This was a really well collated collection of short crime stories written by black authors. Some of them dealt specifically with the black experience, such as 'The Sheriff's Children', while others had a black protagonist, such as 'The Canasta Club'. My personal favourites were 'I'll be dog gone', 'black dog' and 'John Archer's Nose'. I thought that the narration was done very well and gave each story the right tone and atmosphere. Overall I would definitely recommend this collection and will check out some of the authors' other works.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Black Noir captured my attention immediately. I was able to visualize the characters, their feelings and develop an interest in the outcome. The author describes details with such skill you feel like you are right there. I especially enjoyed the time of the audiobook narrator. I would listen to this book again I enjoyed it so much.

Black Noir: Mystery, Crime, and Suspense Fiction by African-American Writers
Otto Penzler (Editor)
ISBN 9781696604765
Narrated by Sean Crisden; Joniece Abbott-Pratt
Published August 24, 2021
Review date: August 30, 2021

AN audio recording of a collection of crime fiction by African American writers including Robert Greer, Chester Himes, Walter Mosley, Cary Phillips, Frankie Bailey, and Richard Wright edited by Otto Penzler. The stories are fantastic, pulling me into the noir world. The only problem for me was that during the narration, my mind started to wander and I lost my place in the story. If you are thinking about this book, I recommend the printed version.
3 stars

I listened to the new audiobook edition of this anthology of short stories by Black authors that was first published in 2009. The arc that I had did not have either the author’s names or the titles of the stories listed in the chapter index. I like using anthologies to learn about authors who are new to me and got tired of having to guess the correct spelling of their names, so I looked on Amazon to get a complete list of the stories included in the book. Here it is, so you don’t have to look it up too (note that there are no stories by Frankie Bailey or Richard Wright, despite what the blurb says):

Edward Paul Jones. Old Boys, Old Girls
Paula L. Woods. I’ll be Doggone
Hughes Allison. Corollary
Robert O. Greer Jr. Oprah’s Song.
Ann Petry. On Saturday the Siren Sounds at Noon
Charles Chestnutt. The Sheriff’s Children
Gary Phillips. House of Tears
Eleanor Taylor Bland. The Canasta Club
Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins. Talma Gordon
Chester Himes. Strictly Business
Rudolph Fisher. John Archer’s Nose
George S Schuyler. The Shoemaker Murder
Gar Anthony Haywood. The First Rule Is
Alice Dunbar-Nelson. Summer Session.
Walter Mosley. Black Dog.

As usual with collections of this kind, the stories are a mixed bag. I’ll be Doggone and The Canasta Club are more in the cozy area. I liked them anyway. On Saturday the Siren Sounds at Noon and The Sheriff’s Children were heartbreaking. Others that I liked a lot were Old Boys, Old Girls, Talma Gordon and The First Rule Is. There are also some that bored me. I had already read some of these authors, but I found others that I want to try now. The narrators if the audiobook are Joniece Abbott-Pratt and Sean Crisden. They were both fine, but Crisden was the more creative of the two.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher.

Thank you to @netgalley @highbridgeaudio for the ALC in return for my honest review.
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My thoughts…
Interesting. I appreciated the introduction at the beginning about the history of Black Noir writers. The book is an anthology of 15 short stories written by African-American authors. Some of the stories were reprints, reintroducing authors who may have been forgotten. This was a mixed bag of mystery and suspense, of new and classic authors but not all were “noir” as per definition. The audiobook was not crisp, but it seemed to lend a little bit more mystery to the stories. I really like Edward P. Jones's “Old Boys, Old Girls” because of its bleak psychological description of an imprisoned man. I think Gary Phillips’s and Gar Anthony Haywood’s stories were actual noir.