Multicultural Mysteries Listopia

[M.A.]

I started a Listopia list for multicultural mysteries and it needs YOUR recommendations. These are mysteries where the detective or other lead character is non-Caucasian.

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/15...

Heroes come in all colors!

[J.A.]

Added an I.J. Parker historical Japanese mystery, The Dragon Scroll.

[M.A.]

A good friend of mine has read a number of Tony Hillerman's novels but I haven't so I can't in all honesty recommend them. Any Hillerman fans out there who can vouch for their quality?

[Dena]

The Tony Hillerman novels are quite good and contain a lot of background on the Navajo culture. There are 2 main detectives and they provide different views of traditional vs modern ideas of what it means to be Navajo. The last couple of books in the series are not as good as the earlier oes but on the whole they're well written and very good reads.

[Mohammed]

Good list, i have a natural interest to read more multicultural mysteries. I can use those books as recommendations.


I added a few of the great and good ones i have read. to the list. I had read more than i thought.

Here are my votes http://www.goodreads.com/list/user_vo...

[M.A.]

Dena: you should add any Hillerman novels you think are good; leave out the ones that aren't so good.

Good additions, Mohammed. I, too, am using the list to find new reads. I like that I learn about other cultures at the same time as I enjoy a good mystery.

[Jan C]

I thought most of Hillerman was pretty good. Even his "not so good" are still good as far as I recall.

[Mohammed]

M.A. wrote: "Dena: you should add any Hillerman novels you think are good; leave out the ones that aren't so good.

Good additions, Mohammed. I, too, am using the list to find new reads. I like that I learn abo..."

Its always fun, interesting to read from the POV of people from other backrounds when its written well.

Hillerman Navajo books have always been interesting to me but i didnt remember to try them. Any good first book or any detective that is better than the other ?

[Dena]

Mohammed wrote: "M.A. wrote: "Dena: you should add any Hillerman novels you think are good; leave out the ones that aren't so good.

Good additions, Mohammed. I, too, am using the list to find new reads. I like tha..."

It's been awhile since I read some of these books so I wanted to re-read some of my favorites before making any recommendations. I'm reading Skinwalkers right now. I like the books in which both Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee appear because I like the contrasts in their characters. This is the first book they are both in.

[Genine]

Peter Hoeg.

Martin Cruz Smith.

[Dena]

Marjorie wrote: "There's also Arthur Upfield, who wrote a series about an Australian Aboriginal detective named Napoleon Bonaparte. Tony Hillerman has commented that his Navajo mysteries were par..."

I've heard of that series but haven't read any of it. Sounds intriging, I might have to try ordering one online sight unseen, although some of them seem to be pretty pricy.

[Sharon]

One of my favorite series is the "Gabriel DuPre" series by Peter Bowen, set in northern MT. The main character is Metis, by his own description, a French/Indian/Scot breed out of Canada, a brand inspector and musician who ends up being pulled into murder investigations.

I don't believe the author is still writing (the last book in the series came out several years ago).

[Jan C]

I have a couple of the Upfield books. One I got at a used book sale and I think I got two others from Powell's. Abebooks would also be a good place to get them.

[Julie]

I had forgotten about the Peter Bowen series but I read them all and loved them too. I would put Tony Hillerman at the top of my list as well as Dorothy Sayers and Laurie King. I also just finished reading all the Louise Penny books and was pleasantly surprised. I particularly like reading books that bring time and place alive or that examine characters and social issues in such a way that I feel enriched beyond the normal enjoyment of chasing the clues. I also love a good laugh and have read all of Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum series. No one has mentioned Sparkle Hayter, who is just as funny.

[M.A.]

When I started this post I had no idea about most of these books. Just goes to show how marginalized they have been. Or maybe I am just woefully out of the loop. Kind of like the cobbler's kids who have no shoes.

[Sharon]

Thomas Perry has a series featuring a Native American woman, Jane Whitefield, well, half Indian anyway. The earlier books are IMO much the best, but all of them have been readable for me.

[The Pirate Ghost]

I second the Kate Shugak Series. She's a wonderful heroine and the books do a wonderful job of letting the reader see the inside of life in modern Alaska.

[Donna, Co-Moderator]

I don't think anyone has mentioned the Insp Singh series by Shamini Flint which begins with A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder.

Insp Singh is from Singapore but finds himself in Malaysia to solve a murder (what else?). There was a good bit of the culture of both Singapore and Malaysia and the series moves on to Bali, Cambodia, and Thailand.

[The Pirate Ghost]

and, honorable mention may need to go to Bubba Snoddy. Is Redneck an ethnic group? 'Cause they ain't like normal people!

[Sharon]

Hugh (A.K.A. Hermit the Curmudgeon) wrote: "and, honorable mention may need to go to Bubba Snoddy. Is Redneck an ethnic group? 'Cause they ain't like normal people! "

I've lived in KY for 12 years now and I can guarantee you that 'redneck' is very definitely an ethnic group!

[The Pirate Ghost]

These books by C.L. Bevill should count then. Trust me. My mother was born and raised in east Texas... it's a whole other country down there, Boy!

[Julie]

Although she doesn't write mysteries or thrillers, you also might want to try anything written by Louise Erdrich. She is half Native American (Obijiba) and German, I think. She writes about the clash of culture in the Minnesota area Early 20 th Century. She is one of the best authors of our time.

[Dena]

I just ordered my first Arthur Upfield book with some of my Christmas gift card credit. I'm looking forward to getting acquainted with Bony.

[Sarahandus]

I find that http://www.betterworldbooks.com/ and http://www.thriftbooks.com/ the best places to find those old books and reasonable prices plus free shipping.

[Mohammed]

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21...

Charlie Chan series from 1920s and forward seems to be a rated series about chinese-Hawaii community.

[Sharon]

The Gabriel DuPre mystery series by Peter Bowen might be considered multicultural as the primary character is a Metis (Canadian Indian/Scot/French) who is a brand inspector in MT ... sometimes deputized. It is an accurate portrayal of some of the Indian culture in the modern west, although slightly exaggerated in some respects.

Adrian Hyland has a series, just two books so far, I believe, set in Australia, with a main character who is Aborigine. A lot of the culture is included in the books.

[Mohammed]

Marjorie wrote: "Charlie Chan! Wow, that brings back early memories! My mother had a Charlie Chan collection among her books when I was a kid -- a fat volume with three of four of them. I read them over and over. ..."

I would read that series for historical reasons. The writer wrote about people that didnt get books about then. His portrayal i read was ahead of his times. Other than being fun, breezy mystery.

You cant only read classic mystery stories from anglo,saxon character POV.

[Laz]

I'll add S.J. Rozan and Lisa See and Sujata Massey for current.

There is a great historical mystery series set in feudal Japan by Laura Joh Rowland.

[Susan]

I would certainly add to the list the Inspector Ghote books by HRF Keating. My character, Anita Ray, is only half Indian (the other half is Irish American).

[M.A.]

Just had a thought...it's interesting that what we understand by "multicultural" is actually "multiracial." I'm half British-Canadian and half French-Canadian; technically that makes me multicultural but all Caucasian. Hmmmm....

[Susan]

That's a very good point, M.A. If we're really talking about different cultures then we could include Blood of the Prodigal by P. L. Gaus, the first in a series of Amish mysteries. The Amish are definitely a different culture. Is there a series set among Hasidic Jews?

[Darcy]

Faye Kellerman's books all have main characters who are Orthodox Jews and it incorporates how that impacts on solving a crime in a predominantly non-Jewish L.A and Las Vegas, or living as a Jew in Elizabethan England as she tries to placate the Spaniards.

[Susan]

We should also add Tony Hillerman's books, for their presentation of life among the Navajo.

This idea is very interesting--identifying subcultures/cultures of North America portrayed in crime fiction.

[Jan C]

In Laura Lippman's By a Spider's Thread, Tess Monaghan's client was an ortthodox Jew.

[Mohammed]

M.A. wrote: "Just had a thought...it's interesting that what we understand by "multicultural" is actually "multiracial." I'm half British-Canadian and half French-Canadian; technically that makes me multicultur..."

In Europe multicultural basically means people from ethnics groups outside western Europe. More about race issue than cultural issue.

I dont care for multiracial in this context. I like read good mysteries from different cultures. I would read from Spanish, Southern,Eastern Europe POV because its not the Anglo Saxon POV. Doesnt matter they are all Caucasian.

Reading from Native American, Asian POV is for different cultural reason and not because race for me atleast.

[Susan]

I like the way the discussion is pushing us to refine our terms. Mohammed's point is a good one. What we're really talking about is the different perspectives beyond the white Northern European/North American, since Spanish writers are also Caucasian. There are some excellent South American mysteries, and I've come across one or two from Portugal. I like going into another culture, another country, and learning about another way to live and see the world and its problems. I guess that's what I look for when I think about "multicultural."

[M.A.]

Mohammad, exactly. We tend to homogenize Caucasians unless they are not Christian, such as Jews, the Amish, etc, when in fact Caucasians are as multicultural as everyone else: there are huge differences in the perspective of an Italian or Spaniard than a German or Scandanavian, and of course between different religious groups. It says a great deal about how a dominant group within a culture gets to define that culture and how we blindly accept terms like "multicultural" to mean "not white or Christian." What nonsense!

[Mohammed]

M.A. wrote: "Mohammad, exactly. We tend to homogenize Caucasians unless they are not Christian, such as Jews, the Amish, etc, when in fact Caucasians are as multicultural as everyone else: there are huge differ..."

That is why i dont read scandinavian crime often, its the culture i live in and grew up in. I read Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith because how often is there a rated crime book set in behind Russia, old sovjet.

Different perpective is the most interesting to me.

[Susan]

I haven't come across the Mario Conde series--it sounds interesting. A few months ago I read Mistaken Identity by Nayantara Sahgal, set in India, and thought it was going to be a story about the middle-class Indian life. It turned into a murder mystery, which was really about the compromises that rich Indians are willing to make. I was blown away.

[Wendy]

lets not forget Leslie Glass's April Woo. Her mom is old time Chinese while April is modern.

[Donna, Co-Moderator]

Just started Devil-Devil set in the Solomon Islands in the 1960s and Sgt Kella has to walk the line between his traditional upbringing and his role in the British based police force. Very interesting and an time and place I know absolutely nothing about.

[Susan]

I'm reading a nonfiction book by Tarquin Hall, author of the Vish Puri mystery series. The book is To an Elephant Graveyard, about his journey with a hunter to track down and kill a rogue elephant in Northeast India. It starts as a travelogue, but I'm guessing that the seriousness of the undertaking will alter the tone as the narrative progresses. My favorite nonfiction writer about India is William Dalrymple.

[Susan]

Marjorie, my favorite was Nine Lives. He seemed to get so deep into the lives of the nine people he interviewed that I felt that I knew them intimately. I hated to have it end, and still remember some of those figures vividly. He's a remarkable writer.

[Georgia]

Hi Susan, I'm curious how you liked To An Elephant
Graveyard by Tarquin Hall. I really liked The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing, an easygoing mystery full of local color, customs, etc. Let us know when you have finished
if you liked it or not.

[Susan]

Georgia, I read The Case of the Missing Servant and liked it very much, but I haven't been able to track down his second book, so I picked up To an Elephant Graveyard. I expected to love it, but I found his tone so off-putting that I set it aside for, believe it or not, a Henry James novel. I will finish the Elephant book, but Hall's voice just sounded so smug and condescending and almost precious that I just didn't want to go on reading. I'm hoping it gets better as it gets more serious.

[Georgia]

Thanks Susan, I will look for the case of the Missing
Servant.

[Susan]

I just finished To the Elephant Graveyard by Tarquin Hall, which is a record of his trip to Assam to track a rogue elephant with a hunter licensed by the government to kill the elephant. I had trouble getting into this and didn't like the author's voice at the outset, but the story is a good one, and I got more and more interested as the hunter and squad moved closer to the elephant. The last few chapters are the best, when the author was completely serious about what was happening to the Indian elephant. But as a writer I think he needs to think harder about his own voice when he's talking about his relations with Indians and others. It's somewhat off-putting. Overall, the book is definitely worth reading, and the question of voice doesn't mar his Vish Puri mysteries, which are very clever.

[Georgia]

Susan, I need to put this on my TBR list also which is quickly growing. I need lots of TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Susan]

Georgia, if you figure out the time question, let me know. I keep buying books--new, used--and stacking them all over the house, firmly believing I will read them--soon. But then someone mentions an interesting book I meant to read and I'm off to the library. Plus my friends and I share books all the time. I do get through my piles, slowly, and I still long for time to read all those classics I never got to in college. But I have a few more years, I hope.

[Jonathan]

Anyone who liked Havana Blue and Havana Gold should check out my latino-noirs, Deep in the Cut and Latex Monkey with Banana.
http://www.amazon.com/Deep-in-the-Cut...
Kirkus Reviews wrote: “Impressive are his colorful portraits of la Raza, the Central American immigrants who populate this tale, including Bonifante’s ex–brother-in-law (a Latino FBI agent) and the hookers, housekeepers and clients who deal with the lawyer every day. Readers will be drawn to Bonifante despite his mistakes and confusion… Bonifante’s goofy charm, keen self-perception and wily ambition make for quite the escapade.”