Diverse Voices in Mystery

"I wanted to tell a story that hadn't been told," [Walter] Mosley said in an interview at the book festival, which is sponsored by The Times. "It's a whole period that's not talked about, not related to. It was harder then to be black. There was no upward mobility, until recently."

One of the elements altering literature, Mosley said, is the hunger for a broader range of American experiences from the reading public--a shift he applauds.

"In America, black history is American history," Mosley told his audience. "We're looking at our fellow Americans."
~Anne-Marie O'Connor and Julie Ha, "Diversity Shines at L.A. Festival of Books"


The We Need Diverse Books campaign's vision is "A world in which all children can see themselves in the pages of a book." But why stop there? The library hopes to "promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people", and readers of all ages! We are mystery fans here at the blog, so we thought we'd begin by showing you some diversity in that genre.

Mystery authors such as Walter Mosley and Barbara Neely brought mainstream success to ethnically diverse mysteries in the 1990s, paving the way for increasing amounts of non-white detectives. Here's a smattering of the diverse detectives you can find in the library catalog.

Land of Shadows by Rachel Howzell Hall

Black Water Rising by Attica Locke

Sex, Murder, and a Double Latte by Kyra Davis

The Dewey Decimal System by Nathan Larson

Land of Careful Shadows by Suzanne Chazin

Follow Her Home by Steph Cha 

The Last Confession by Solomon Jones [eBook] 

One Red Bastard by Ed Lin 

Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup

In the Heat by Ian Vasquez

Slow Burn by  Eleanor Taylor Bland

Summer of the Big Bachi by Naomi Hirahara

The Salaryman's Wife by Sujata Massey 

Bitter Sugar by Carolina Garcia-Aguilera 

Deception On All Accounts by Sara Sue Hoklotubbe 

Indian Country Noir edited by Sarah Cortez & Liz Martínez

In the Heat of the Night by John Ball [LP] 

Plain Brown Wrapper by Karen Grigsby Bates [eAudiobook]

 

 

Links

Not Your Usual Suspects - Genre Spotlight: Mystery [Library Journal]

Mystery Detective Novels by Women of Color [Goodreads]

Diversity of Series Character [Stop, You're Killing Me]

'American Indian Mysteries': A Crossover Genre Not Quite There [Dancing Badger]