Secret Dead Blog Recommends: Following the Detectives

Place is important to me, as a writer and a reader. As much as I love Ed McBain's books, I've always had a problem with the 87th Precinct series, because I know that "Isola" is just an inverted Manhattan, and I end up trying to do the math in my head. (Wait... is this supposed to be Greenwich Village? Ah, damnit...) See, I want pieces of the real Manhattan in my crime novels, just like I want pieces of real L.A., real New York City, and real San Francisco in my film noir. There's nothing like seeing a place through the eyes of its crime writers and screenwriters.

Which is why Following the Detectives: Real Locations in Crime Fiction (New Holland Publishers), edited by Maxim Jakubowski, is such a pure delight. Jakubowski has gathered a crack team of contributors (Sarah Weinman, Barry Forshaw, Declan Burke, Martin Edwards, J. Kingston Pierce, and Philly's own Peter Rozovsky, among others) to examine 21 locales through the prism of crime fiction. You've got Ian Rankin's Edinburgh; Lawrence Block's New York City; John Harvey's Nottingham; George Pelecanos's D.C., Dashiell Hammett's San Francisco, Arthur Conan Doyle's London... as well as maps, sidebars, and photos galore. Hell, I feel like I've been to Nottingham, after Harvey's candid and revealing essay.

Sure, you could quibble about what you wish might have been included -- personally, I was hoping for Laura Lippman's Baltimore and David Goodis's Philadelphia. But a.) you've gotta draw the line somewhere, and b.) you've gotta save something for the sequel.

And here's hoping there will be a sequel, because I scarfed this baby down in one night.

This is a UK book; I found my copy via Book Depository. But you can also your local indie bookstore to order a copy for you.