Brooklyn Noir  is back with a vengeance, this time with the masters of yore: H.P. Lovecraft, Donald Westlake, Lawrence Block, Pete Hamill, Jonathan Lethem, Colson Whitehead, and more! “An assortment of the borough’s crime-fiction masterminds get down to the gritty details in this entertaining collection of chilling stories.” ― BKLYN “ Brooklyn Noir 2: The Classics , edited by Tim McLoughlin, is the perfect companion to McLoughlin’s successful all-original anthology.” ― Publishers Weekly Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with  Brooklyn Noir . Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. Featuring stories by: H.P. Lovecraft, Lawrence Block, Donald E. Westlake, Pete Hamill, Jonathan Lethem, Colson Whitehead, Irwin Shaw, Carolyn Wheat, Thomas Wolfe, Hubert Selby, Jr., Stanley Ellin, Gilbert Sorrentino, Maggie Estep, and Salvatore Lapuma. From the introduction by Tim McLoughlin: The success of Brooklyn Noir, launched in the summer of 2004, surpassed all expectations. I’m pleased to say . . . Working on this volume has been a different task than the first, in that there was little interaction, from an editorial point of view, with the writers, some of whom are deceased. This time I felt more like an archeologist, mining volumes old and new, looking for treasure. The rule for the first Brooklyn Noir had been that each story had to be previously unpublished. Here, just the opposite. Brooklyn Noir 2 stories had to have been printed somewhere else before they hit the doorstep. That was about the only difference. I tried again to capture the special dread, tension, and solid writing that good dark fiction possesses. The scary feeling of watching the average Joe getting in over his head, or accidentally brushing up against something sinister on the way to work . . . The tales cross all boundaries of past and present, well-known and unknown neighborhoods, literary and genre traditions. It all goes into that great cocktail shaker that is Brooklyn. As editor, I have the pleasure of picking the ingredients, mixing them, and serving them to you. And that makes me the luckiest bartender in the world. Enjoy. Brooklyn Noir (2004)^B featured originals, but here, McLoughlin mines reprints, allowing him to pay tribute to "all the great stories that had given me the idea for such a book in the first place." These 13 Brooklyn-centric stories are slotted into the volume 1 categories ("Old School," "New School," "Cops and Robbers," and "Backwater Brooklyn") but with authors as wildly diverse as H. P. Lovecraft, Hubert Selby Jr., Donald E. Westlake, and Jonathan Lethem. (Pete Hamill and Maggie Estep make return appearances.) It's certainly possible to argue whether Lethem and Estep belong in a volume of "classics," or even whether the book is appropriately named (continuing the devaluation of the word noir , here it's a generic "dark fiction"). But, though stylistically scattershot, this is good stuff, from Lovecraft's baroque "The Horror at Red Hook" to Selby's "Tralala" (one of the stories in Last Exit to Brooklyn ) to "By the Dawn's Early Light," a great Matt Scudder story by Lawrence Block. Terrific appeal for Brooklynites, but may seem an odd mix to the rest of the country. Keir Graff Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "Here, McLoughlin mine reprints, allowing him to pay tribute to “all the great stories that had given me the idea for such a book in the first place” . . . Terrific appeal for Brooklynites." ― Booklist "Murder. Mystery. Mayhem. Once again we visit the borough of Brooklyn by way of deftly authored stories by those who live and breathe it . . . Editor Tim McLoughlin handpicked a tome full of the best tales already told about the duplicitousness of both Brooklyn’s landscapes and inhabitants." ― Tablet " Brooklyn Noir 2 is gritty nostalgia served with a side dish of modern noir, always insightful and colorful without apology―much like the borough itself." ― Futures MYSTERY Anthology Magazine "Packed full of literary treats . . . The stories here are all set in Brooklyn and date from early in the last century to the present day . . . What a fine collection. My thanks to Tim McLoughlin for such an intelligent and splendid anthology." ― Mystery Scene Magazine BROOKLYN NOIR is back with a vengeance, this time with the masters of yore: H.P. Lovecraft, Lawrence Block, Donald Westlake, Pete Hamill, Jonathan Lethem, Colson Whitehead, Irwin Shaw, Carolyn Wheat, Thomas Wolfe, Hubert Selby, Stanley Ellin, Gilbert Sorrentino, Maggie Estep, and Salvatore La Puma. Awards & Praise for the first BROOKLYN NOIR anthology: BROOKLYN NOIR is an EDGAR AWARD Finalist for "The Book Signing" by Pete Hamill, and winner of the MWA's ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD for "Can't Catch Me" by Thomas Morrissey. BROOKLYN NOIR stories "When All This Was Bay Ridge" by Tim McLoughlin and "Case Closed" by