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Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead
(Claire DeWitt Mysteries #1)
by
This knock-out start to a bracingly original new series features Claire DeWitt, the world’s greatest PI—at least, that's what she calls herself. A one-time teen detective in Brooklyn, she is a follower of the esoteric French detective Jacques Silette, whose mysterious handbook Détection inspired Claire’s unusual practices. Claire also has deep roots in New Orleans, where s
...more
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Hardcover, 273 pages
Published
June 2nd 2011
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
(first published May 24th 2011)
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Gayle L. Gifford
Not gory. Just edgy enough...
Brittany
It was published in 2011 and set in 2007.
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Start your review of Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead (Claire DeWitt Mysteries, #1)

I was a little afraid to re-read this book, because the first time through was so absolutely stunning, it was as if it was written for me. As my first review did not do justice to its wonderful combination of mystery, introspection, and setting, I'm setting out to rectify it.
Claire DeWitt is a detective, willing to use all means necessary--including hallucinogenic dreams, the I Ching and fingerprint analysis--to solve her cases. She knows ultimately she will be solving the case for herself, beca ...more
Claire DeWitt is a detective, willing to use all means necessary--including hallucinogenic dreams, the I Ching and fingerprint analysis--to solve her cases. She knows ultimately she will be solving the case for herself, beca ...more

’There are no innocent victims’, wrote Jacques Silette. ‘The victim selects his role as carefully and unconsciously as the policeman, the detective, the client, or the villain. Each chooses his role and then forgets this, sometimes for many lifetimes, until one comes along who can remind him. This time you may be the villain or the victim. The next time your roles may switch.
It is only a role. Try to remember.’
Claire DeWitt has been enticed back to her former stomping grounds in New Orleans to i ...more
It is only a role. Try to remember.’
Claire DeWitt has been enticed back to her former stomping grounds in New Orleans to i ...more

Jul 23, 2014
Shelby *trains flying monkeys*
rated it
liked it
Recommended to Shelby *trains flying monkeys* by:
Dan Schwent
Shelves:
liburry-book,
read-2015
Claire DeWitt is probably one of the most unique characters I've ever read in a mystery book. She has a "bible" that she goes by written by her idol French detective Jacques Silette, she doesn't mind using a few drugs to enhance her abilities, and she believes she is the world's greatest detective.
Several of those very qualities got on my nerves at times during the book.
Lord, forgive my sins, of which there are too fucking many to count.
Then there were times I liked her. She fully admits her tro ...more
Several of those very qualities got on my nerves at times during the book.
Lord, forgive my sins, of which there are too fucking many to count.
Then there were times I liked her. She fully admits her tro ...more

In “Claire DeWitt and The City of The Dead” by Sara Gran, Claire DeWitt is not your average P.I. She's the self-proclaimed world's greatest detective; she also uses her dreams, partakes in mind-expanding herbs and utilizes a manual on detection from a mysterious Frenchman to help her solve cases. That book gives her advice like “Only a fool looks for answers. The wise detective seeks only questions.“ or "Those who try to grasp on to the mystery will never succeed, only those who let it slip thro
...more

3***
“The detective thinks he is investigating a murder or a missing girl. But truly he is investigating something else altogether, something he cannot grasp hold of directly. Satisfaction will be rare. Uncertainty will be your natural state. Sureness will always elude you. The detective will always circle around what he wants, never seeing it whole. We do not go on despite this. We go on because of it.”
Claire DeWitt, one of the more unusual PI's I've come across in literature, is set the task of ...more
“The detective thinks he is investigating a murder or a missing girl. But truly he is investigating something else altogether, something he cannot grasp hold of directly. Satisfaction will be rare. Uncertainty will be your natural state. Sureness will always elude you. The detective will always circle around what he wants, never seeing it whole. We do not go on despite this. We go on because of it.”
Claire DeWitt, one of the more unusual PI's I've come across in literature, is set the task of ...more

Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead is the fourth novel by Sara Gran, an exquisitely titled and wonderfully composed introduction to what publishers like to call "an unprecedented private investigator." Published in 2011, the author doesn't fall back on gimmick or try to build her mystery on the basis of a quirky characterization--alcoholic private eye, OCD private eye, 1980s private eye--but instead uses drunkenly rich language to unravel a mystery in, where else, New Orleans. Neither Claire
...more

When prosecutor Vic Willing goes missing in post-Katrina New Orleans, Claire DeWitt comes to town to find out who killed him. Can she put her personal demons aside long enough to find out?
This is the sixth book in my Kindle Unlimited Experiment. For the 30 day trial, I'm only reading books that are part of the program and keeping track what the total cost of the books would have been.
This is one of those books that's going to be really hard to do justice to in a review.
Claire DeWitt is the g ...more
This is the sixth book in my Kindle Unlimited Experiment. For the 30 day trial, I'm only reading books that are part of the program and keeping track what the total cost of the books would have been.
This is one of those books that's going to be really hard to do justice to in a review.
Claire DeWitt is the g ...more


It's a great noir detective story set in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. Ninja bonus points, it's the first of a series.

Sara Gran ...more

This is the most inventive and unconventional crime novel I've read in years--a meditation on the nature of mystery as much as it is a "mystery" novel.
Claire Dewitt is a student of the famous French detective Jacques Silette, has been mentored by one of Silette's protoges, and is now herself the world's greatest detective. Picture Nancy Drew by way of Hunter S. Thompson.
After an absence of ten years, Claire is called back to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, to solve the disappearanc ...more
Claire Dewitt is a student of the famous French detective Jacques Silette, has been mentored by one of Silette's protoges, and is now herself the world's greatest detective. Picture Nancy Drew by way of Hunter S. Thompson.
After an absence of ten years, Claire is called back to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, to solve the disappearanc ...more

Quite frankly, one of the most unconventional detective novels I've ever read. But I liked it.
Claire gets a job to find the root cause behind the death of well-liked prosecutor who died during the storm. And that's where our mystery begins.
I've literally never read a novel with a detective whose behaviour was as outlandish as Claire's.
To clarify, here are some things she's done and claimed to have done over the span of this novel:
> smoked pot on the job
> dropped out of school at 17
> smelled c ...more
Claire gets a job to find the root cause behind the death of well-liked prosecutor who died during the storm. And that's where our mystery begins.
I've literally never read a novel with a detective whose behaviour was as outlandish as Claire's.
To clarify, here are some things she's done and claimed to have done over the span of this novel:
> smoked pot on the job
> dropped out of school at 17
> smelled c ...more

Dec 31, 2012
Trudi
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
crime-mystery,
rusa-reads,
a-sense-of-place,
series,
2013,
awesome-audio,
audiobook,
favorites,
kick-ass-heroines
How do I love a book? Let me count the ways.
1. Setting: Post-Katrina New Orleans. Swampy, sensual, tragic, dangerous. A complete immersion into the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of a damaged and depressed city, betrayed and forgotten, seeking its redemption.
2. Heroine: Kick-ass, ruthless, complicated, haunted. Claire DeWitt is much like the city of New Orleans itself: damaged and dangerous, tragic and seeking redemption. Neither needs nor desires your pity or understanding.
3. Language: Hard ...more

I have to admit it, I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed this novel. Honestly, it's the first time I picked up something from the "mystery" section of the library. And certainly the first time I read something endorsed by Sue Grafton (cough).
As far as mysteries go,the best thing about this one was the lack of predictability. I mean, I guess I should have seen the ending coming in retrospect, but I didn't. At all. So kudos to you, Gran, for keeping me on my toes and holding my interest.
I m ...more
As far as mysteries go,the best thing about this one was the lack of predictability. I mean, I guess I should have seen the ending coming in retrospect, but I didn't. At all. So kudos to you, Gran, for keeping me on my toes and holding my interest.
I m ...more

I've been an avid fan of Sara Gran's work since Come Closer. Her books are difficult to categorize, like the works of so many of my favorite authors. Her new one is a sort of existential-detective-literary-noir with heavy supernatural (or at least occult) overtones. God help the book store clerk who has to figure out where to shelf it. It's also brilliant, delightful, delicious, and an absolute joy to read, full of the most unexpected cadences and rhythms, rife with surprising plot twists, witty
...more

I follow a couple of the top crime fiction awards and I have never seen Sara Gran crop up in those nominations. It is a colossal blunder on their part because Gran has an unique narrative voice that demands attention. Claire DeWitt, self proclaimed world's best detective is on the redemption trail after being in recovery for addiction issues. Set in post Katrina New Orleans, realized beautifully and heartbreakingly, her latest job is to find an assistant DA who went missing during the storm.
DeWi ...more
DeWi ...more

So for this book, I listened to the audio version which is not something I normally do. I have a few upsets with this book. When I say a few, I mean probably ten. First of all the main character Claire Dewitt isn’t a badass at all, but the story attempts to write her as such. One scene in particular she speaks of walking upon several gang-banger guys who are armed to the teeth, and in the author’s words “with enough to take on Fallujah”. The main character says, “they were tough, but I was tough
...more

"That's the thing about being a private eye. The job will bleed you dry. No one ever says 'Hey, maybe the PI needs a break. Hey, let's buy the PI a drink.' No thank-you cards, no flowers, no singing telegrams, and half the time you don't even get paid." -- Claire DeWitt, private investigator, on her chosen profession
Sara Gran's City of the Dead takes that classic American archetype - a hard-drinking, cynical private eye with some integrity - and kicks it firmly into the 21st century with the new ...more
Sara Gran's City of the Dead takes that classic American archetype - a hard-drinking, cynical private eye with some integrity - and kicks it firmly into the 21st century with the new ...more

I'm sure there are people who would tell you that this book is about a grown up girl detective who uses drugs and esoteric techniques to solve the mysteries no one else wants solved, but I'd say it's about the way people, places, and events are connected in surprising and often absurd ways.
There was a wonderful balance between the protagonist's depression and the background presence of humanistic compassion, which never strayed anywhere near the realm of preachiness. There was also a perfect bal ...more
There was a wonderful balance between the protagonist's depression and the background presence of humanistic compassion, which never strayed anywhere near the realm of preachiness. There was also a perfect bal ...more

Good, different. Could have done without Silette's "Wherever you go- there you are." words of wisdom, and (view spoiler)
PS Would never have tried th ...more
PS Would never have tried th ...more

Jul 14, 2011
Sue
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
mystery lovers who want something different
An existential mystery! Who'd have thought it would have it's own manual? Claire Dewitt learned at the feet of an apparent master who used the manual in teaching her students the way of living as well as the ways of detecting. As Claire tells us:
"Silette wrote one book, Detection, in 1959. Jaques Silette
was a genius. So I thought. So a few thousand others around
the world thought too." (loc 344)
This was the man who created her bible, the book that gave meaning to her life, the very frazzled l ...more
"Silette wrote one book, Detection, in 1959. Jaques Silette
was a genius. So I thought. So a few thousand others around
the world thought too." (loc 344)
This was the man who created her bible, the book that gave meaning to her life, the very frazzled l ...more

This book was..interesting. I know that word is often used as some low-key shade like, "How was dinner? It was interesting." But I don't mean it that way. I just don't know what I think, exactly.
Claire DeWitt lives in an alternate universe (I thought this before I read an interview with the author that pretty much says the same thing) where private investigators are much more prevalent and revered and loathed in equal measure. They are also less Marlowe-style gumshoes and more loopy metaphysic ...more
Claire DeWitt lives in an alternate universe (I thought this before I read an interview with the author that pretty much says the same thing) where private investigators are much more prevalent and revered and loathed in equal measure. They are also less Marlowe-style gumshoes and more loopy metaphysic ...more

Sep 27, 2011
Ed
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
fans of offbeat private investigator novels
Recommended to Ed by:
browsing library new books
Shelves:
ed-s_cozy_mysteries_read
It's refreshing to run across an offbeat, stylish, and sparky private eye novel like City of the Dead is. Claire DeWitt arrives in New Orleans where she trained to be a private investigator years ago to search for a local attorney who disappeared while Hurricane Katrina slammed the city. Claire brings along her own baggage. She's certainly no angel, liking her booze and dope. But she possesses a good heart, a relentless curiosity, and a zenlike devotion to her trade. She's also a likeable protag
...more

Sara Gran's Claire DeWitt reads like hardboiled contemporary noir, it's dark and bleak and morally ambiguous at times with an intriguing central mystery and a compulsively readable private eye. It also shares genre tropes with those highly unbelievable cozy mysteries in which detectives are celebrated celebrities around the world known for solving cases such as The Murder on the Blue Train and The Jewels of Aunt Marjie. And then there's the child detective all grown up and living with failure an
...more

From the starling cover to the cold hard end, this is an unusual book. It's a crime novel, but with hints of the supernatural, whose heroine heavily uses drugs and solves crimes out of an obsessive need. A strange book by a strange man is the lifeline, the heartbeat through the story that holds all the little separate pieces of plot together. There are three mysteries here: The surface (a man searching for his missing uncle), the catalyst (Claire DeWitt's missing friend) and the undercurrent of
...more

I loved Come Closer and Dope...as such I was pretty excited to read the latest from Sara Gran expecting something smart, witty, dark and fun to read...I was pretty disappointed...
Clair DeWitt...'the World's Greatest Detective'....is tasked with a case of finding out about the death of a New Orleans district attorney by his nephew. This happened post-Katrina so naturally that makes things complex from the beginning; a city and its people devastated, nobody trustful of anybody from the outside...W ...more
Clair DeWitt...'the World's Greatest Detective'....is tasked with a case of finding out about the death of a New Orleans district attorney by his nephew. This happened post-Katrina so naturally that makes things complex from the beginning; a city and its people devastated, nobody trustful of anybody from the outside...W ...more

OK, this is a great book. The setting and atmosphere are grim, the protagonist likeable (even if she doesn’t think so and would perhaps be offended at my saying so), the side characters are engaging, the mystery intriguing…and every now and then it is funny. I find that very important.
The setting, New Orleans after “the storm”:
The streets of the Lower Ninth Ward were caked in grayish-brown dried mud. So was everything else. Nothing had been cleaned. Little bits of people’s lives were scattered a ...more
The setting, New Orleans after “the storm”:
The streets of the Lower Ninth Ward were caked in grayish-brown dried mud. So was everything else. Nothing had been cleaned. Little bits of people’s lives were scattered a ...more

I waited a few days to review thinking my opinion would change. It didn't. The concept is interesting - a mystical private investigator who is the best in the world and has her own personal unsolved mystery. I just couldn't get past all the coincidences that weren't explained by the resolution. She happened to be in NY on 9/11 so she could answer someone's question about it. She happened to pick up a dirty business card. She happened to be in the right neighborhood, turn the right corner. I also
...more

First Sentence: “It’s my uncle,” the man said on the phone.
Claire DeWitt advertises herself as the world’s greatest private investigator. As such, she accepts a case in recent post-Katrina New Orleans. Her client is the nephew of Vic Willing. The case is to find out what happened to this the city’s wealthy district attorney who disappeared during the flooding after the hurricane.
Every now and then, an author comes along with a voice and style that it is almost impossible to describe, quantify, ...more
Claire DeWitt advertises herself as the world’s greatest private investigator. As such, she accepts a case in recent post-Katrina New Orleans. Her client is the nephew of Vic Willing. The case is to find out what happened to this the city’s wealthy district attorney who disappeared during the flooding after the hurricane.
Every now and then, an author comes along with a voice and style that it is almost impossible to describe, quantify, ...more

Jul 29, 2014
David
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Detectives who consult the I Ching, missing lawyers with parrots
Claire DeWitt is the protege of Constance Darling, the "greatest detective in the world." Using tea leaves, I Ching, home-brewed philosophy, and a book by a French detective named Jacques Silette, studying under Darling was like apprenticing as a wizard. Then Constance Darling died, leaving Claire as her heir to the title of greatest detective in the world.
It's hard to say how tongue-in-cheek Claire is being when she calls herself that, but she states it in a flat, no-nonsense manner that makes ...more
It's hard to say how tongue-in-cheek Claire is being when she calls herself that, but she states it in a flat, no-nonsense manner that makes ...more

I decided if I heard Claire call herself 'the world's greatest private eye' one more time (it happens. a lot.) I was going to lose my shit so I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.
...more

I read The Infinite Blacktop on the basis of strong reviews when it was first published in 2018. I enjoyed it, but when I was done I realized that I very much wanted to read the first book in the series, Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead. Infinite Blacktop was laced with references to Claire's personal history, and I had an idea that it would all make more sense if I started at the beginning.
Well, I've just done that, and although I can't say that "making sense" is something Sara Gran is go ...more
Well, I've just done that, and although I can't say that "making sense" is something Sara Gran is go ...more
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Other books in the series
Claire DeWitt Mysteries
(3 books)
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“Be grateful for every scar life inflicts on you. Where we’re unhurt is where we are false. Where we are wounded and healed is where our real self gets to show itself. That’s where you get to show who you really are”
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“It doesn't matter what people want to hear. It doesn't matter if people like you. It doesn't matter if the whole world thinks you're crazy. It doesn't matter whose heart you break. What matters is the truth.”
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