Not for author/historian Joan Druett it is not.It seems the ealy favourite Greg McGee has been eliminated as a possibility. I think it is a male journalist who lives in Ponsonby or knows the area well. Finlay Macdonald perhaps, or Warwick Roger, or Bill Ralston? Or !!!
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I agree with you about the sex scenes, fellow sleuth. In fact, when I read the first description, I was convinced I was reading about a gay love affair, which at the time I thought rather neat and unusual and interesting. Indeed, it took me ages to get over the disappointment when the writer absolutely insisted that one of the participants was a woman!
Interesting post by Joan.
I'm the opposite to you guys though, Graham - I've always discounted the McGee theory because I believe Alix Bosco is a female writer. I'm not entirely sure why I think this - perhaps because of the way violence is dealt with (seems to be from a feminine perspective/outlook, if we're generalising), and the way the writer gets inside Markunas's head.
Talking to Val McDermid when she was here last year (a writer who knows a hell of a lot more than me about crime writing, and male and female writers), she too seemed to think it was probably a female writer - which of course bolstered my own belief, validly or not. Val had just been reading CUT & RUN, which she raved about.
There are other little things here and there that make me think it's a female writer too - but then again, there are probably tonnes of things that if I stopped and thought about them, point to a male writer too. How do we know? Are male and female writers that distinct, or just overlapping bell curves and tendencices on a spectrum anyway?
The only thing that stops us attempting to deconstruct other crime writers in this way is probably that we know their identity. eg. Does the fact that McDermid too could be said to have 'muscular' prose and brutal crimes (as Joan Druett points to as 'male' writer traits in her excellent post) mean that we would think her books were written by a man, if we didn't know otherwise?
Still, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm wrong re: Bosco's gender. All the arguments either way seem to have some merit... maybe we'll find out one day.
Couple of other names come to mind - Gary McCormick
and Michael Laws...
Or Keri Hulme!
Keri Hulme is an interesting idea! Here comes a confession of sorts, however -- I read the book before I read the blurb on the back, something that accidentally ended up reinforcing my view that the writer is a man. The author does not identify the first-person narrator of the story for ages of pages, so, not having read the first book or the blurb, I had no idea who it was. I simply assumed it was a man, because of all sorts of subliminal stuff, I suppose. So, when the two colleagues were suddenly in bed together, it came as quite a surprise. My instant reaction was, That's neat and novel! (Has there ever been a gay sleuth? I can see a whole market out there!) A clincher for me, though, was when Anna's grandson turned out to be brown. The automatic female reaction (females are so catty) would have been that Anna's daughter had been playing around. But that was not even suggested, not even by the neighbours. A typically unsuspicious male reaction, I thought.
This is fun! Thank you, Book Beattie, for providing this discussion board.
Dr.Kaye Scarpetta's niece, Lucy, in the Particia Cornwell novels probably fits the description of gay sleuth.
That's true! I'd forgotten that Lucy did any sleuthing. Tell the truth, I found her a rather tiresome character. Too much angst in those books, altogether. Would it be possible to have a gay sleuth who was comfortable with himself? Comfortable enough to get on with solving the mystery instead of internally agitating?
I suppose it is rather the same situation I had to tackle with Wiki Coffin, after he became the subject of gross racial discrimination in the first book of the series. It was a topic that was popular with readers and reviewers, but which posed a problem for me, as I had to decide how Wiki himself felt about it. In the end I decided that Wiki was perfectly comfortable with who he was, which solved the situation quite nicely. He just ignored the jibes etc., and got on with the sleuthing.
It's also possible that it's a male and female collaboration - I didn't feel that there was consistently a male or female outlook to the narration - also felt that the local minutiae in descriptions of place and setting were overdone and became irritating - it's the action I wanted to know about .
Also I felt the 2nd book was probably rushed in its writing process - the first book was a much better read.
Bookbrainz
There are several lesbian sleuths out there - NZ-raised Stella Duffy and Scotswoman Val McDermid have both written crime/mystery series with lesbian heroines, and there are several others in the USA that aren't widely available here.
In terms of gay (male) detectives, I'm not quite so sure - although Alex Delaware's sidekick Milo Sturgis in Jonathan Kellerman's long-running series is gay, and Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep's assistant in John Burdett's terrific 'Bangkok' series is a male pre-op transexual.
That's really interesting, Craig. Obviously, I will have to do some selective reading. And I must get hold of Cut and Run, too. I do feel that Slaughter Falls was a novel that had been written quite a few years ago and shelved, then hauled out and revamped when a sequel was called for.
Uh, no, it's definitely not Keri Hulme.
I love certain kinds of genre fiction (scific/history) but the only 'crime writer' I truly enjoy is Edith Pargeter/Elias Peters, as in her 'Brother Cadfael' series. I have tried reading others' work (yes, Steig Larsen included) but I cant really get a handle on why other readers find it compulsive.
To change the subject from sleuths to chook -- the caramelised chicken tuna was terrific. Thank you, Bookman Beattie, for posting the recipe. Just as hoped, it was quick and easy. I put in in the oven when the guests arrived, and turned the heat down when they became longwinded over pre-dinner drinks, which may be why I finished up with a lot of marinade, the excess frozen for another time. But the chicken was very moist and tasty, not too sweet. Baked potatoes and a small green salad. Treacle pudding to follow -- it seemed appropriate.
The mystery -- why 'tuna' when there isn't any fish in the mix???
The "mystery" was caused by me mixing up the names of the two dishes featured. Tuna was in the second recipe. I have since corrected my mistake.
Sorry about that Joan but glad you enjoyed the chicken.
Further to the lesbian/gay mystery sleuth discussion above, the The Lambda Literary Foundation has announced the finalists for the 23rd annual "Lammys" earlier today.
The awards honor the best in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) writing.The awards ceremony will be held, on May 23rd, at the School of Visual Arts Theater in NYC.
In the mystery categories, here are the finalists:
Lesbian Mystery:
The Cruel Ever After , Ellen Hart Minotaur/St. Martin’s Press
Fever of the Bone, Val McDermid HarperCollins
Missing Lynx, Kim Baldwin & Xenia Alexiou Bold Strokes Books
Parallel Lies, Stella Duffy Bywater Books
Water Mark, J.M. Redmann Bold Strokes Books
Gay Mystery
Cockeyed, Richard Stevenson MLR Press
Echoes, David Lennon Blue Spike Publishing
Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers, I.E. Woodward iUniverse
Smoked, Garry Ryan NeWest Press
Vieux Carre Voodoo, Greg Herren Bold Strokes Books
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