If you are looking for foggy, dimly lit alleys echoing with the click-clack of a woman's high-heeled shoes, where a mook stiffs you for a drink, and where a glance can kill, look no further. This is the best in contemporary Canadian noir fiction.

Sixteen stories from both award-winning veteran crime writers and a new generation of gritty urban authors, this collection boldly defies the notion that Canadians are nicer than everyone else. Isolation, anxiety, and survival -- staple themes of Canadian literature -- are the foundations of noir. These powerful narratives feature street-savvy protagonists and corrupt characters struggling to find order, meaning, or maybe even redemption in a world of corruption, lust, mystery, and revenge.