"Ant Street," by Nora Luttmer, in Hamburg Noir, edited by Jan Karsten, Akashic Press, 2025.
The publisher sent me a free copy of this book.
Lien is an older woman who moved from Vietnam to Germany many years ago. Now she works alone, running her pho restaurant in a bad neighborhood. On top of the troubles that come with age and managing a small business there are some nasty men running a protection racket.
"You owe me eight hundred euros, for last month," he rasped, his voice harsh, raw. You could hear that he smoked too much.
"Oh, so you're Erik's partner?" she replied, speaking as though Erik was a friend.
"Partner?" the man snorted. "I'm Erik's boss."
"I gave Erik the money," Lien said. "Just last week." She smiled the way she thought the man might expect her to. Asian women were always smiling like that, weren't they? Even when an extortionist showed up. What bullshit.
Maybe the old woman isn't as vulnerable as she seems. This story has several nice surprises.
