First Class Killing

Brand-new stories by: Dennis Lehane, Stewart O'Nan, Patricia Powell, John Dufresne, Lynne Heitman, Don Lee, Russ Aborn, Itabari Njeri, Jim Fusilli, Brendan DuBois, and Dana Cameron.

Dennis Lehane (Mystic River , The Given Day) has proven himself to be a master of both crime fiction and literary fiction. Here, he extends his literary prowess to that of master curator. In keeping with the Akashic Noir series tradition, each story in Boston Noir is set in a different neighborhood of the city-the impressively diverse collection extends from Roxbury to Cambridge, from Southie to the Boston Harbor, and all stops in between.

Lehane’s own contribution-the longest story in the volume-is set in his beloved home neighborhood of Dorchester and showcases his phenomenal ability to grip the heart, soul, and throat of the reader.

In 2003, Lehane’s novel Mystic River was adapted into film and quickly garnered six Academy Award nominations (with Sean Penn and Tim Robbins each winning Academy Awards). Boston Noir launches in November 2009 just as Shutter Island, the film based on Lehane’s best-selling 2003 novel of the same title, hits the big screen.

On a cold afternoon on the North Shore of Massachusetts, the body of Ellen Shepard is found hanging by the neck in the attic of her home. She leaves no family. She leaves no note. And she leaves vacant her position as the general manager of the notoriously brutal Majestic Airlines operation at Boston’s Logan Airport. The police rule her death a suicide. The company calls it a “tragic loss to the Majestic family.” But the people who worked for her call it what it is-one more victim lost to the devastating secret buried in Logan’s past, and meant to stay there.

Alex Shanahan loves the airline business. At 34 years old, she has no husband, no children, no long-term relationships-not even a dog. She has her job, which over her career has taken her from airport to airport and city to city. She lives among boxes she no longer bothers to unpack and pursues the assignments no one else will take, the ones she considers to be the best opportunities. Taking charge of the Boston operation after Ellen Shepard’s suicide is the perfect challenge for Alex.

From the moment she sets foot at Logan, Alex is pulled into the intrigue of her predecessor’s death. She is welcomed by an obscene depiction of Ellen’s dead body twisting at the end of a rope. It’s a greeting from some of her new employees, a warning that secrets can kill, and a threat that once she knows them it will already be too late.

But Alex wants to know the truth. She follows a trail of corruption and betrayal from the ramp at Logan to the airline’s executive suites. What she uncovers could bring down the airline and destroy the lives and careers of everyone involved. It could also cost Alex her life.

She left the corporate world of airlines, lured by the dark arts of private investigation. Now Alex Shanahan is stirring up a cold case with global implications.

Years after she dumped him for a younger man, the scheming ex-wife of Alex's partner, Harvey Baltimore, returns for an unexpected visit. While Alex tries to figure out why Rachel is back, another mystery begins to unfold halfway around the world. Four years after a bloody, high-profile airline hijacking, personal effects belonging to the victims are found in a terrorist safe house. The discovery of this chilling time capsule triggers a chain reaction that leads straight back to Rachel. By the time Alex has untangled Rachel's lies, she will be on the run from the Russian Mafia, caught in the web of a global vigilante group, and forced to take a reluctant trip into her partner's past – where she will find the key to solving the mystery, but also learn painful lessons about holding on, letting go, and why some keys should never be used.

Brand-new stories by: Dennis Lehane, Stewart O'Nan, Patricia Powell, John Dufresne, Lynne Heitman, Don Lee, Russ Aborn, Itabari Njeri, Jim Fusilli, Brendan DuBois, and Dana Cameron.

Dennis Lehane (Mystic River , The Given Day) has proven himself to be a master of both crime fiction and literary fiction. Here, he extends his literary prowess to that of master curator. In keeping with the Akashic Noir series tradition, each story in Boston Noir is set in a different neighborhood of the city-the impressively diverse collection extends from Roxbury to Cambridge, from Southie to the Boston Harbor, and all stops in between.

Lehane’s own contribution-the longest story in the volume-is set in his beloved home neighborhood of Dorchester and showcases his phenomenal ability to grip the heart, soul, and throat of the reader.

In 2003, Lehane’s novel Mystic River was adapted into film and quickly garnered six Academy Award nominations (with Sean Penn and Tim Robbins each winning Academy Awards). Boston Noir launches in November 2009 just as Shutter Island, the film based on Lehane’s best-selling 2003 novel of the same title, hits the big screen.