George Pelecanos has as keen a perception of urban street life as any contemporary observer. His crime novels, which chronicle the downs and descents of Washington, D.C., are jewels of the genre, while his screenplays for episodes of “The Wire” and “Treme” stand up to repeated viewings; indeed, they get better and better. Pelecanos functions best when he has room to stretch out and paint on a large canvas, but his short work, while not as heralded as his longer novels, is easy to appreciate for its display of his canny street smarts.

THE MARTINI SHOT is a newly released collection of Pelecanos’ shorter stories. It consists of six previously published works, a short story published here for the first time, and a previously unpublished novella whose title gives the collection its proper name. From start to finish, the book ticks all the boxes one lists when coming up with the elements of what a collection of short stories by a single author should do.

"Pelecanos tells stories of real people in bad places, and does so with a dark vision and occasional grim humor. THE MARTINI SHOT serves as both an introduction to his dark, unblinking vision and a reason to stay until the night’s bitter end."

Top of the list: Great stories. This is a given when you open a book with the name “Pelecanos” on it, but if you have any doubts, read “The Dead Their Eyes Implore Us,” a story about a newly landed Greek immigrant in 1933, whose efforts to better himself intersect with a labor dispute and result in him pursuing an ill-considered but nonetheless just revenge.

A close second would be that the collection represents the author’s usual subject matter. Indeed, THE MARTINI SHOT includes stories set on the mean and angry streets that Pelecanos knows so well. “String Music” is my favorite of these and concerns a young man on the cusp of success --- or the worst kind of failure. The uncertainty of its ending makes it all the more chilling. That is not to say that “The Confidential Informant” or the previously unpublished “Miss Mary’s Room” are in any way lacking. “The Confidential Informant,” which opens the book, is also its saddest story, a tale of a man who takes one last shot at being the man his father hoped he would be, with results that are anything but predictable. “Miss Mary’s Room” slices in and out of street life, demonstrating how difficult it is for some to leave behind the life they know, even as that life is all but certain to destroy them.

Next on the list: The collection should extend beyond the width and breadth of the author’s usual subject matter. “The Martini Shot” and “When You’re Hungry” fulfill that qualification, and then some. The former is told from the first-person viewpoint of a screenwriter who is on site at the filming of a television series and finds himself investigating, by default, the apparently random murder of one of the film crew, all the while attempting to maintain a passionate relationship with another member of the staff. It is a very different story for Pelecanos, in both subject matter and characterization. He also visits previously unexplored territory in “When You’re Hungry,” in which an insurance investigator travels to Brazil on the trail of a dead man who has seemingly returned to life and soon finds himself far outside of his comfort zone. If you like your short story collections culled from sources likely and otherwise, THE MARTINI SHOT is sure to please as well, with stories obtained from both original bound collections and, yes, an eBook.

Finally, a collection such as this should prompt those heretofore unfamiliar with the author’s work to start catching up on his or her bibliography. Any of the stories here will do that, particularly “The Chosen,” which provides some bittersweet early historical background on Spero Lucas, one of Pelecanos’ most interesting characters.

Pelecanos tells stories of real people in bad places, and does so with a dark vision and occasional grim humor. THE MARTINI SHOT serves as both an introduction to his dark, unblinking vision and a reason to stay until the night’s bitter end. Don’t miss this collection, a must-have for newcomers and longtime fans alike.