Reader Katie C. wants to add more mysteries to her reading list, but she wants ones with detectives who are a person of color:
I would like to a request a Rec League for mysteries with people of color detectives/sleuths. After the post about the lack of POC in HR, I was looking through the list of mysteries I want to read and the main characters were mostly white females (with a significant number of white males). So I would like get some recs for mysteries where a POC is either the sleuth/detective or a substantial sidekick with a real backstory and as an active participant in figuring out and running down clues.
I mostly read historical and cozy mysteries because I don’t like serial killer stories, noir, gritty (to me that means horribly depressing) police procedurals, anything where a murder involves torture, sexual violence or crimes against children.
The only contemporary series that I have read and liked at all are Cormoran Strike (by Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling – I have only read the first one) and the Vish Puri mysteries set in modern day India (the main character is a POC as is the entire supporting cast).
So what mysteries (preferably series, but not a requirement) that are historicals, cozies, or contemporary (but not serial killer, sexual predators, etc.) with POC main characters would your readers recommend?
Sarah: Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch.
Carrie: I don’t know many cozy mysteries. Walter Mosley is a famous Black mystery author. His most well-known detective is also Black (Easy Rawlings). But the crimes can be pretty nasty.
Does anyone else have suggestions for Katie?
K J Charles writes multiple series that have mysteries and diverse sleuths. They are on the gritty end of what you might like, but I also have a low violence threshold and I can read them (though I skip the odd page). They are also m/m, historically accurate and well written.
A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee is set in Calcutta, 1919. The viewpoint character is a white Englishman, but he’s part of a duo with an Indian police sergeant. Intense sense of place though I found the mystery a bit undercooked. Looking forward to #2, though. Not cosy, though.
The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency mysteries have a WOC lead, Botswana setting.
The Inspector Chopra books by Vaseem Khan are modern Mumbai-set sort-of-cosy mysteries (like, some really grim stuff happens in the crime plot, but it’s mostly off page and the narrative still has a cosy *feel*, if that makes sense). There is a cute pet elephant and the retired hero’s relationship with his wife is sweet.
Kris Ripper’s excellent Queers of La Vista romance series is five books, separate romances in each, linked by a murder plot. The Latino investigative journo MC in book 3 is one of the main tecs though the mystery isn’t resolves till #5.
Anyone who does like *really grim* crime solving would like the superb The Bone Readers by Jacob Ross about cold cases on a deprived Caribbean island, but it isn’t a feelgood read *understates considerably*.
I forgot the Doctor Siri mysteries by Colin Cotterill, set in Laos. As with the Inspector Chopra books they often have quite a hard edge to the crime plot, but a cozy feel to the storytelling.
And the Darko Dawson books set in Ghana by Kwei Quartey have good reviews but I haven’t read them yet.
I can’t answer for quality (either accuracy or gore limitation), not being big on mysteries myself, but I have heard there is a detective series set mainly in outback Australia with an Aboriginal lead: the “Bony” novels by Arthur Upfield.
NB, May be problematic, since the writer only sourced cultural info from contact with Aboriginal people, ie wasn’t writing from own heritage. Influential enough to be worth knowing about, though. Embarrassingly, I’m pretty sure I had browsed descendent books unawares…until I saw the doco on the real life serial killer acquaintance who used a body disposal method mooted by Upfield and his mates for his work-in-progress.
Frankie Y. Bailey has a mystery series.
It is YA, but “Scarlett Undercover” by Jennifer Latham features a black Muslim girl as the sleuth. Since it is a teen book, the gruesome factor is probably pretty low compared to a lot of adult mysteries.
“The Pigeon Pie Mystery” by Julia Stuart has a female Indian lead, Victorian setting, and is listed as a cozy mystery on Goodreads. I remember enjoying it when I listened to it years ago, and it popped into mind when I read this.
While not a straight up mystery, last summer’s “Heroine Complex” might also fit the bill.
I wish I could be more help, but I don’t read mysteries at all. And, as was mentioned, the majority have white characters. Ones featuring sleuths of color seem, from the lists I have seen, to veer more towards traditional or hardboiled, rather than the cozy end of the spectrum.
Dr. Siri is who I was going to mention! That is a great series. Inspector Chopra was also good. Another Indian series is Tarquin Hall’s Vish Puri series, but I read an excerpt from one of the Vish Puri novels and it didn’t grab me. I know the number one ladies detective agency books are super popular, but I read the first one and was decidedly underwhelmed. I will look through my Kindle and see if I can find anything else that might be relevant.
What about Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books? Lula is a great sidekick, though some might consider her a bit problematic.
And I’ll second The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency novels.
@Heather S: Thank you for the reminder — God Smites and Other Muslim Girl Problems by Ishara Deen.
I second Aaronovitch ‘s “Rivers of London ” series that starts with “Midnight Riot.” Also Sally Andrews’ s “Recipes for Love and Murder” set in post-Apartheid South Africa.
Though, a warning for Midnight riot, a bad thing happens to a child. You can always skip to the second book “Whispers Underground. ” It’s much less violent than book 1.
Barbara Hambly has written a series of mysteries set in New Orleans in the 1830s with a main character named Benjamin January who is a “free man of color” (that’s the title of the first book). The mysteries grow out of the interconnected lives of free/slave/black/white/Creole/French and the resulting tensions and violence. I think the books are well-written, but it’s depressing (although undoubtedly accurate) that January’s investigations and solutions must always be affirmed by and through the white social structure.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0553575260/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=MEF2G2CCTQXEH7K2BPBH&dpPl=1&dpID=81gPmzoAdML
Robert Barnard has a series about a black detective named Charlie Peace and Reginald Hill had several about Joe Sixsmith. As you might expect from the authors, both series are very good.
Definitely going to second the Benjamin January Free Man of Color series if you like historical mysteries.
The Jaya Jones mysteries by Gigi Pandian are contemporary cozies with an Indian American, history-professor lead.
Ausma Khan’s Esa Khattak series (police procedurals set mostly in Toronto) is excellent, but the first in the series deals with war crimes.
Carolina Garcia-Aguilera has an AMAZING series about a Cuban PI (Lupe Solano) set in Miami.
Two series set in Japan: Sujata Massey’s Rei Shimura novels (heroine is half-Japanese) and Laura Joh Rowland’s Sano Ichiro novels, which are historical.
There’s the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith novels (professional detectives working in New York City) which are interesting because the point of view trades back and forth between the two leads from book to book.
Most of the mysteries with POC detectives that I can think of are written by white authors, if that makes a difference to you.
The Benjamin January series and The No One Ladies Detectives Agency have already been mentioned. Tony Hillermam writes contemporary mysteries set in the American SW. Both of his detectives (Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn) are Navajo and detectives on the Navajo police force. They are not particularly cozy though.
The exception is Walter Mosley but his series is pretty noir. The first, Devil in a Blue Dress, was made into a movie starring Denzel Washington and Jennifer Beals.
The No One Ladies Detective Agency is the coziest that I can think of.
Found a few related lists:
http://girlsincapes.com/2015/08/10/diversereads15-mysteries/
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/86088.Mystery_Detective_Novels_by_Women_of_Color
There are the Smokey Dalton books written by Kristine Rush under the Kris Nelscott pen name. The are about a black PI set in the 60s. I haven’t read them but I have enjoyed Ms. Rush’s romances.
Barbara Nadel has a series set in London with a muslim woman as a PI’s secretary/assistant/sidekick. I wouldn’t call them cozy but can’t recall any excessive gore in the one I read. The first book is called A Private Business.
Blanche on the Lam et seq by Barbara Neely.
Definitely Walter Mosley. His books are highly respected (and having read Rose Gold, I can see why), but you have to be willing to put up with violence that borders on Tarantino territory in some areas. They’re definitely not cozies.
I haven’t read them, but a Singaporean author, Ovidia Yu, has a series of cozy mysteries that center around Aunty Lee, a rich widow that runs a restaurant and culinary empire in Singapore. Bodies happen, Aunty gets to sleuthing. So if cozies are your thing, that might work for you. The first one is Aunty Lee’s delights.
Lisa See has a series of historical mysteries set in China as well (I know her for having read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony In Love), called The Red Princess series, but the reviews are mixed. I would say that based on Goodreads reviews, they got better as the series went on.
Oh! Oh! Oh! I WAS BORN TO DO THIS LEMME GIVE YOU THE SHORT VERSION OF MY LIBRARY PRESENTATION!!!
–Ovidia Yu’s Aunty Lee series, set in Singapore (a meddling aunty solves mysteries AND runs a restaurant because she’s bored being a widow)
–A Very Pukka Murder by Arjun Raj Gaind (there’s only one so far, but I’m hoping it becomes a series; think Lord Peter (but less annoying) in the Raj)
–Barbara Neely’s Blanche series (Blanche is a maid but also a busybody who solves crime)
–Vikas Swarup has several mystery novels that aren’t truly a series, but are *extremely* loosely connected; the best known is Q&A which was the basis for the film Slumdog Millionaire
–Sujata Massey, Laura Joh Rowland, and Gigi Pandian have already been mentioned, but they are all authors of excellent series that fit the desired parameters
If the Bitchery is interested in mysteries written by authors of color (and featuring primarily characters of color), I have a list I maintain as best I can at: https://floatinglush.wordpress.com/adult-genre-authors-of-color/ This came about as part of the aforementioned library presentation.
Kris Nelscott’s powerful Smokey Dalton series (black man in the 1960s) are must-reads. The first book is A Dangerous Road: http://amzn.to/2tixf4m
And I second/third/fourth Hambly’s Benjamin January series!
I almost forgot…The Diviners and Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray both have paranormal/historical mystery (they’re set in the 1920s) plots and a pretty diverse cast. They might hew a little bit closer to urban fantasy though, although the second one especially deals more in a mystery (they have to get to the bottom of what is causing a sleeping sickness that is killing people). Two of the Diviners, Memphis and Ling Chan, are both young people of color in the 1920s (probably not one of the easiest times to be such), and the book is very explicit in dealing with how their race and in Chan’s case, culture, affects them and even how they use their abilities (Memphis is a healer, Ling Chan is a dreamwalker). They’re REALLY good.
Hi! Alexia Gordon is writing a series of (based on the one I read) very good cozies with a supernatural edge (ghosts) about Gethsemane Brown, an African American musician living in Ireland. I loved Death in D Minor.
Fifthing Benjamin January, but wanted to add content warnings because many plotlines deal with slavery (and additionally the awfulness of being a woman of any race in the 19th century), so the books do feature torture, sexual violence and crimes against children. Also the hero is a surgeon (and it’s New Orleans so characters are constantly getting cholera and yellow fever) so I wouldn’t recommend the books to the medically squeamish.
Another rec: Jeannie Lin’s Pingkang Li series (only two so far), romantic mysteries set amidst the world of courtesans in 9th century China.
I’d like to second LML’s recommendation for Barbara Neely’s series featuring Blanche White. These books are funny, earthy, and extremely conscious about race and class. Diana Reese has an interesting article about Neely in the WP: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2015/01/03/blanche-white-maid-turned-sleuth-in-90s-murder-mystery-series-is-back/
The Medicus series by Ruth Downie. I’m on the third book and I’m just loving it. The reluctant detective is a Roman army doctor in Rome-occupied Britain.
I also enjoyed the Red Princess series by Lisa See mentioned earlier.
And the Avery & Blake series by M.J. Carter has been good too. It starts out in India in the 1830’s and moves back to England as the detectives deal with experiences as part of the East India Company. The first one is The Strangler Vine.
A law professor named Stephen Carter has written at least a couple of mysteries; I liked New England White a lot.
And within the last year or so, a South African author,
Sally Andrews, published Recipes for Love and Murder,
about Tannie Marie, who writes a column that combines
personal advice and recipes for the local paper and
gets mixed up in a murder.
If you like “golden age” (i.e. era of Agatha Christie et al, 1920s/1930s) mysteries, let me strongly recommend Rudolph Fisher, who wrote what is sometimes called the “first African American mystery novel” which is called “The Conjureman Dies” with the rather lurid subtitle “a mystery novel of dark Harlem.” It was published in the 1920s, and has a very Agathat Christie feel – except that all the characters are African American, except for one, who is an African immigrant. (Fair warning, the treatment of Africans is problematic, as you would expect in the 1920s.) Main detectives are a police officer and a doctor.
Fisher also wrote a novel called “The Walls of Jericho” which has some mystery elements, though it’s not as much of a classic whodunnit, which I HIGHLY recommend. It has a couple of the bit players from “The Conjureman Dies.” I suspect he would have written a series, but he very unfortunately died of cancer in his early thirties, which I suspect is why he isn’t better known.
Anyway, great African American author, low on-page violence, and very funny stories.
You might also check out the website of Soho Crime. They publish mysteries from many parts of the world, and you can search by country if you want to get out of the US and Britain. Of necessity diverse protagonists, though perhaps lower author diversity.
Eleanor Taylor Blane’s Marti MacAlister novels are great. Not sure she was mentioned or not because there were so many replies.
Eleanor Taylor Bland. Sorry, didn’t proof read.
Naomi Hirahara’s Mas Arai series features a grumpy Japanese-American gardener. I think Hirahara won an Edgar.
Welp. I see my recommendations (the Peter Grant books by Ben Aaronovitch and Gethsemane Brown books by Alexia Gordon) aren’t unique, so I can only DOUBLE RECOMMEND them. I’ve also been meaning to read books by Naomi Hirahara, with “amateur sleuth Mas Arai”. I’ve only heard good things about her books.
Joe Ide’s “IQ”. Run, do not walk. It is that good.