“Collected” is the latest Cybil Lewis book from Nicole Givens Kurtz. The subject of three novels (soon to be four), Cybil Lewis is a hard-edged detective in The District, a post-apocalyptic version of our nation’s capital.

If you’ve never read Kurtz’s stew of noir and future doom, this is a perfect jumping off point. The stories weave in and out of the character’s history, with characters showing up in multiple stories.

I’ve read the novels, and they’re rich banquets of noir, sprinkled with commentary about life, love, race and what the future might hold for us. These stories are no different, but do provide a great introduction to Cybil, while also filling in parts of her backstory that may not be known to those who’ve read the books.

Cybil is not the grim, loveless anti-hero of most apocalypse fiction. She’s an older woman who knows what she wants and works hard to get it. Even after the world falls apart, people will still be people, and Cybil encounters emotional drams and complexities that most sci-fi apocalypses don’t touch.

This is a fine collection, and the artwork by Julia Lacquement puts faces to characters really enhances the product. If you like noir mixed with post apocalypse, this is worth checking out.