Silette was a very successful French detective with very nontraditional methods.
But the real story is twined around that mystery, as she explores post-storm New Orleans, and her own history with New Orleans before the death of her mentor.Ĭlaire became a detective after discovering a copy of Jacques Silette’s Détection, an exploration of sort of philosophy of detection, in her parents house. The main storyline is Claire DeWitt investigating the disappearance of a man during Katrina for his nephew. He was actually recommending the third book in the series, but I thought I should check them all out, and I’m very glad I did. I learned of this book from ‘An Appreciation of Genre-Breaking Mysteries”, an article by Nick Mamatas that John Coulthart linked to (). I guess at the end of the day I just enjoy being in the reading company of difficult women who challenge me to think beyond the mystery they are ostensibly attempting to resolve. I look forward to reading the middle book in the series. It's easy to feel connected to her even if you share no life experiences simply because she challenges you at every turn and presents you with realities that, as she would say, you may not want but you definitely need. Gran is an author of unique talents, one who stimulates us to consider issues related to The Meaning Of Life and other equally weighty topics through Claire's musings, her search for omens, her interest in the I-Ching and her ingestion and inhalation of all manner of illicit and unhealthy substances. And as is so often the case with books set in New Orleans, the city itself is something of a character.
The mystery that brings Claire back to The City of the Dead is both tied to the storm and its aftereffects, and separate from them. It is not a conventional rendering in any sense, but I would venture to say that it is far more compelling than 90% of what you've seen on broadcast news or social media. Her descriptions of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the impact of the storm and the broken levees (the worst engineering disaster in the history of the US, according to Wikipedia) not just on the physical structures of New Orleans but on the mental health of the survivors, is nothing short of amazing. Well, I've just done that, and although I can't say that "making sense" is something Sara Gran is going for in the Claire DeWitt series, I can say that I enjoyed City of the Dead even more than Infinite Blacktop. Infinite Blacktop was laced with references to Claire's personal history, and I had an idea that it would all make more sense if I started at the beginning. I enjoyed it, but when I was done I realized that I very much wanted to read the first book in the series. I read on the basis of strong reviews when it was first published in 2018.
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