Diverse Detective Fiction Month – #DiverseDetectives

#DiverseDetectives – WrapUp & Giveaway Winner

I can’t believe October went by so quickly! (Though I do love November, it’s my bday month 🙂 ) Thank you all so much for participating, I hope you found some great new writers and series that rock diversity! I know it’s not everyone’s favorite genre, but one that is extremely white and so I appreciate your participation.

I didn’t get to read all the books, but I love looking at my #DiverseDetectives shelf and I hope it’ll fill up quickly. One my favorite discoveries was Blanche, I’ll be stalking all the bookshops to get the whole series.

Another favorite was Cosmo the space detective, which Naz also read and reviewed here. Naz says:”Her childhood Martian nanny, Wendy, falls victim to this discrimination and Cosmic will not stand for it because she understand that a group of people can’t be so indiscriminately profiled. So she sets out to solve this mystery. (…) I recommend this book to fans of mysteries, especially to those who like sci-fi in all their stories!”

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Brendon at Gaming for Justice reviewed Walter Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dress. He says: “The use of privilege in this part of the story by all of the White characters made me extremely uncomfortable and hit home so many points about race -> the segregation of neighborhoods, ability to commit violence with no consequences, antagonization of a Black man for no other reason besides his race. (…) Easy feels like a real person, having real struggles and facing real consequences. Overall, I enjoyed my experience with Easy Rawlins and I plan to continue the series at some point.”

Wendy at what the log had to say read the 1980s Report for Murder, which stars a lesbian amateur sleuth and is set in a posh all-girl’s school. She writes: “On the whole, this was an entertaining mystery that was spearheaded by a strong (yet not exactly likeable) lead. I don’t know if I would read any others in this series, but I’m happy that I can now say that I have read a lesbian murder mystery!”

Wendy also reviewed The Devotion of Suspect X, in which “the basic premise is that a physics professor helps the police out with their more baffling mysteries. I actually found this to be one of the more interesting aspects of the novel. Professor Yukawa was fairly philosophical, and made a lot of fascinating points about mathematics, physics, and the nature of experimentation. I thought it would be a fairly standard police procedural novel, but because of this, it went a lot further than I expected.”

And then she also reviewed Byomkesh Bakshi Stories, which wasn’t even on my radar, shame on me. Wendy writes about the detective: “Rather than being interested in restoring law and order, he often lets the culprits go free, or indeed, causes their deaths!”

Sharlene at Real Life Reading read and reviewed Under the Midnight Sun, by the same author of Devotion of Suspect X fame. She says: “Read this book for two very compelling characters, who seem to have no connection to each other yet whose lives are intertwined. Read this book for one very persistent detective convinced that everyone took a wrong turn too early, led astray somehow. Read this also for the way Higashino takes the reader through Japan in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, from office life, to school, to technology.”

And finally, Amal at Misfortune of Knowing reviewed Summer of the Big Bachi, which is still on my tbr. Amal writes: “This mystery — not that his novel squarely fits into the genre — was challenging to follow, but what made it worth reading was its portrayal of a Hiroshima survivor still reeling from the trauma of the bomb. (…) Many of the characters, including Mas, speak broken English — for example, “What youzu know about dis guy, anyway?” — that I could only accept because the author is Japanese-American.”

Thanks so much for all your reviews! And yes, I made you read all that before announcing the winner of the giveaway! 😀 And the winner is…..Wendy at what the log had to say! Congrats, Wendy!! 🙂

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(yes I do the old-school selecting thing)

Wendy you won one book of diverse detective fiction! You get to choose the book from The Book Depository, the only requirements are that the book is €15 max and is #ownvoices that is not white, LGBTQIA+, able-bodied authors writing about “the Other.”

Please email me at ifyoucanreadthis at hotmail dot com or DM me on twitter for the details!

And that’s a wrap people!

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Welcome to Diverse Detective Fiction Month, a reading event in October 2016, open to ALL. If you’re not familiar with #DiverseBookBloggers, we’re a group of bloggers from marginalized groups working at promoting diverse literature by and about PoC, LGBTQIA+, and differently-abled writers. This page is part of our directory, so please feel free to look around and read our intro post here.

So, this event (go ahead and call it a challenge if you’re feeling competitive) will be hosted by @siliconphospho and myself, @Bina_ReadThis because detective fiction is our comfort genre, but at first glance utterly normative, and when Silicon asked for recs and came up with an amazing list, things snowballed. So here we are, who’s in the mood for exploring the diverse side of detective fiction?

~~RULES~~ GUIDELINES

Have fun! Also, read at least 1 diverse detective story (we encourage you to go for #ownvoices books!) and post a review on your blog or goodreads between October 1st and October 31st. Also, feel free to follow us on twitter and gush a lot about the books or audiobooks or short stories you’re reading! Use the hashtag #DiverseDetectives

SIGN-UPS

Please sign up under this page by simply leaving a comment, but please make sure to add your email address so we can contact you for the giveaway. Sign-ups will be open until October 15th!

REVIEWS

Once you’ve reviewed a work of diverse detective fiction, please leave a comment with the link under this page. This will automatically make you eligible for the giveaway.

GIVEAWAY

One lucky person will win one book of diverse detective fiction! You get to choose the book from The Book Depository, the only requirements are that the book is €15 max and is #ownvoices that is not white, LGBTQIA+, able-bodied authors writing about “the Other.” The giveaway is international, meaning we’ll send wherever The Book Depository delivers!