PALM SPRINGS NOIR
EDITED BY
BARBARA DEMARCO-BARRETT
This collection comprises works of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors’ imaginations or used in a fictitious manner.
Published by Akashic Books
©2021 Akashic Books
Series concept by Tim McLoughlin and Johnny Temple
Palm Springs map by Sohrab Habibion
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-61775-928-4
E-ISBN: 978-1-61775-938-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020948265
All rights reserved
First printing
Akashic Books
Brooklyn, New York
Twitter: @AkashicBooks
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E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.akashicbooks.com
In Shakespeare, tragic heroes fall from mountaintops; in noir, they fall from curbs.
—Dennis Lehane
ALSO IN THE AKASHIC NOIR SERIES
ACCRA NOIR (GHANA), edited by NANA-AMA DANQUAH
ADDIS ABABA NOIR (ETHIOPIA), edited by MAAZA MENGISTE
ALABAMA NOIR, edited by DON NOBLE
AMSTERDAM NOIR (NETHERLANDS), edited by RENÉ APPEL AND JOSH PACHTER
ATLANTA NOIR, edited by TAYARI JONES
BAGHDAD NOIR (IRAQ), edited by SAMUEL SHIMON
BALTIMORE NOIR, edited by LAURA LIPPMAN
BARCELONA NOIR (SPAIN), edited by ADRIANA V. LÓPEZ & CARMEN OSPINA
BEIRUT NOIR (LEBANON), edited by IMAN HUMAYDAN
BELFAST NOIR (NORTHERN IRELAND), edited by ADRIAN McKINTY & STUART NEVILLE
BELGRADE NOIR (SERBIA), edited by MILORAD IVANOVIC
BERKELEY NOIR, edited by JERRY THOMPSON & OWEN HILL
BERLIN NOIR (GERMANY), edited by THOMAS WÖERTCHE
BOSTON NOIR, edited by DENNIS LEHANE
BOSTON NOIR 2: THE CLASSICS, edited by DENNIS LEHANE, MARY COTTON & JAIME CLARKE
BRONX NOIR, edited by S.J. ROZAN
BROOKLYN NOIR, edited by TIM McLOUGHLIN
BROOKLYN NOIR 2: THE CLASSICS, edited by TIM McLOUGHLIN
BROOKLYN NOIR 3: NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH, edited by TIM McLOUGHLIN & THOMAS ADCOCK
BRUSSELS NOIR (BELGIUM), edited by MICHEL DUFRANNE
BUENOS AIRES NOIR (ARGENTINA), edited by ERNESTO MALLO
BUFFALO NOIR, edited by ED PARK & BRIGID HUGHES
CAPE COD NOIR, edited by DAVID L. ULIN
CHICAGO NOIR, edited by NEAL POLLACK
CHICAGO NOIR: THE CLASSICS, edited by JOE MENO
COLUMBUS NOIR, edited by ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
COPENHAGEN NOIR (DENMARK), edited by BO TAO MICHAËLIS
DALLAS NOIR, edited by DAVID HALE SMITH
D.C. NOIR, edited by GEORGE PELECANOS
D.C. NOIR 2: THE CLASSICS, edited by GEORGE PELECANOS
DELHI NOIR (INDIA), edited by HIRSH SAWHNEY
DETROIT NOIR, edited by E.J. OLSEN & JOHN C. HOCKING
DUBLIN NOIR (IRELAND), edited by KEN BRUEN
HAITI NOIR, edited by EDWIDGE DANTICAT
HAITI NOIR 2: THE CLASSICS, edited by EDWIDGE DANTICAT
HAVANA NOIR (CUBA), edited by ACHY OBEJAS
HELSINKI NOIR (FINLAND), edited by JAMES THOMPSON
HONG KONG NOIR, edited by JASON Y. NG & SUSAN BLUMBERG-KASON
HOUSTON NOIR, edited by GWENDOLYN ZEPEDA
INDIAN COUNTRY NOIR, edited by SARAH CORTEZ & LIZ MARTÍNEZ
ISTANBUL NOIR (TURKEY), edited by MUSTAFA ZIYALAN & AMY SPANGLER
KANSAS CITY NOIR, edited by STEVE PAUL
KINGSTON NOIR (JAMAICA), edited by COLIN CHANNER
LAGOS NOIR (NIGERIA), edited by CHRIS ABANI
LAS VEGAS NOIR, edited by JARRET KEENE & TODD JAMES PIERCE
LONDON NOIR (ENGLAND), edited by CATHI UNSWORTH
LONE STAR NOIR, edited by BOBBY BYRD & JOHNNY BYRD
LONG ISLAND NOIR, edited by KAYLIE JONES
LOS ANGELES NOIR, edited by DENISE HAMILTON
LOS ANGELES NOIR 2: THE CLASSICS, edited by DENISE HAMILTON
MANHATTAN NOIR, edited by LAWRENCE BLOCK
MANHATTAN NOIR 2: THE CLASSICS, edited by LAWRENCE BLOCK
MANILA NOIR (PHILIPPINES), edited by JESSICA HAGEDORN
MARRAKECH NOIR (MOROCCO), edited by YASSIN ADNAN
MARSEILLE NOIR (FRANCE), edited by CÉDRIC FABRE
MEMPHIS NOIR, edited by LAUREEN P. CANTWELL & LEONARD GILL
MEXICO CITY NOIR (MEXICO), edited by PACO I. TAIBO II
MIAMI NOIR, edited by LES STANDIFORD
MIAMI NOIR: THE CLASSICS, edited by LES STANDIFORD
MILWAUKEE NOIR, edited by TIM HENNESSY
MISSISSIPPI NOIR, edited by TOM FRANKLIN
MONTANA NOIR, edited by JAMES GRADY & KEIR GRAFF
MONTREAL NOIR (CANADA), edited by JOHN MCFETRIDGE & JACQUES FILIPPI
MOSCOW NOIR (RUSSIA), edited by NATALIA SMIRNOVA & JULIA GOUMEN
MUMBAI NOIR (INDIA), edited by ALTAF TYREWALA
NAIROBI NOIR (KENYA), edited by PETER KIMANI
NEW HAVEN NOIR, edited by AMY BLOOM
NEW JERSEY NOIR, edited by JOYCE CAROL OATES
NEW ORLEANS NOIR, edited by JULIE SMITH
NEW ORLEANS NOIR: THE CLASSICS, edited by JULIE SMITH
OAKLAND NOIR, edited by JERRY THOMPSON & EDDIE MULLER
ORANGE COUNTY NOIR, edited by GARY PHILLIPS
PARIS NOIR (FRANCE), edited by AURÉLIEN MASSON
PHILADELPHIA NOIR, edited by CARLIN ROMANO
PHOENIX NOIR, edited by PATRICK MILLIKIN
PITTSBURGH NOIR, edited by KATHLEEN GEORGE
PORTLAND NOIR, edited by KEVIN SAMPSELL
PRAGUE NOIR (CZECH REPUBLIC), edited by PAVEL MANDYS
PRISON NOIR, edited by JOYCE CAROL OATES
PROVIDENCE NOIR, edited by ANN HOOD
QUEENS NOIR, edited by ROBERT KNIGHTLY
RICHMOND NOIR, edited by ANDREW BLOSSOM, BRIAN CASTLEBERRY & TOM DE HAVEN
RIO NOIR (BRAZIL), edited by TONY BELLOTTO
ROME NOIR (ITALY), edited by CHIARA STANGALINO & MAXIM JAKUBOWSKI
SAN DIEGO NOIR, edited by MARYELIZABETH HART
SAN FRANCISCO NOIR, edited by PETER MARAVELIS
SAN FRANCISCO NOIR 2: THE CLASSICS, edited by PETER MARAVELIS
SAN JUAN NOIR (PUERTO RICO), edited by MAYRA SANTOS-FEBRES
SANTA CRUZ NOIR, edited by SUSIE BRIGHT
SANTA FE NOIR, edited by ARIEL GORE
SÃO PAULO NOIR (BRAZIL), edited by TONY BELLOTTO
SEATTLE NOIR, edited by CURT COLBERT
SINGAPORE NOIR, edited by CHERYL LU-LIEN TAN
STATEN ISLAND NOIR, edited by PATRICIA SMITH
ST. LOUIS NOIR, edited by SCOTT PHILLIPS
STOCKHOLM NOIR (SWEDEN), edited by NATHAN LARSON & CARL-MICHAEL EDENBORG
ST. PETERSBURG NOIR (RUSSIA), edited by NATALIA SMIRNOVA & JULIA GOUMEN
SYDNEY NOIR (AUSTRALIA), edited by JOHN DALE
TAMPA BAY NOIR, edited by COLETTE BANCROFT
TEHRAN NOIR (IRAN), edited by SALAR ABDOH
TEL AVIV NOIR (ISRAEL), edited by ETGAR KERET & ASSAF GAVRON
TORONTO NOIR (CANADA), edited by JANINE ARMIN & NATHANIEL G. MOORE
TRINIDAD NOIR (TRINIDAD & TOBAGO), edited by LISA ALLEN-AGOSTINI & JEANNE MASON
TRINIDAD NOIR: THE CLASSICS (TRINIDAD & TOBAGO), edited by EARL LOVELACE & ROBERT ANTONI
TWIN CITIES NOIR, edited by JULIE SCHAPER & STEVEN HORWITZ
USA NOIR, edited by JOHNNY TEMPLE
VANCOUVER NOIR (CANADA), edited by SAM WIEBE
VENICE NOIR (ITALY), edited by MAXIM JAKUBOWSKI
WALL STREET NOIR, edited by PETER SPIEGELMAN
ZAGREB NOIR (CROATIA), edited by IVAN SRŠEN
FORTHCOMING
AUSTIN NOIR, edited by HOPETON HAY, MOLLY ODINTZ, & SCOTT A. MONTGOMERY
DENVER NOIR, edited by CYNTHIA SWANSON
JERUSALEM NOIR (EAST), edited by RAWYA BURBARA
JERUSALEM NOIR (WEST), edited by DROR MISHANI
PARIS NOIR: THE SUBURBS (FRANCE), edited by HERVÉ DELOUCHE
SOUTH CENTRAL NOIR, edited by GARY PHILLIPS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
PART I: STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT
JANET FITCH
Sunrise
South Palm Canyon
ERIC BEETNER
The Guest
Historic Tennis Club
KELLY SHIRE
A Cold Girl
Cathedral City
PART II: LITTLE WHITE LIES
MICHAEL CRAFT
VIP Check-In
Little Tuscany
BARBARA DEMARCO-BARRETT
The Water Holds You Still
Twin Palms
ROB ROBERGE
The Expendables
Wonder Valley
PART III: EVERYTHING HAPPENS TO ME
J.D. HORN
The Stand-In
Deepwell
EDUARDO SANTIAGO
The Ankle of Anza
Anza
ROB BOWMAN
Everything Drains and Disappears
Bermuda Dunes
TOD GOLDBERG
A Career Spent Disappointing People
Indio
PART IV: ILL WIND
T. JEFFERSON PARKER
Specters
Anza-Borrego
CHRIS J. BAHNSEN
Octagon Girl
Desert Hot Springs
KEN LAYNE
The Loop Trail
Joshua Tree
ALEX ESPINOZA
The Salt Calls Us Back
Salton Sea
About the Contributors
INTRODUCTION
BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA
Ten years ago, when my first noir short story, “Crazy for You,” was published in Orange County Noir, my mother-in-law asked me to define the genre. She read mystery fiction and cozies but wasn’t familiar with noir.
“In noir, the main characters might want their lives to improve and may have high aspirations and goals,” I said, “but they keep making bad choices, and things go from bad to worse.”
Her response was immediate: “Like real life.” We burst into laughter, but it was tinged with the bittersweet pain of knowing.
All of us, at one time or another, have found ourselves in sticky situations with more than a couple of ways we might go. I’d like to think most of us take the high road, the ethical and moral path. In noir, characters follow the highway to doom and destruction. They are haunted by the past, and the line between black and white, right and wrong, dissolves like sugar in water. The hero rationalizes why it’s okay to do whatever dark thing they are about to do.
Crime novelist Laura Lippman summed up noir: “Dreamers become schemers.” People are blinded by nostalgia as they try to outrun or escape their pasts. Afflicted affairs, lies and transgressions, and murky secrets color the world of noir. Characters end up mired in sex, greed, and murder, unable to extricate themselves.
And setting. The best noir writers make us feel the heat of the sun, the touch of a lover. Setting can be gritty but can also be sublime, no longer relegated to urban locales and seedy hotel rooms but also mansions and swimming pools. Hence, Palm Springs, which may seem like an odd setting for a collection of dark short stories—it’s so sunny and bright here. The quality of light is unlike anywhere else, and with an average of three hundred sunny days a year, what could go wrong?
The area is famous for many things: 130-plus golf courses make it the golfing capital of the US; the largest concentration of midcentury modern residential architecture in the world; and with fifty thousand swimming pools at last count, Palm Springs has more pools per capita than anywhere else in the US. And nothing says Palm Springs more than the four thousand wind turbines that provide enough electricity to power the entire Coachella Valley.
While the greater Palm Springs area has its share of dive bars, its alleyways tend to be tidy and clean, and femmes fatales are more likely to be found in bathing suits than slinky dresses or tailored suits. But on a steamy summer day, the residential streets are absent of people and can possess an unsettling quiet. Where is everyone? You’re reminded to lock the car and front door.
The history of the area goes back to the 1700s with the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. The population then—around six thousand—has swelled to 450,000, and triples during winter months when snowbirds and tourists escape from their cold homes to soak in the rays. But it wasn’t until the 1930s that Palm Springs got its glitz quotient and caught on as the getaway of choice for Hollywood stars. Movie moguls instituted the two-hour rule: actors had to be within two hours of the studios in case they were needed, and Palm Springs, 107 miles east of Los Angeles, fit the bill. The desert city was also safe from the gossip columnists.
Elvis Presley’s honeymoon house sits in Vista Las Palmas and offers tours. Frank Sinatra had a house here, as did other Hollywood luminaries, some of whom, along with Frank, are buried in area cemeteries. Clothing-optional resorts dot the environs and the nation’s first all-LGBTQ city council governs the city of Palm Springs. This arid, ninety-four-square-mile Southern California tourist destination is a verdant patch of green smeared across the beige blanket of the Mojave Desert. The green derives, in part, from the vast underground waterways.
The aquifers are not all that goes on that you cannot see. The greater Palm Springs area has a massive homeless population, gangs, and crime. Property crime here is 72 percent higher than the nation’s average. And the granddaddy of fault lines, the San Andreas, bisects the Coachella Valley. Experts say it could go at any time. That, plus the mind-numbing windstorms that hit the north end, 120-degree heat in the dead of summer, and the snakes, tarantulas, and various scorpion species would put anyone on edge.
At the far southern end of the valley, the man-made Salton Sea, currently thirty-five miles long by fifteen miles wide, with an average depth of thirty feet, threatens to dry up. If lawmakers don’t do something soon to rectify the situation, the dust from the dried-up sea will wreck the lungs and sunny dispositions of the residents across the valley and many other Southern Californians. Migratory birds will lose a necessary layover. A noir situation if ever there was one.
Noir appeared in the 1920s as a reaction to the then-popular cozy mysteries. It soon distinguished itself from detective fiction with its fast-paced storytelling, gritty scenarios, and use of sex as a means of advancing the plot. In the 1940s, film noir arrived, and remained popular throughout the 1950s.
In the sixties and seventies, noir took a little rest. There was an odd sense of optimism. We believed that we’d overcome the forces of evil and anything was possible. But then something happened. It didn’t go as planned. Noir returned with a vengeance, thanks to publishers like Akashic and others. And thanks to the state of things in our current political situation as well, there are wars that never seem to end. Fitting, because in noir, sometimes the problem is not so much the person as it is the government. People are always blaming someone or something else. Character disorders and narcissism run rampant in noir.
Its complexion has changed. Once the province of mostly white men, now female, LGBTQ, and nonwhite authors are making their presences known, writing powerful, brutal stories.
Are the writers and readers of noir inherently different from those who read and write cozies, thrillers, and mysteries? Are we more jaded, scoffing at the good guy winning? Noir stories don’t end well. They may end just, but they won’t end happily. And are we drawn more to gloom than the average writer? Maybe we’re able to be cheery enough in our daily lives but secretly—or not so secretly�
�hold a dim view of the world. We have secret sadnesses and regrets nursed in the privacy of our own minds, which we funnel into our fiction.
In grade school I read Nancy Drew—not exactly noir; in fact, the opposite of noir. But in high school, as my parents’ marriage went down the drain, I stayed out more than in, hung out with townies, got into drugs, and had a meth-head boyfriend who got us pulled over by the cops in his vintage turquoise ’57 Chevy and was arrested. The cops told me to drive his car home. But they never arrested me or even warned me. Was I even there?
The stories in this collection come on like the wicked dust storms common to the area. More than half are by writers who live here full-time; all have homes in Southern California. They know this place in ways visitors and outsiders never will. These are not stories you’ll read in the glossy coffee-table books that feature Palm Springs’s good life. There is indeed a lush life to be found here, but for the characters in these stories, it’s often just out of reach.
People from the past have a nasty habit of showing up, and no one is more fraught than the scientist who awaits his fate, a cyanide capsule lodged in his cheek as he prepares to bite down. A vacation rental agent trying to make a fresh start gets caught up in the lives of the vacationers, and an Airbnb landlord discovers renting has a downside. Private eyes chase down missing people and others go on hikes and never return. Local landmarks, historic neighborhoods, and the ubiquitous swimming pool make appearances beneath the glaring sun. Moorten Botanical Garden (appearing as “Morston’s”), Spencer’s, and the Ace Hotel are among famous spots with cameos. After you read these stories, hot tubs and swimming pools will never look the same.
Each one is a gem, and as the editor of the collection, it’s gratifying to offer them to you. I hope you enjoy.
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
March 2021
PART I
STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT
SUNRISE
BY JANET FITCH
South Palm Canyon
I like cactus. Cactus and old people, old places, things that survive. Quiet mornings. Water soaking into sandy soil before the heat. That’s what I was doing at Morston’s that morning—watering, raking, feeding the tortoises, watering the doves—white doves, like the ones magicians conjure out of thin air. A nice buzz on, just about perfect.
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