Linda L. Richards’s “Terminal City” has received the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Short Story presented by Crime Writers of Canada!

Editor Sam Wiebe’s “Wonderful Life” has been named a finalist for the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Short Story presented by Crime Writers of Canada!

“Vancouver Noir . . . keeps its quality as high as its characters’ moral standards are low . . . Akashic Books, publisher of an excellent regional noir anthology series, gives Vancouver a pat-down.”
—Shelf Awareness for Readers

“There’s the Vancouver of charming neighborhoods, vast verdant parks, lovely beaches and snow-capped mountains as a backdrop to it all. But the Vancouver of the newly published Vancouver Noir collection of 14 original short stories is the unsettling underside of all that — and the project masterminds couldn’t be happier.”
—Globe & Mail

“Vancouver writer Sam Wiebe likes to describe crime fiction as the ultimate anti-travel guide. Instead of taking readers on a tour of charming local hot spots, it delivers them to the dark underbelly of a city, inviting them to follow detectives down sketchy streets and back alleys normally hidden from tourist view. According to Wiebe, if you want to really know a city, read its murder mysteries.”
—Montecristo Magazine, included in a feature on Vancouver-set Noir titles

“The latest Akashic ‘Noir’ collection features stories by Canadian writers, both crime writers and not, residents and expats, with stories all about characters who live in gritty everyday Vancouver, BC, settings . . . For fans of the city, noir fiction, and the series.”
—Library Journal

“Vancouver’s reputation is that of outdoor fun, athleisure wear clothing and craft beer. But don’t be fooled by all the S’well water bottles; there’s a much darker side to the city, a side that is chronicled in the new short-story anthology Vancouver Noir.”
—Vancouver Sun

“Vancouver Noir is an excellent anthology that would appeal to short-story fans of all types – even those who don’t read the genre on a regular basis . . . Like the earlier volumes Toronto Noir and Montreal Noir, the new anthology serves as a fantastic introduction for those unfamiliar with the genre and a reminder that Canada, bursting with amazing writers, is one of the strongest countries for crime writing in the world.”
—Quill & Quire, Starred Review

“Despite its rainy weather, Vancouver has a sunny disposition: diverse, optimistic, welcoming. But editor Wiebe maintains that it has its share of urban troubles: poverty, drugs, violence. Gentrification may make Vancouver’s crime look a little less gritty, but it’s just as corrosive . . . Given the book’s mix of wily pros, moody misfits, bewildered bystanders, and a touch of the supernatural, Wiebe makes a strong case that as far as crime is concerned, Vancouver is ‘a city like any other.'”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Wiebe and the 13 other mostly Canadian contributors to this solid anthology expose the seedy underbelly that belies the Vancouver known to tourists and fans of the many films shot in Hollywood North . . . Noir aficionados will find plenty to like.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Another winner in this always-interesting series and a real treat for fans of short crime fiction.”
—Booklist Online

“The beauty of the Akashic series of noir short story anthologies is that they offer local writers a chance to say ‘here’s our town.’ This crop of writers, assembled and edited by Sam Wiebe, succeeds in a gritty, moody way.”
—New York Journal of Books

“Vancouver is the noirest city in the country, and probably one of the noirest in the world. It’s a port city, with its stubbornly ungentrified neighbourhoods kicking against one of the world’s craziest real estate scenes, with strong Indigenous and Asian presence as a foundational urban principle, not to mention a history of gruesome crime and political intrigue . . . [Vancouver Noir] will do the work to wrench Vancouver’s identity away from the banality of real estate into something chewy, like literary murder.”
—Toronto Star

“This collection is not just for those interested in Vancouver or in noir. The stories here are really entertaining and will keep you reading. Vancouver is ‘a city in flux,’ writes Wiebe, ‘a city struggling to redefine itself. A city under siege.’ While both the good and bad exist here, modern noir thrives on that grey. In the meantime, its writers are excellent tour guides and Vancouver Noir is a page-turner you won’t want to put down.”
—The Ormsby Review

“The 14 new stories here—selected by renowned Vancouver crime novelist Sam Wiebe, who has himself contributed a tale—are by a heavy-hitting roster of local talent, including Carleigh Baker, Dietrich Kalteis, Sheena Kamal, Linda L. Richards, Timothy Taylor, and Yasuko Thanh.”
—Georgia Straight

“Indeed, the 21st century has already given us an abundance of noir-themed Vancouver texts. These include a bevy of true crime books, several photo histories, and more than one noir anthology. A nadir comes this fall with the arrival of a new Vancouver noir anthology from Brooklyn-based small press Akashic Books. Akashic, with a long-running series of city-specific noir fiction anthologies including Toronto, Montreal, Buenos Aires, Singapore, and even Cape Cod, offers up what might very well be the crown jewel of Vancouver noir texts.”
—BrokenPencil

“Vancouver Noir is one of my favorites of the Akashic noir collection. It is eminently readable with vibrant characters and haunting stories. Every entry gives us a sterling example of the city I didn’t get a chance to see when I was visiting. The collection’s authors are all renowned writers, as one would expect from a city like Vancouver.”
—The Cyberlibrarian

Sheena Kamal’s “Eight Game-Changing Tips on Public Speaking” and R.M. Greenaway’s “The Threshold” have both been featured on Little Big Crimes!

“The rain-soaked Pacific Northwest may not be a tradition setting for ‘noir’ but with a city in flux, like Vancouver, there’s no shortage of incisive, mysterious, violent stories, touching on the city’s housing crisis, its thriving movie industry, and many more mysteries. Contributors include Nathan Ripley, Sheena Kamal, and the collection’s editor, Sam Wiebe. This is the perfect balance of captivating page-turners and hard-hitting social noirs.”
—Crime Reads, Included in Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2018