"eight novels that blend the darker side of fantasy with the dark side of detective fiction," including:This Body’s Not Big Enough for the Both of Us, by Edgar CanteroRead about another entry on the list.
Someone in the wretched hive of San Carnal is killing the sons of the Lyon, a ruthless Cartel boss. On the case are A. and Z. Kimrean, a formidable brother-and-sister private investigator team who unfortunately (for them) happen to share a single body between them. Cantero’s third English-language novel makes its intentions clear from the jump with a joke about Elmore Leonard’s rules of fiction writing, lunging forward in his trademark style as it switches back and forth between a script-format police interrogation with the Kimrean siblings and their narration of the case itself, a frothy, seedy adventure packed to the brim with (intentional) noir clichés, tough talkers, gunfights, ninjas, and all the lurid descriptions of people across the gender spectrum than anyone could ask for. Like Cantero’s other novels, Body approaches its subject with snark, blending chaotic action and comedy into a crime novel that treats its subject with affectionate charm while poking it with skewers.
--Marshal Zeringue
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