

Gran is a former resident of New Orleans and now lives in Northern California. She also has her own mysteries to contend with, including her mentor's unsolved murder and the disappearance of a childhood friend from Brooklyn.ĭeWitt is being called one of the genre's most original characters in years, described as a "cool blend of Nancy Drew and Sid Vicious." The novel is getting rave reviews from some grand dames of the mystery genre, including Sue Grafton and Laura Lippman. She's the self-proclaimed world's greatest detective, but also uses her dreams, mind-expanding herbs and a manual on "Détection" from a mysterious Frenchman to help her solve cases. On its surface, the story is about private investigator Claire DeWitt's search for a missing prosecutor in post-Katrina New Orleans, but to paraphrase a line from the movie "JFK," this novel is a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma.Ĭlaire DeWitt is not your average P.I. The book from critically acclaimed author Sara Gran reads a bit like if David Lynch directed a Raymond Chandler novel. That cryptic statement sounds more likely to come from a Tibetan monk than a French detective, but it's the trippy kind of prose that's right at home in one of the summer's most talked about mystery novels, "Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead." The wise detective seeks only questions." However, we may receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.(CNN) - "Only a fool looks for answers.

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No matter what kind of mystery reader you are, there’s plenty for you here. Writers of all backgrounds and nationalities write mysteries, as this list demonstrates. Now, the genre has expanded even further: There are riffs on the classics, heart-pounding thrillers, literary mysteries, and more. In the decades that followed, the genre expanded to encompass a more diverse and global range of authors and readers: Writers like Sajayit Ray in India, Yukito Ayatsuji in Japan, and others took inspiration from Holmes, Poirot, and more, and made the mystery their own. Then, in the Golden Age of Crime in the 1920s and 1930s, women writers like Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. The detective novel originated in England, when detectives like Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot came onto the scene in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Or maybe you just want to cuddle up with a classic. Or maybe you’re looking for a book that tackles a serious political issue, in which case we recommend A Beautiful Place to Die, set in apartheid-era South Africa. Maybe you like a cozy mystery, without too much violence - in that case, the ice cream shop mystery A Deadly Inside Scoop is for you. There’s hardly anything more satisfying than settling in with a page-turning novel.
