Fiction. TWIN CITIES NOIR is an anthology of brand-new stories by David Housewright, Steve Thayer, Judith Guest, Mary Louge, Bruce Rubenstein, K.J. Erickson, William Kent Krueger, Ellen Hart, Brad Zellar, Mary Sharratt, Pete Hautman, Larry Millett, Quinton Skinner, Gary Bush, and Chris Everheart. "St. Paul was originally called Pig's Eye's Landing and was named after Pig's Eye Parrant--trapper, moonshiner, & proprietor of the most popular drinking establishment on the Mississippi...By the turn of the twentieth century [Minneapolis] was considered one of the most crooked cities in the nation [and] as recently as the mid-'90s, Minneapolis was called "Murderopolis" due to a rash of killings that occurred over a long hot summer...Every city has its share of crime, but what makes the Twin Cities unique may be that we have more than our share of good writers to chronicle it. They are homegrown and they know the territory..."--From the Introducion. Steven Horwitz has worked in publishing for twenty-five years. He lives with his wife and two dogs in St Paul, Minnesota. Twin Cities Noir Akashic Books Copyright © 2006 Akashic Books All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-888451-97-9 Contents Introduction............................................................................19David Housewright Frogtown Mai-Nu's Window (St. Paul)..................................36Bruce Rubenstein North End Smoke Got in My Eyes (St. Paul).............................58K.J. Erickson Near North Noir Neige (Minneapolis)......................................73William Kent Krueger West Side Bums (St. Paul).........................................87Ellen Hart Uptown Blind Sided (Minneapolis)............................................111Brad Zellar Columbia Heights Better Luck Next Time (Minneapolis).......................132Mary Sharratt Cedar-Riverside Taking the Bullets Out (Minneapolis).....................148Pete Hautman Linden Hills The Guy (Minneapolis)........................................157Larry Millett West 7th-Fort Road The Brewer's Son (St. Paul)...........................181Quinton Skinner Downtown Loophole (Minneapolis)........................................193Steve Thayer Duluth Hi, I'm God (Up North).............................................218Judith Guest Edina Eminent Domain (Minneapolis)........................................226Mary Logue Kenwood Blasted (Minneapolis)...............................................232Gary Bush Summit-University If You Harm Us (St. Paul)..................................253Chris Everheart Downtown Chili Dog (St. Paul)..........................................260About the Contributors Introduction Tales of Two Cities Murder and mayhem are probably not the first things that come to mind when most people think of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. What comes to mind may be snow emergencies and sub-zero temperatures; Eugene McCarthy, Paul Wellstone, and Jesse "the body" Ventura; Dylan, Prince, and The Replacements; the Guthrie, Theatre de la June Lune, and Heart of the Beast; The Walker, St. Paul Cathedral, and The Mall of America; Mary Tyler Moore, Tiny Tim, and F. Scott Fitzgerald; Lake Harriet, Lake Como, maybe even Lake Wobegone, which, depending upon who you talk to, may or may not be real. But not crime. Everyone here has an opinion about what makes the cities different from each other and what ties them together. A type of social shorthand has developed over the years. Minneapolis is hip and St. Paul is working class. St. Paul is the political capital, Minneapolis is the cultural capital. St. Paul was built by timber money and Minneapolis from grain. There is some truth in these generalizations but the people who live here know it's not as simple as that and it never has been. You don't have to look hard to find the darker underside. St. Paul was originally called Pig's Eye's Landing and was named after Pig's Eye Parrant-trapper, moonshiner, and proprietor of the most popular drinking establishment on the Mississippi. Traders, river rats, missionaries, soldiers, land speculators, fur trappers, and Indian agents congregated in his establishment and made their deals. When Minnesota became a territory in 1849, the town leaders, realizing that a place called Pig's Eye might not inspire civic confidence, changed the name to St. Paul, after the largest church in the city. The following verse appeared in the paper shortly after: Pig's Eye, converted thou shalt be like Saul. Thy name henceforth shall be St. Paul. St. Paul was a haven for cons on the lam in the 1920s and '30s. Bad guys across the country knew about the O'Connor system. A criminal could come to St. Paul, check in with police chief John O'Connor, and walk the streets openly, as long as he or she promised to stay clean. Ma Barker, Creepy Alvin Karpis, Baby Face Nelson, and Machine Gun Kelley spent time in the cities. The system fell apart in the early '30s, about the time t