Edited by James Ellroy and Otto Penzler, the anthology includes 39stories published from 1923 to 2007. The opening shot, “Spurs” by Tod Robbins,is a noir extravaganza set in a French circus. A good-natured dwarf lusts forthe beautiful bareback rider Jeanne Marie, who in turn loves the drunken rogue St. Eustache. After the farcical dwarf inherits hisuncle’s estate and weds Jeanne Marie, she contrives for St. Eustache to kill the little man. With its themes of betrayal andrevenge, the story sets the stage for much of what is to come in the anthology.
Without doubt the best stories are (1) David Morrell’s “The Dripping,”which begins with an artist returning home to a seemingly empty house. Soon,however, he hears a dripping noise coming from the basement, and finds milkdripping from every possible angle. Is he alone in the house? The suspense ismaddening and the final revelation will bring the horror full circle; (2) EvanHunter’s “The Last Spin,” wherein two New York gangland kingpins play Russian roulette tosettle a score that neither really understands. The tension between turns withthe gun is filled with the optimism that neither combatant will die and thatthey will actually become friends, just before the last pull of the trigger;and (3) Harlan Ellison’s “Mefisto in Onyx,” which may be the longest and bestpsycho rant of all time.
The format of the book is insidiously alluring, if the reader is patientenough to read the stories in order and discover the evolution of styles andthemes from one decade of noir to the next. Each step is not necessarily better, but more inventive and writtenwith greater confidence, adding to the fertile creativity of the genre andallowing it to advance itself in a rich and scary outré reality where the badguys and good guys meet in the middle.
