So, I occasionally am a little obsessed with books

[conuly]

Right now, specifically, diversifying our bookshelves.

Now, amazingly enough, the tastes of groups like We Need Diverse Books happily coincide with my tastes, trending heavily towards speculative fiction and kidlit, with some YA mixed in. And the girls like those too, so win-win, right?

Recently, we got two new kindles, which freed up two old kindles to go to Jenn and my mom. Now, my mom likes mysteries, frequently of the cozy subgenre. And as I'm happily going about loading some of her favorites onto her kindle, it occurs to me that she might like to read something new. (Or she might not. My mother is famously hard to buy for, which is why she didn't get a new kindle. I hate it when we get her something and then she never so much as takes it out of the box.) So naturally my thoughts went "Huh, and I bet all her series feature white detectives. (They do, in fact, and also nominally Christian and heterosexual and all that stuff.)

So, as I do, I googled "diverse mysteries" and found out that there is... pretty much nothing. I don't know if there actually IS nothing, or if nobody has helpfully compiled a 100-entry long list, but the pickings certainly appear to be slim, unless I want the Ladies Detective Agency.

This is more than a little irritating. Any recs?

Comments

[redbird]

I haven't read them, but I've heard good things about Barbra Hambly's Benjamin January series: the detective is a black man in New Orleans in the 1830s.

The Lambda awards have categories for lesbian and gay men's mysteries.

[oursin]

Seconding Hambly. not. cosy though. rec Barbara Neely 's Blanche mysteries.

[adrian_turtle]

Barbara Neely's mysteries are excellent. I'm not sure I'd call them cosy, exactly, but they aren't bloody.

Laurie King has a series of detective stories with a lesbian protagonist, starting with A Grave Talent. When it started ~25 years ago, it was about a woman working for the San Francisco police department, dealing with sexism, and trying to stay in the closet about being a lesbian. She comes out of the closet, and fights sexism and homophobia as SF changes considerably. These books aren't at all cosy, and they're about white lesbians in SF, a group which feels "diverse" to some people but not to others.

Another series of police-detective mysteries is by Tony Hillerman, about the Navajo Tribal Police. I think Hillerman is a white man who tried to be sensitive and respectful about the Navajo characters in his books. I don't know if he succeeded, or if he accidentally made Navajo readers cringe in ways I'm too clueless to recognize.

[conuly]

Another series of police-detective mysteries is by Tony Hillerman, about the Navajo Tribal Police. I think Hillerman is a white man who tried to be sensitive and respectful about the Navajo characters in his books. I don't know if he succeeded, or if he accidentally made Navajo readers cringe in ways I'm too clueless to recognize.

I wonder if I could convince the person who does American Indians in Children's Literature to take a break from the kidlit for a sec....

[conuly]

Who the heck names a black protagonist Blanche White!? Please tell me the ironic naming is addressed in the book.

[oursin]

It's sufficiently long since I last read these that I can't remember. I'm also trying to recollect name of the author who wrote 2-3 mysteries featuring an African-American woman academic.

[conuly]

Thanks :)

Everybody seems to think Benjamin January is worth a read, so I'll try it. Even if my mom doesn't like it (now that I think about it, she never seems to like historical series), I might!

[the_rck]

Laurie King wrote some books featuring a lesbian cop with fibromyalgia. I think the first one is called With Child.

Hen's Teeth by Manda Scott has a lesbian detective.

I'm not convinced either are even remotely cozy, though.

The main character in J.K. Rowling's mysteries (written as Robert Galbraith) is disabled. He's a vet who lost his leg in, I think, Afghanistan.

GoodReads has some lists that might give ideas. I have no idea about the quality or whether or not there's sex or graphic violence or anything.

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/23158.best_lesbian_mysteries https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3883.Best_Gay_Mystery

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/86088.Mystery_Detective_Novels_by_Women_of_Color

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/79237.Top_books_featuring_Black_female_Cops_Private_Eyes_or_Sleuths

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/79235.Best_Black_sleuths_Detectives_and_gumshoes

Laura Joh Rowland has written a bunch of historical mysteries set in Japan.

I know that there are a couple of authors who have set mystery series in ancient Egypt.

Tarquin Hall has a series of mysteries set in modern India with an Indian detective.

Tony Hillerman had a series with Navajo detectives.

[conuly]

Wow, comprehensive! Thanks :)

[legionseagle]

There are the Reginald Hill Joe Sixsmith mysteries, which have a black British protagonist.

[conuly]

Apparently, not very Kindle available in the US, though I'm definitely putting them on my "real book" buying list!

[dandelion.livejournal.com]

I haven't read them personally (I don't really read mysteries) but there are a reasonable number on the Wikipedia page for crime novel series that look to be set outside white America and the UK - Turkey (notably, transvestite protagonist), Pakistan, black officers in Harlem, etc.

[azarias.livejournal.com]

I'm not much of a mystery reader - I like Rex Stout novels, but not for the plot, and anyway those aren't what you're looking for - but I'll see if any of my friends have recs. I know one of my friends has published a short story series with a Chinese-British woman as the detective, but they're not cozies.

Nearest I can think of that I've read is the Rivers of London series, but those are urban fantasies with a mystery structure, and not something someone who doesn't like fantasy would like.

[alessandriana.livejournal.com]

I don't know if she's into historical mysteries, but the Benjamin January series is very good.