Reading
Local Book Club. July 1, 7pm at the Goose
Hollow Inn, Portland. Joining Portland
Noir editor Kevin Sampsell and Gabe Barber, host of Reading
Local, to discuss Portland Noir.
Murder by the Book,
Wednesday, July 15th, 7:30pm. Reading from Portland Noir.
Also appearing, editor Kevin Sampsell and contributor Kimberly Warner-Cohen,
plus contributors to Seattle
Noir.
Portland Noir
In a city full of police controversies, hippie artist punk houses, and overzealous liberals, Portland, Oregon, is a place where even its fiction blurs with its bizarre realities.
Publishers Weekly says Portland Noir is a “splendid entry in Akashic’s noir series.” Allison Hallett in the Portland Mercury describes “Coffee, Black,” as “funny and knowing and goofily hard-boiled, a nice homage to the noir tradition.” The Oregonian adds, “The gritty, aging side of PDX hipster culture is nailed flawlessly and the insurance scam at the heart of the story rings perfectly noir.”
First runner-up for the 2009 Spotted Owl Award
Portland homicide detective Skin Kadash just wants to survive cancer treatment so he can get back to the work he loves. When his partner tries to drag him into an unofficial investigation of a series of deaths, he’s not interested — he’s dead-dog sick and doesn’t need the grief — until she reveals the victims all suffered from cancer themselves, and all had one thing in common with Skin. His oncologist.
- Excerpt
- The Chasing Smoke Trailer
- The Chasing Smoke Photo Tour of Portland
- Chasing Smoke Soundtrack
- Available from Bleak House Books
- Now available for Kindle
Learn More...
News
Chasing Smoke Reviews:
- ★ Library Journal: Starred review, “Highly recommended.”
- At Booklist, David Pitt describes Chasing Smoke as “dirty and visceral and intricate, and it engages the reader on an emotional as well as literary level.”
- An IndieBound Notable List Next pick for January 2009.
- “...an instant mystery classic with vivid characters crafted with realistically deep personalities and secrets that keep you guessing to the very end,” says The Clarion in Madison, Wisconsin.
- “[T]his was both a sorrowful and engaging read that was well worth the cover price,” says Stephanie Padilla at the New Mystery Reader.
- Independent Crime Fiction: “an entertaining, well plotted mystery well worth checking out.”
- Books 'n Bytes: “couldn’t put it down.”
- Murder by the Book: “an entertaining and solid read.”




