Nano-Genres? Must be the coffee....
Last week I read 
Greywalker, a first book by the author Kat Richardson. I think I may have spoken too soon with regard to the baton being passed from Laurell Hamilton to Kim Harrison in the genre of "women detectives who investigate supernatural occurrences". Ms Richardson's first foray into the genre comes replete with a heroine sporting a hallmark terseness that I find appealing (it reminds me of Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone). Combine that with an ability to describe a place (in this instance, Seattle) with enough detail to carry this story forward while hinting at more details to be revealed later on, and one can only come to the conclusion that Ms. Richardson is a great writer just discovered.
I thought that I was only going to be writing about how great this book is and that I might spend some time comparing Greywalker to Kim Harrison's works. But to be fair:
I mean, the italicized phrase in this posts first paragraphs describes a genre that at first blush one would imagine consists of fairly small collection of works. Imagine my surprise to discover that the book I picked up at Barnes & Noble over the weekend and started reading this evening seems to narrow even further the genre of "women detectives who investigate supernatural occurrences" to "women detectives who investigate supernatural occurrences in Seattle".
That book being
Urban Shaman, by C. E. Murphy [Eliel was only able to find a third-party URL for Ms. Murphy. If anyone knows if she has her own site, please let him know --Ed.]. I am reading along the all-too-familiar saga of airline travel and the story-line-starting viewing of what looks like an attack on a lone woman by a pack of hounds and a knife-wielding man, when the protagonist mentions that she's headed to Seattle. I had to stop and look at the book again to make sure I was reading the right one. [Well, not really, but it is a nice turn of a phrase that we'll allow Eliel to use for dramatic effect. --Ed].
So there you go: two different writers of genre fiction about women private eyes and beat cops who get drawn into the world of the paranormal, and they both set their tales in Seattle.
Now I have to go remind myself of exactly where it is Laurel Hamilton and Kim Harrison's characters hang out to see if there's another sub-genre brewing there. I know they are both mid-western cities, but so as I don't offend those that live there, let me not say their names without verifying this first.
Greywalker, a first book by the author Kat Richardson. I think I may have spoken too soon with regard to the baton being passed from Laurell Hamilton to Kim Harrison in the genre of "women detectives who investigate supernatural occurrences". Ms Richardson's first foray into the genre comes replete with a heroine sporting a hallmark terseness that I find appealing (it reminds me of Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone). Combine that with an ability to describe a place (in this instance, Seattle) with enough detail to carry this story forward while hinting at more details to be revealed later on, and one can only come to the conclusion that Ms. Richardson is a great writer just discovered.I thought that I was only going to be writing about how great this book is and that I might spend some time comparing Greywalker to Kim Harrison's works. But to be fair:
- it is not clear yet where this series will head
- Kim Harrison has a 3 book lead on Kat Richardson at this point, and
- (most significantly) after an excursion out for latte and reading this evening, I might be comparing apples to oranges.
I mean, the italicized phrase in this posts first paragraphs describes a genre that at first blush one would imagine consists of fairly small collection of works. Imagine my surprise to discover that the book I picked up at Barnes & Noble over the weekend and started reading this evening seems to narrow even further the genre of "women detectives who investigate supernatural occurrences" to "women detectives who investigate supernatural occurrences in Seattle".
That book being
Urban Shaman, by C. E. Murphy [Eliel was only able to find a third-party URL for Ms. Murphy. If anyone knows if she has her own site, please let him know --Ed.]. I am reading along the all-too-familiar saga of airline travel and the story-line-starting viewing of what looks like an attack on a lone woman by a pack of hounds and a knife-wielding man, when the protagonist mentions that she's headed to Seattle. I had to stop and look at the book again to make sure I was reading the right one. [Well, not really, but it is a nice turn of a phrase that we'll allow Eliel to use for dramatic effect. --Ed].So there you go: two different writers of genre fiction about women private eyes and beat cops who get drawn into the world of the paranormal, and they both set their tales in Seattle.
Now I have to go remind myself of exactly where it is Laurel Hamilton and Kim Harrison's characters hang out to see if there's another sub-genre brewing there. I know they are both mid-western cities, but so as I don't offend those that live there, let me not say their names without verifying this first.
3 Comments:
Perhaps Seattle has more paranormal activity than your typical American city...
I just read a book that my dad had out from the library and suggested to me. "The Sign of the Book" from John Dunning's Cliff Janeway Bookman series. It's a murder mystery which is solved by Janeway, an ex-cop who is now in the book business, and his business partner/lover, Erin, who is a well-respected lawyer. I liked it a lot, and I think I'm going to try to get ahold of more from the series. (Oh, and in case you were wondering, these two live in Denver and this book took place there and in some small towns in the mountains.)
try this:
http://www.cemurphy.net/
Thanks Jokah for taking the time to post. I'd discovered the link and used it my post about the sequel.
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