Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Eight novels featuring atypical amateur detectives

Sarah Lotz is a novelist and screenwriter with a fondness for the macabre.

Her books include Day Four, The Three, and most recently, Missing Person, a novel about a group of amateur detectives infiltrated by the sadistic killer whose crimes they’re investigating.

At CrimeReads, Lotz tagged eight novels featuring unlikely amateur detectives, including:
The Cutting Room, by Louise Welsh

Set in Glasgow, which Welsh portrays so viscerally it’s practically a character itself, this debut deservedly hoovered up most of the crime awards going when it was first published in 2002. The protagonist is a cruelly witty, introspective, promiscuous auctioneer, who is asked to dispose of the possessions of a man who clearly has some very dodgy secrets tucked away in the attic. Unputdownable and laced with delicious black humour.
Read about another entry on the list.

The Cutting Room is among Irvine Welsh's five best crime novels.

--Marshal Zeringue