Sherlock Holmes

William Kent Krueger and the Enduring Legacy of the series detective

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Many many long moons ago, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle not only created Sherlock Holmes, he created the concept of “a single character running through a series” a.k.a., the series detective.  While of course the stories themselves are wonderful, the creation of this series character has had perhaps the longest shadow over detective fiction, and, I would argue, the most enduring.  Series detectives are not just appreciated, they are beloved.  After a certain point in a series, the point is not really the story, the point is what is happening to the character.  They have their own lives, something which, I imagine, might be irritating for their creators (I know it was for Conan Doyle and Christie).  They can hardly be killed off, Sherlock Holmes being the most outstanding example as pastiches featuring Holmes outnumber Conan Doyle’s actual work. read more

Nev March: Murder in Old Bombay

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This novel will be published November 10, 2020.

This charming novel is the righteous winner of the Minotaur/MWA First Crime novel prize.  Set in 1892 Bombay during the British Raj, this novel focuses on Captain Jim Agnihotri, who has left the military after a long stint in the hospital.  The book has an excellent opening line: “I turned thirty in hospital…with little to read but newspapers.”

In said newspapers, Captain Jim reads the story of two Parsee women who plunged to their deaths from a University clock tower.  One was a young bride, one, her younger sister in law.  When Jim reads a plea in letter form in the newspaper from the young widower, he is sure that the details of the crime don’t add up.  The husband pleads that this was not a suicide but the recently concluded trial leaves this stain and uncertainty on the family. read more