In “Twin Cities Noir (The Expanded Edition),” crime scenes and stories are set across the cities’ neighborhoods. Image courtesy of Akashic Books

Indie press-made-good Akashic Books just released an expanded version of the Twin Cities installment in its globe-spanning, city-by-city Noir anthology series. In publication since 2004, with editions set in dozens of cities around the world, it’s no wonder the books have struck a chord. These collections, at their best, combine the genuine savor and escape of good travel writing with the hard-boiled pleasures of gritty crime fiction.

“Twin Cities Noir” was originally published in 2006, and included a selection of new stories steeped in the distinct flavors and history of neighborhoods across St. Paul and Minneapolis. Contributors include a variety of nationally-known Minnesota writers, including genre-favorites like Steve Thayer, David Housewright, William Kent Krueger, Mary Logue, Ellen Hart, Pete Hautman, Judith Guest and Larry Millet. The anthology’s St. Paul-based editors, Julie Schaper and Steven Horwitz — both publishing industry veterans of many years — also invited a number who usually write outside the genre to provide some stories: Mary Sharratt, Brad Zellar, Quinton Skinner, Chris Everheart, as well as crime writers Bruce Rubenstein, K.J. Erickson and Gary Bush.

The new “expanded edition” adds three new tales to the original lineup, all of them quite good: a witty story set in the Warehouse District, about what happens when grifter romance goes south, by up-and-comer John Jodzio; a trippy little skyways mystery in comic strip form by Tom Kaczynski; and a delightfully quirky David and Goliath tale by longtime film critic and sportswriter Peter Schilling Jr., combining early cinema apocrypha with the threat of corporate deeds most foul. Other standouts in the collection include Mary Sharratt’s twist on the form, “Taking the Bullets Out,” told from the perspective of an urban-core Minneapolis ER nurse; Larry Millet’s atmospheric, history-soaked mystery, “The Brewer’s Son,” set in 1890s St. Paul. I also love Chris Everhart’s droll “Chili Dog,” in which a gangster pays a high price for taking a proper lunch break.

Features three new stories by John Jodzio, Tom Kaczynski and Peter Schilling Jr.

It’s a fun, if uneven read (like all such anthologies) – particularly ripe for picking by locals who’ll delight in recognizing their stomping grounds in the stories, but with enough unexpected turns to make it worthwhile for those outside the Midwest, too.

Here’s my quibble: Where are the Twin Citizens of color in these pages? There’s an admirable balance of men and women represented, but no Asian-American, African-American, Latino or Native writers in the bunch. The one story (by David Housewright) with Hmong-American characters at its center reads like caricature of “the other”– cultural detail, such as it is, is used merely as a narrative device, effective in moving the story forward, maybe, but without nuance or heart.

And in the absence of a more authentic mix of voices, it’s not just diversity I’m missing, but the texture and dynamism they would have added to the sense of this place in these stories. We’ve got a diverse array of communities here; Twin Cities stories are Southeast Asian stories, Somali, Mexican and Ojibwe stories, too. What’s more, we have an abundance of talented, award-winning writers of color to hit up for some! If there’s ever a “Twin Cities Noir 2,” it would sure be nice to have a shot at reading what seamy tales of the cities they might come up with, if asked.

John Jodzio will read from his story “Someday All of This Will Probably Be Yours” at SubText Bookstore on Thursday, Aug. 15.

There will be a brief reading by “Twin Cities Noir” contributor John Jodzio, along with editors Julie Schaper and Steven Horwitz, on Thursday, August 15 at 7 p.m. SubText Books, 165 Western Ave. N, St. Paul (in the basement of Nina’s Café).  For more: https://www.facebook.com/events/634050989941148/. “Twin Cities Noir (The Expanded Edition)” is available in bookstores everywhere. For more: http://www.akashicbooks.com/subject/noir-series/.