LOCAL culture vultures know Denise Hamilton for her work as a journalist and mystery writer. She’s also edited two anthologies of crime fiction, Los Angeles Noir and its sequel, for Akashic Press.
The city of Glendale has just chosen the first book, made up mostly of new writing, as part of its One City/ One Book program. (The book includes pieces by Gary Phillips, Naomi Hirahawa, Michael Connelly, Janet Fitch and others.)
Here is my interview with Hamilton when LA Noir came out — she speaks quite intelligently about the importance of tradition while recognizing that the changing art form and much changed city make it feeble to fall back on familiar fedora-and-dahlia imagery.