Denver Noir

Description

Swanson is incredibly well-connected in Denver and Colorado as a whole from her previous novels, which is often the key to a very successful anthology in our Noir Series. Swanson's debut novel, The Bookseller, a New York Times best seller, is slated to be a motion picture produced by and starring Julia Roberts. The Bookseller was an Indie Next selection The Bookseller won both the WILLA Award for Historical Fiction and the Wisconsin Library Association Outstanding Achievement Award; it was also nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award and the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Reading the West Award; and it was a finalist for the Colorado Authors' League 2015 CAL Awards, a Women's Fiction Writers' Association 2015 Star Award, and a High Plains Book Award The Bookseller received wonderful review coverage including a starred review in Kirkus and a glowing review in USA Today Swanson's second novel, The Glass Forest, was a USA Today best seller The Glass Forest received glowing reviews in Forbes, Library Journal (starred), and Publishers Weekly (starred) Swanson's past events include appearances at: Denver Women's Press Club, Northern Colorado Writers Conference (keynote), 21st Annual Tattered Cover Writers Respond to Readers, LitCrawl (Denver), Tucson Festival of Books, Rocky Mountain Literary Festival, Chautauqua Author Series, Magers & Quinn, Boswell Book Co., and numerous libraries throughout Colorado

Cynthia Swanson writes literary suspense, often using historical settings. Her debut novel, The Bookseller, was a New York Times best seller, an Indie Next selection, and winner of the 2016 WILLA Literary Award for Historical Fiction. Swanson's second novel, the USA Today best seller The Glass Forest, was noted in Forbes as being one of "Five Novels with a Remarkably Strong Sense of Place." She lives with her family in Denver. Find her at cynthiaswansonauthor.com.

"The postcard version of Denver might look like a brilliant orange and blue sunset gleaming over the Rockies, beautiful young people in parks walking their dogs, everybody a mile high. Look a little deeper, or just take a drive down Colfax Avenue, and a different city appears. The second version is the one that shows up in Denver Noir, an anthology out this summer by Akashic Books." --Boulder Weekly "Can't decide on a local author, but still want to get something based here in the Mile High City? Can't go wrong with a single title like Denver Noir, which includes local authors aplenty." --Westword, one of Ten Best Colorado Books from 2022 for Gift-Giving "Swanson takes the editorial reign for the Denver book, which features 14 contributions . . . There isn't a clinker in the bunch . . . You'll find a treasure trove of mystery short stories in Denver Noir." --BookGasm "An exploration of the many pockets of the Mile High City as much as a look at one of the more complex--and compelling--sides of Denver, Denver Noir nails the paradoxes inherent in both." --Karen DeGroot Carter, for Medium "Denver Noir is a fascinating exploration of this sunny city's dark side. Mountain views, a roughneck Gold Rush past, and stories of murder and mayhem make this anthology a must-read for anyone curious about Denver and its environs. Like the countless entries before it, Akashic Books allows an editor to craft an anthology filled with stories varying in tone and perspective." --New York Journal of Books "Noir in the mile high city! Just like Denver's housing market, the city's crime-writing scene appears to be blowing up, and these stories function as a fascinating guide to the trials and tribulations of a rapidly changing city." --CrimeReads, a Most Anticipated Crime Fiction Book of 2022 "The 14 stories . . . span time periods, neighborhoods, and milestones in the Mile High City's history . . . The ranging styles and broad variety of diverse voices will provide noir fans with plenty to savor." --Publishers Weekly Included in CrimeReads Summer Reading Roundup! "Dreaming of Ella" by Francelia Belton is a Little Big Crimes Best Mystery Story of the Week! "Denver Noir is a great collection of stories. From P.I.'s to disappearing teens to period pieces to retribution, the stories cover a variety of adverse events and circumstances." --BVS Reviews "This is a great collection of stories, and Swanson has done an excellent job introducing Noir readers to the neighborhoods of Denver . . . It is a fun, diverse, and immersive read." --The Cyberlibrarian