Here at The Big Click, we have pretty wide tastes in noir. We’ll publish stories about criminals, about psychopaths, barely reformed lowlifes, and the like. But only rarely will we do cops or private investigators. Partially because most of what is sent to us involving the police or PIs just isn’t noir: it’s hard-boiled, or a mystery with sex in it, or a procedural with booze in it. The rare cop-themed noir we do get tend to ultimately choose sides in a way that sends the story screaming into the hell of moral instruction. Trust us, we already know that doing drugs and killing people and hurting women is bad. (And if we didn’t think so, these stories would not persuade us.)

But we found a good cop noir in “Man Upstate” by Colby Swift. And yes, killing pets is bad too!

We also have a weird little story from John Mantooth—it’s a list, like from someone who went to graduate school. For extra fun, see if you can determine the second best way to read the listed items! But dark, so do check it out, and check out his books. We have a clickable ad on the web page, and buying via that link will help us out a lot.

Next issue—guest editor Elsa Hermens is at the helm, with a special theme issue about Oakland, California! What are you waiting for? Subscribe.