range of characters and perspectives, all of whom are struggling with some form of darkness or danger. This collection does not shy away from really capturing everything - it seems no topic is off limits. This allows the reader to really feel like they are immersed in the city and its history. Overall, "Austin Noir" is a well-crafted and engaging collection of stories that will appeal to fans of crime fiction and anyone interested in exploring the darker side of the city of Austin. ( )

While I didn't find any low moments in this collection (and frankly low moments are very rare in the Akashic Noir series) I didn't find many high moments (not finding a half dozen high moments seems even more rare). I did think the very last story, "Bangface vs. Cleaning Solutions, LLC” by Andrew Hilbert was hilarious. It was ridiculous and juvenile...and fun. I'm on the fence if I'd like to read a longer tale with the titular character in it...I'm not sure if that would be too much of a good thing, but honestly, that story alone would be worth picking up this latest collection. There are plenty of other stories that are good, but I didn't think most rose to the level of great in comparison to the long line of Akashic books I've read previously. ( )

“Keep Austin Weird,” the bumper stickers and T-shirts say. “Growing up, Austin was cool because people around the country had heard of us but no one actually ever came here,” says the protagonist of Richard Z. Santos’s “Rush Hour.” “Then computer guys and Californians showed up, and now my old neighborhood is nothing but condos and oat milk.” As the editors note in their introduction, Austin has always been a little strange by Texas standards, but it was once strange in a way that was still recognizably Texan (“a touchstone of sixties counterculture with a Texas twang that made it less pretentious”), before the influx of high tech stretched the city’s infrastructure to its limits and pushed housing prices beyond the means of the lower- and middle-classes. In tackling Austin, Akashic has compiled another winning volume in its Noir series. Each story is memorable in its own way, but I especially liked the most noirish: Jeff Abbott’s “The Good Neighbor,” in which the title character has her suspicions about a young widow and her stepson; Amanda Moore’s “Reflections,” in which the recent Texas ice storms provide cover for a murder; and Lee Thomas’s “Charles Bronson,” a revenge tale about an ex-con hired to work security for a developer. I also enjoyed Andrew Hilbert’s not-just-weird-but-Austin-weird “Bangface vs. Cleaning Solutions, LLC,” in which a PI’s search for a straying husband uncovers an surprising approach to Austin’s homeless problem. And it’s always a pleasure to read a new Ace Atkins story; the one here, “Stunts,” reintroduces us to Jason Colson, stuntman father of Quinn and Caddy Colson (if you don’t know the Quinn Colson series, by all means, check it out). Highly recommended, as expected for entries in this series.

This is a compelling collection of short stories in the best traditions of Akashic Books noir series. I have read a number of these books and Austin Noir did not disappoint. Fifteen authors, each of whom wrote a story that left me wondering just how it was going to play out in the end. Once I began the collection I was reluctant to set it down until finished. Full disclosure: I received a complimentary copy for the purpose of this review. ( )