Contemporary American Crime Fiction
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Contemporary American Crime Fiction Crime Files Series General Editor: Clive Bloom Since its invention in the nineteenth century, detective fiction has never been more popular. In novels, short stories, films, radio, television and now in computer games, private detectives and psychopaths, prim poisoners and overworked cops, tommy gun gangsters and cocaine criminals are the very stuff of modern imagination, and their creators one mainstay of popular consciousness. Crime Files is a ground-breaking series offering scholars, students and discerning readers a comprehensive set of guides to the world of crime and detective fiction. Every aspect of crime writing, detective fiction, gangster movie, true-crime exposé, police procedural and post-colonial investigation is explored through clear and informative texts offering comprehensive coverage and theoretical sophistication. Published titles include: Hans Bertens and Theo D’haen CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN CRIME FICTION Anita Biressi CRIME, FEAR AND THE LAW IN TRUE CRIME STORIES Ed Christian (editorr) THE POST-COLONIAL DETECTIVE Paul Cobley THE AMERICAN THRILLER Generic Innovation and Social Change in the 1970s Lee Horsley THE NOIR THRILLER Susan Rowland FROM AGATHA CHRISTIE TO RUTH RENDELL British Women Writers in Detective and Crime Fiction Crime Files Series Standing Order ISBN 978-0-333-71471-3 (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England Contemporary American Crime Fiction Hans Bertens Professor of Comparative Literature Utrecht University and Theo D’haen Professor of English and American Literature Leiden University © Hans Bertens and Theo D’haen 2001 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2001 978-0-333-67455-0 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced,copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2001 by PALGRAVE Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE is the new global academic imprint of St. Martin’s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 978-0-333-68465-8 ISBN 978-0-230-50831-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230508316 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bertens, Johannes Willem. Contemporary American crime fiction / Hans Bertens and Theo D‘haen. p. cm. — (Crime files series) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Detective and mystery stories, American—History and criticism. 2. American fiction—20th century—History and criticism. 3. Criminals in literature. 4. Crime in literature. I. haen, Theo D’. II. Title. III. Series. PS374.D4 B47 2001 813’.08720905—dc21 2001024590 10987 6 5 4321 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 Contents List of Writers and Detectives vii Preface ix 1 Introduction 1 2 The Old Guard in the mid-1990s: Muller, Grafton, and Paretsky 17 Marcia Muller and Sharon McCone 18 Sue Grafton and Kinsey Millhone 24 Sara Paretsky and V.I. Warshawski 29 3 The Old Guard Continued: Kaminsky, Parker, and Block 39 Stuart Kaminsky and Porfiry Rostnikov 40 Robert B. Parker and Spenser 43 Lawrence Block and Matt Scudder 50 4 The Personal and the Regional: New Forms of Authenticity in Female Crime Writing 58 Private matters 58 Regionalism 67 5 Three Pictures from the Institution: Forrest, Barr, and Hightower 77 Katherine V. Forrest’s lesbian cop 79 Nevada Barr’s Park Ranger 84 Lynn S. Hightower’s single parent 91 6 Los Angeles Police Department: Ellroy’s and Connelly’s Police Procedurals 96 James Ellroy 96 Michael Connelly 105 7 Private Investigation in the 1990s 113 Marlowe at the end of the millennium 113 America as grotesque 118 On the ball 122 High jinks in Trenton 124 v vi Contents 8 The ‘English Tradition’ in Contemporary American Crime Fiction 129 Martha Grimes, Long Piddleton, and the twelfth Viscount Ardry 130 Elizabeth George, the eighth Earl of Asherton, and Acton, North London 134 9 Historical Mysteries 146 Ancient Rome 149 Historical New York 151 New England 153 Seneca Falls and the rights of women 154 New York revisited 156 10 In Waco’s Wake: Patricia Cornwell and Mary Willis Walker 160 Mary Willis Walker 161 Patricia Cornwell 169 11 ‘Other’ Detectives: the Emergence of Ethnic Crime Writing 175 Contemporary ethnic detectives 176 African American crime writing: Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins 178 Dale Furutani’s Ken Tanaka 183 Twice marginalized: ethnicity and sexuality 185 The past revisited: Robert Skinner’s Skin Deep, Blood Red 188 12 Black Female Crime Writing 190 South and north: Barbara Neely’s Blanche 191 Middle class detection in Sacramento 196 Reunion in Blue River 201 Black female PI in Newark 203 13 The Persistence of Gender: the Private Investigators of S.J. Rozan 206 Primary Bibliography 215 Select Secondary Bibliography 222 Index 225 List of Writers and Detectives Writers and detectives discussed in some detail – in order of appearance: Marcia Muller Sharon McCone Sue Grafton Kinsey Millhone Sara Paretsky V.I. Warshawski Stuart Kaminsky Porfiry Rostnikov Robert B. Parker Spenser Lawrence Block Matt Scudder Nancy Pickard Jenny Cain Margaret Maron Deborah Knott Sharyn McCrumb the tiny police force of Hamelin, Tennessee Katherine V. Forrest Kate Delafield Nevada Barr Anna Pigeon Lynn S. Hightower Sonora Blair James Ellroy generations of LAPD detectives Michael Connelly Harry Bosch Robert Crais Elvis Cole George P. Pelecanos Nick Stefanos Harlan Coben Myron Bolitar Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum Martha Grimes Melrose Plant and Richard Jury Elizabeth George Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers Steven Saylor Gordianus the Finder Maan Meyers Pieter Tonneman and descendants Margaret Lawrence Hannah Trevor Caleb Carr John Schuyler Moore Mary Willis Walker Molly Cates Patricia Cornwell Kay Scarpetta Walter Mosley Easy Rawlins Dale Furutani Ken Tanaka Michael Nava Henry Rios Barbara Neely Blanche White Terris McMahan Grimes Theresa Galloway Nikki Baker Ginny Kelly Valerie Wilson Wesley Tamara Hayle S.J. Rozan Lydia Chin and Bill Smith vii Preface Contemporary American Crime Fiction intends to trace the major devel- opments in American crime writing of the past fifteen years, with a focus on the 1990s. Although we will occasionally – as in our intro- ductory chapter – refer to the history of crime writing and to the various theoretical approaches of the genre, we will primarily offer discussions of the work of writers who in our view have made a differ- ence because they have reoriented established codes and conventions and explored new directions. This is not to say that our discussion will not be informed by historical knowledge or by theoretical considera- tions, but history and theory are not our primary concern. Most of the writers we have selected for detailed discussion have published a substantial body of work, usually a series of novels with a recurring cast: the protagonist and his or her human entourage. They also have received substantial recognition on the part of fellow crime writers or of crime readers, a recognition concretized in awards – or nominations for awards, such as the Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Hammett Award, and the Anthony Award. If occasionally we discuss an author who does not satisfy these criteria, we do so because her or his work nevertheless can serve well to illustrate a particular point we want to make. As we will see, the 1990s have consolidated fascinating trends visible since the mid-1980s. Most conspicuous, of course, is the veritable explosion of women’s crime writing. We will return to the phenom- enal success of crime writing by women in the second part of the introductory chapter. Another success story is that of the emergence and subsequent popularity of the ethnic detective. Then, there is the sudden proliferation of crime fiction with a historical setting. But white male crime fiction, too, is still going strong and has developed significantly in terms of plot, protagonists, themes and settings. But let us save this for the chapters that follow. Of these thirteen chapters, Theo D’haen has written Chapters 1 (first section), 3, 6, 7, 9, and 11, while Hans Bertens has contributed the second section of Chapter 1 and Chapters 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, and 13. ix.