The geography of crime novels

[Mike Weaver]

Apart from being a lazy reader and crime novels being little strain on 
the brain, one reason I enjoy stories set in the US is exploring 
different parts of the country which has fascinated me since I 
discovered DC comics in the late 1950s and watched the Lone Ranger and 
Range Rider on the tube.

Having realised that Land's End is the nearest I'm likely to get to the 
US, earlier in the year I decided to explore it by crime novels, 
starting with LA. With a list of lesser known LA based series, reading 
mostly using the Internet Archive Library I had Wiki and Google 
Maps/Streetview open and gradually got the layout and look of LA sorted 
in my head.

I can't say I discovered any great prose or notable story telling but 
two authors I'd recommend as a result are Barbara Serranella and Timothy 
Hallinan. Street life stories from the former and crim world comedy from 
the latter - a burglar who does PI jobs for those who can't go to the 
police, i.e. other criminals - good fun. I read several African-American 
writers, which was good for social-economic perspectives but none as 
writers or storytellers a patch on Walter Mosley.

So where next...

On 21/10/2021 17:14, Mark Kohut wrote:
> https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/21/books/classic-crime-novels-that-still-thrill-today.html
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l

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