From BookRiot:
Few crime writers will argue against the importance of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Their novels and stories are staples in the crime community, their innovative use of language, plot, and deception still resonating with writers and readers alike today. However, the modern private investigator, and any other sort of investigator including police, spies, and so on are evolving. Those who aren’t the physical representation of Hammett and Chandler need not stray far in the genre to find a new breed of top notch writers creating private investigators that build on these classic crime writers and, sometimes, surpass them.
For years now, Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan, Alison Gaylin’s Brenna Spector, and most recently Sara Gran’s Claire Dewitt have paved the path for new and astonishing detectives of all races, sexes, and sexualities—investigators who do not always simply fight crime, but also attempt to understand how justice works, when it fails, and how these issues affect all modern Americans.
. . . .
JUNIPER SONG, JUNIPER SONG SERIES BY STEPH CHA
The brilliant Song—and the nearly unrivaled Cha—is the best place to stop. The groundbreaking series by Cha is at once an ode to Chandler as much as it focuses on the needs of women, racial minorities, intense personal and world issues, and what it means to survive again and again. While Song may not be the hardcore and physically resilient Claire Dewitt, she casts a shadow over the rest of crime fiction as the talent to beat. Although Song may be privileged, living with some of the wealthiest people, she is not without her ghosts, the limitations placed on her due to Song’s race and sex, and so many other hurdles placed in her path. Cha’s private investigator is a woman who makes tough decisions, learns to lead a hard, lonely, and oftentimes frightening life, and values the loved ones she holds dear, all while remaining noir to the bone.
. . . .
KAT STONE, KAT STONE SERIES BY ERICA WRIGHT
It is not uncommon for extremely talented poets to venture into the crime genre. Crime is dark, but also a genre that permeates all books, creeping into a Toni Morrison novel or Alice Munro story just as it would with the latest Megan Abbott novel. Erica Wright, one of the most gifted poets today, brings as much lyricism into her writing as Chandler might have. Wright has an advantage: she’s younger and has a work ethic and undeniable talent for bringing the truth out in each of the Kat Stone novels. Kat can be wacky or poignant, depending on what page, paragraph, or even sentence you’re reading. Wright has a way to navigate through the books, maintaining her private investigator’s personality, needs, and duty just as she might a well written poem. The structure in her novels is tight, with Kat a strong and determined woman who lives up to Wight’s potential. Wright, like Cha, is releasing her first standalone, and while readers are ecstatic about a new book from Wright, one can’t keep hoping for more from Kat Stone.
Link to the rest at BookRiot
I wish people would quit erasing and rewriting [literary] history**. These are not groundbreaking characters or authors. I think that would be news to Sue Grafton (RIP) or Sara Paretsky or Eleanor Taylor Bland or Sujata Massey and a bunch of others I can think of. The OP writes this as if there was Chandler and Hammet and then, say, an inter-testament period in which no mysteries were written, until now.
It’s great that there are more detectives — mysteries are my first love — I just don’t see the point of pretending that these new detectives / authors are “groundbreaking.” Not even remotely. Hyping them that way suggests they have nothing else to recommend reading them, which would be a disservice, would it not?
investigators who do not always simply fight crime, but also attempt to understand how justice works, when it fails, and how these issues affect all modern Americans.
Duh? Is this not what detective stories do, as a matter of course? Obviously, swap out “American” for whatever country the mystery takes place in. Is that not the point, whether hardboiled or soft?
Eh, just as writers shouldn’t ask friends to beta read if the friends don’t read in their story’s genre, it’s also a bad idea to get a book reviewer or critic who clearly hasn’t met the genre, either.
**I’m not a fan of erasing the other kinds, either 🙂