Not the Usual (literary recommendations for pandemic days)

 

Not My Usual Stuff,

(Literary recommendations for pandemic days)

         Right off the top, I confess to being an unashamed junkie for good crime fiction. Hard boiled private eye, world weary cop, intellectual crime solver - just doesn't matter, I like 'em all as long as they're well written. That’s what all the following is about. If you don’t read for pleasure stop reading now. But if you do, stay the course and I’ll introduce you to some new addictions, in all probability. 

         Of course, the genre as we know it, at least in English, may be traced back to Edgar Allan Poe's 1841 short story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." Poe's brainy, logical, Auguste Dupin, provides the prototype of what Conan Doyle superbly fleshed, out 47 years later, in Sherlock Holmes, as the "consulting detective" inn his seminal short novel “A Study in Scarlet.” (Holmes remains the most widely published detective in all of English literature!)

        Between Poe and Conan Doyle, English novelist, Wilkie Collins, expanded the genre from short story to novel. Collins is generally credited with the first great mystery novel, 1859’s "The Woman in White."  Dorothy L. Sayers singled out Collin's second crime novel, "The Moonstone," (1868) as "probably the very finest detective story ever written". “The Moonstone” is still, even today, a great read!

         In support of that, even though Collins is unknown to most American crime fiction fans, "The Moonstone" contains a number of ideas that have established, in the form, several classic features of the 20^th/21^st  century detective story:  The "inside job," red herrings, skilled, professional investigator, Bungling local cops, detective inquiries/ methods, large number of false suspects, the "least likely suspect," a "locked room" murder,  reconstruction of the crime, and a final twist in the plot. Collins brilliantly incorporates all these in "The Moonstone." As mentioned above, Conan Doyle later elevated the short story genre to popular art form with Sherlock Holmes, the protype of the analytical, quirky “private eye.”  

        The genre has been broken down into several subtypes. From the quirky eccentricity of Miss Marple, Nero Wolfe, Hercule Poirot - all civilians drawn into mysteries, to the equal eccentricity of some fictional cops, from Inspector Morse, John Rebus, Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast, Columbo, Thomas Pitt, and quadriplegic savant Lincoln Rhyme, to Tony Hillerman's Navajo master detective, Joe Leaphorn. All have been portrayed as TV gumshoes except Pitt, whose exploits in his stomping grounds in Victorian London have been chronicled in 35 (so far) novels by the prolific Ann Perry.    

        On the other end of the spectrum, we are presented with world weary, jaded cops, exemplified (in my humble opinion) to its very finest example in Michael Connelly's iconic Harry Bosch, with James Lee Burke's Dave Robichaux a close second.  This group includes Law and Order’s Lennie Briscoe and, Bobby Goren, and Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone. Current (and prolific) UK authors well worth a read include Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Peter Robinson and the Anne Cleeves. Ms. Cleeves’ works have spun off two much acclaimed current TV series, “Vera” and “Shetland.” The others, one series each.

        Private detectives in American fiction tend to be descendants of Philip Marlowe and Mike Hammer. Examples include Sam Spade, Spenser, Lew Archer, and Elvis Cole/Joe Pike - jaded, sarcastic running to smart ass, and generally chick magnets. Some atypical exceptions such as Easy Rawlins, VI Warshawski, and Kinsey Milhone and the decidedly oddball Stephanie Plum, also occupy a place on the "private eye" roster, different in demeanor and method, but effective, nonetheless. In the corner all by himself, because he defies definition, is Lee Child's terrific Jack Reacher, not a detective or a cop, but you have to call him something. A recent and very readable new face in this group is Cormoran Strike, JK Rowling’s war wounded, amputee, detective penned under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

        Recently, (actually over the last several years) while I constantly look for and read books by the staple group above, I have been immersed in Scandinavian crime fiction. There are some terrific authors and some amazing characters to be explored if you are unfamiliar with this treasure trove of great writing. I started with Norwegian, Jo Nesbo, whose protagonist Harry Hole is an Oslo homicide cop. Read them in order, as Nesbo develops the character sequentially.  A close second place is actually a tie between Jussi Adler-Olsen, a Dane, and Henkell Manning, Swedish master author.  Adler Olsen's Karl Morck has been relegated to the equivalent of the Copenhagen cold case squad. All you need to know is that there are (so far) five terrific novels.

         It was with almost a sense of loss that I recently finished Henning Mankell's final Kurt Wallander novel, "The Troubled Man" There are 11 novels and 1 volume of short stories in the series, again best read in order. All the novels were feature length movies, played on BBC in Swedish with subtitles, and so loved in the UK that they were all remade in English starring Kenneth Branagh in the title role.  A second superb Swedish series are the novels of Helene Tursten, featuring Stockholm police inspector Irene Huss.  These have all also been made as films with subtitles. (all the above authors are available in English)

        A final recommendation is Icelandic Author Arnaldur Indridason, whose series set in Reykjavik and environs (pretty much all of Iceland) features Inspector Erlandur. There are 14 books in the series, the last 12 of which are available in English.

        I have found all these authors extremely refreshing in their great detail to character development and international connections.  Henning Mankell's death in 20I5 was a great loss to the genre, but most of the others mentioned above remain productive, I urge you to give them a try.