An insane police officer organizes secret plans for extreme repression in the burning Exarcheia, while Angelos and the Devil fight on the streets and the ruined blocks of Sofia's apartment buildings for the soul of a paid assassin. Mafiosi, war criminals, and refugees gather in a semi-legal casino in Zagreb, while a man in love finds his lover's husband murdered in his home in Maribor. A tired cop, exhausted from his night job as a club doorman, chases ghosts in the streets of impoverished immigrants in Belgrade, the seemingly idyllic parks of Bucharest turn into places of wild crimes, and on the shores of the Bosphorus, homeless people and drug addicts are recruited as future jihadists.

Twenty-one original stories by important contemporary crime fiction writers from seven Balkan countries - Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey - are gathered for the first time in international publishing chronicles in a collection that highlights the diversity and dynamism of Balkan crime narrative, while offering a revealing panorama of contemporary reality in the Balkans, in a way that only noir literature can achieve.

The texts included are:

- Greece
Introduction: Crime Fiction in Greece
- Andreas Apostolidis: "I Am the Guilty One"
- Vasilis Danellis: "Show Me the Way"
- Giannis Ragos: "18th Brymeir"

- Bulgaria
Introduction: Crime Fiction Writers in Bulgaria
- Emanouel Iconomov: "Limit Exceeded"
- Andreya Ilieva: "When the Angel and the Devil Fight for You"
- Boriana Dukova: "Thriller in a Feminine Way"

- Croatia
Introduction: A Brief History of Croatian Crime Fiction
- Robert Perisic: "Descent"
- Ivan Srsen: "Surprise"
- Nenad Stipanovic: "You're a Businessman Until They Realize You're Not"

- Romania
Introduction: The Position of Crime Fiction in Romania
- Lucia Verona: "Dead in the Rain"
- Lucian Dragos Bogdan: "Drowning Case"
- Bogdan Hrib: "Crime in the Neighborhood"

- Serbia
Introduction: Crime Fiction in Serbia
- Verica Vincek-Kolenc: "Murder Scenario"
- Djordje Bajic: "The Doe"
- Marko Popovic: "Cover-up"

- Slovenia
Introduction: Slovenian Crime Fiction: A Crime That Never Happened
- Zoran Benčić: "The Poker of Misanthropes"
- Renato Bratkovič: "Minus One"
- August Demšar: "Mrs. Svoboda's Eyes"

- Turkey
Introduction: Turkish Crime Fiction Today: A "Second Coming"
- Ertzan Akbay: "Locked Door"
- Suphi Varim: "Wedding Night"
- Cenk Gündoğdu: "Without Identity"

Notes
Authors' Biographies