Twin Cities Noir

ALSO IN THE AKASHIC NOIR SERIES:

Brooklyn Noir, edited by Tim McLoughlin

D.C. Noir, edited by George Pelecanos

Manhattan Noir, edited by Lawrence Block

Baltimore Noir, edited by Laura Lippman

Dublin Noir, edited by Ken Bruen

Chicago Noir, edited by Neal Pollack

San Francisco Noir, edited by Peter Maravelis

Brooklyn Noir 2: The Classics, edited by Tim McLoughlin

FORTHCOMING:

Los Angeles Noir, edited by Denise Hamilton

London Noir, edited by Cathi Unsworth

Wall Street Noir, edited by Peter Spiegelman

Miami Noir, edited by Les Standiford

Havana Noir, edited by Achy Obejas

Bronx Noir, edited by S.J. Rozan

New Orleans Noir, edited by Julie Smith

For Sylvia—olehasholiem

Acknowledgments

Thanks go out to all our bookselling friends, especially Pat Frovarp and Gary Shulze, Jeff Hatfield, Lyle Starkloff, Hans Weyandt, and Tom Bielenberg. Thanks also to Johnny Temple for giving us the opportunity, and to Johanna Ingalls for being Johanna Ingalls. And thanks to the Twin Cities writing community for their generosity and trust. If it weren’t for you, there would only be an introduction.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright Page

Introduction

DAVID HOUSEWRIGHT                Frogtown

Mai-Nu’s Window                        (St. Paul)

BRUCE RUBENSTEIN                   North End

Smoke Got in My Eyes               (St. Paul)

K.J. ERICKSON                           Near North

Noir Neige                                  (Minneapolis)

WILLIAM KENT KRUEGER           West Side

Bums                                           (St. Paul)

ELLEN HART                               Uptown

Blind Sided                                  (Minneapolis)

BRAD ZELLAR                             Columbia Heights

Better Luck Next Time                (Minneapolis)

MARY SHARRATT                        Cedar-Riverside

Taking the Bullets Out                 (Minneapolis)

PETE HAUTMAN                            Linden Hills

The Guy                                       (Minneapolis)

LARRY MILLETT                          West 7th-Fort Road

The Brewer’s Son                         (St. Paul)

QUINTON SKINNER                       Downtown

Loophole                                      (Minneapolis)

STEVE THAYER                             Duluth

Hi, I’m God                                 (Up North)

JUDITH GUEST                              Edina

Eminent Domain                          (Minneapolis)

MARY LOGUE                               Kenwood

Blasted                                          (Minneapolis)

GARY BUSH                                  Summit-University

If You Harm Us                            (St. Paul)

CHRIS EVERHEART                       Downtown

Chili Dog                                      (St. Paul)

About 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, change 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.