January 5 2026
January 2026: On this month’s episode of Chris Chambers Noir, a panel of four writers will test what you consider to be Sounthern Noir. “What is the next evolutionary step of one of crime fiction’s original forms?” asks our host, Christopher Chambers, the award-winning author of dozens of books, short stories, and, most recently, the bestselling Dickie Cornish series. Don’t miss it!
Authors, pictured: Scott Von Doviak (top left), Bobby Matthews (top right), Wes Browne (bottom left), James D.F. Hannah (bottom right)
Meet our panelists:
Scott Von Doviak has a 20-year career in pop culture writing that includes three books, a stint as a film critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and a decade as a television reviewer for The Onion’s AV Club.
His debut novel, “Charlesgate Confidential,” was called “terrific” by Stephen King and named one of the top ten crime novels of 2018 by Tom Nolan of the Wall Street Journal.
His 70s-set thriller “Lowdown Road” was released by Hard Case Crime in July 2023. He lives in Austin, Texas. Check out his books on Amazon.
Bobby Matthews is an award-winning journalist, novelist, and short-story writer. His work has been featured in multiple magazines, anthologies, and websites that dig noir fiction. He’s the author of the novels Prodigal, Living the Gimmick, and the Anthony Award-nominated Magic City Blues, as well as the short story collection Negative Tilt.
His work has been included in the 2024 edition of Best American Mystery & Suspense. He’s won one of mystery fiction’s top prizes for short fiction, the prestigious Derringer Award, and he’s been nominated multiple times for the Pushcart Prize. If he’s not writing, he’s probably coaching youth baseball or otherwise procrastinating. His next book will be out sometime after he finishes writing it … if the check clears. Learn more: bamawriter.com
Wes Browne lives within the Kentucky River Basin in Madison County, Kentucky. He has practiced law as a criminal defense attorney, prosecutor, and public defender in Appalachia for over 24 years. He also helps run his family’s pizza shops.
His novel They All Fall the Same was named one of The Best Books of 2025 (So Far) by Book Riot, and one of 2025’s Biggest Mysteries and Thrillers by Goodreads.
His 2020 debut Hillbilly Hustle was named one of Merriam-Webster’s Best Lockdown Reads. Learn more: wesbrowneauthor.com
James D.F. Hannah is the Shamus Award-winning Henry Malone series, including the novels BEHIND THE WALL OF SLEEP and BECAUSE THE NIGHT. His work has been nominated for the Anthony Award and the Pushcart Prize.
His short fiction has appeared in Best American Mystery and Suspense; Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine; Eight Very Bad Nights, edited by Tod Goldberg; Playing Games, edited by Lawrence Block; Under the Thumb: Stories of Police Oppression, edited by S.A. Cosby; Vautrin; Rock and a Hard Place; Shotgun Honey; and The Anthology of Appalachian Writers. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the bourbon is. Learn more: jamesdfhannah.com
About Christopher Chambers: A Washington, D.C. native, Chris is a lecturer at Georgetown University, Chair of the International Conflict Resolution Center and is General Counsel to a not-for-profit benefitting HBCUs: Student Housing of America. He is the author of the Angela Bivens thriller series for Random House, The Rocket Crockett pulp noir series, and Black Pulp for Prose-Press, and editor, along with Gary Phillips, of The Darker Mask graphic short story collection, the Bronze Buckaroo Rides Again: Honoring Harlem’s Herb Jeffries. He was a finalist in 2008 for the PEN/Malamud Short Story Award for “Leviathan.”
He’s contributed short stories to The Obama Inheritance: 15 Stories of Conspiracy Noir (Three Rooms Press) and is the winner of the Anthony Award. The Black Panther: Tales Of Wakanda, The Faking of the President, and Midnight Hour, Witnesses for the Dead with Gar Anthony Haywood–all major award-winning collections and bestsellers. His noir hardboiled mystery Scavenger (2020) won a starred review and profile in Publishers Weekly; the sequel Standalone sees the return of the indestructible homeless addict turned PI Dickie Cornish, patrolling the unforgiving city streets ravaged by COVID, with the third in the trilogy Streetwhys in 2025. His next Marvel contribution is in Captain America: The Shield of Sam Wilson.
About Chris’s latest book, “Street Whys:” We again meet Washington, DC’s notorious detective, former street denizen Dickie Cornish, who faces off with bloodthirsty cops and the justice department. Underground detective Dickie Cornish faces a vindictive murder rap from his past if he doesn’t agree to help prove that the fentanyl ravaging the streets of DC is bankrolled by shadowy donors of a certain former president. Broke and desperate, Cornish soon finds himself on a collision course with shady public defenders and corrupt police officers, forcing him to use his street connections to flip their plan. Or die.
The Dickie Cornish series has met with widespread critical acclaim: Publishers Weekly dubbed the series debut, Scavenger, “[A] no-holds-barred crime novel…a 21st-century twist on traditional hardboiled noir.” The Strand Magazine selected Standalone, the second book in the series, as one of the “Top 25 Mystery Novels of the Year,” adding, “It’s apparent that the modern heir to Chandler, Woolrich, and Cain is Christopher Chambers, enough said.” And renowned crime author George Pelecanos raves that the series “really nails Washington, DC in the current environment.” Click here to buy the book.
And there’s more: Chris has contributed short stories to “The Obama Inheritance: 15 Stories of Conspiracy Noir” (Three Rooms Press), which won the Anthony Award; “The Black Panther: Tales Of Wakanda,” “The Faking of the President and Midnight Hour,” and “Witnesses for the Dead with Gar Anthony Haywood.” Each book includes stories by award-winning and bestselling authors.
