FFB: Bill Pronzini and Marcia Muller Day

Patti Abbott's special theme for this week's edition of Friday's "Forgotten" Books is the husband-and-wife writing duo of Bill Pronzini and Marcia Muller. Muller is best known for her series featuring female private eye Sharon McCone, while Pronzini's best known works are those in his Nameless Detective series of novels and short stories, although he is also the editor 100+ anthology series - of which The Ethnic Detectives is one (co-edited with the late Martin Greenberg), that also happens to include a short story by Marcia Muller.

Obviously, Pronzini and Greenberg had to determine how exactly to define "ethnic" for inclusion in this book. In the introduction, they say that such a distinction isn't all that simple and point out how in one sense, even Edgar Allan Poe's C. August Dupin qualifies. The principal definition is that the sleuth is a member of a minority group within a dominant culture, and whose mannerisms, world view, and approach reflect upon his background.

The reasons for writing such a character are many and varied, but as Pronzinis point out, "These are particularly interesting characters because their adventures frequently concern problems of identity, of the search for one's roots, and of reconciling different heritages — problems that are the stuff of emotion and high drama." And, as the editors ultimately conclude, "Vive le roman policier! Vive la difference!"

This particular group of stories were chosen to represent different ethnic groups, without duplications. Thus, we have one each of the Chinese detective (Judge Dee by Robert van Gulik); one of a couple of different Native American tribal detectives (David Return by Manly Wade Wellman and also Tony Hillerman, mentioned below); the Czechoslovakian detective (Dr. Jan Czissar by Eric Ambler); the Filipino detective (Jo Gar by Raoul Whitfield) and so forth. Most of these authors will be new to the majority of crime fiction readers, with only a handful well-known, such as Georges Simenon (Inspector Maigret), Tony Hillerman (Jim Chee), and Marcia Muller (Elena Oliverez).

Muller's Elena Oliverez is Director of the fictional Museum of Mexican Arts in Santa Barbara and a Chicana amateur sleuth. In the story "The Sanchez Sacraments," Oliverez investigates the hidden meaning of a group of pottery figures representing the five Catholic sacraments, which leads to a difficult decision about their future. Muller penned three novels featuring Oliverez, the last one co-written with Pronzini in a tale spanning a hundred years, with Elena as the present-day detective and Pronzini's John Quincannon, a nineteenth-century sleuth. Muller would later say in an interview that "Although another Elena was under contract, I simply couldn't come up with anything that could top or even equal Beyond the Grave, and I eventually persuaded the publisher to release me from the obligation."

Reading The Ethnic Detectives is something akin to eating at an international food fair, with little tastings that may satisfy, but leave you wanting more. The most effective stories are those from the authors who have lived the longest with their characters, primarily Hillerman and his Navajo Corporal, Jim Chee, and for the most intense banquet of all, a novella-length story from Ed McBain featuring the various multi-cultural detectives of his 87th Precinct series the author featured in dozens of novels and stories.

The Ethnic Detectives is a fascinating look at the various ways writers slip into worlds not their own and try to create fiction that conveys the spirit of people who live there. Like most such efforts, some of these attempts are successful, others a little less so. But it's an easy way to travel around the world vicariously and be pleasantly entertained at the same time.

Comments

[George Kelley]

I own over a dozen Pronzini and Greenberg anthologies but not this one. I'll have to track down a copy after reading your fine review. Pronzini and Greenberg anthologies always delivered good short stories and informative introductions. You're both entertained and informed when you read one of their anthologies.

[BV Lawson]

You are right about being both entertained and informed, George. It may be hard to find a copy of this book, though - I checked on Amazon, for instance, and you can buy a few used copies. But it's no longer in print, and there isn't a digital copy, alas. As always, I start with my local public library!

[Todd Mason]

Do you think most mystery readers today would find Eric Ambler obscure? A very sad thought...Raoul Whitfield and Manly Wade Wellman could only be undeservedly obscure, but that Ambler might be obscure at all strikes me as as odd as Ngaio Marsh or Georgette Heyer being...oh, you don't mean to say...

While there are plenty of new writers I'm not yet caught up with...