Retired Faculty and Staff Association
Lone Star Sleuths Entertains
and Elucidates Texas Geography, Society, History
and Elucidates Texas Geography, Society, History
Texas
State aficionados of crime fiction who also love Texiana enjoyed a
double treat on Saturday, February 23, when the Southwest Writers
Collection hosted a book sale and signing at Alkek Library. On hand for
conversation and autographs were fourteen of the thirty
who-done-it authors featured in Lone
Star Sleuths: An Anthology of Crime Fiction, edited by
Bill Cunningham, Steven L. Davis, and Rollo K. Newsom.
As the editors clearly explain in their excellent "Introduction," Texas mystery fiction is not only an excapist passtime but it also reveals the richness and diversity of this state's history and society: ". . . overall, the majority of Texas-based mystery and detective fiction presents an accurate picture, and mystery writers have created memorable portraits of Texas's landscapes, people, and social issues (p. xi)."
Lone Star Sleuths focuses ". . . more on the sense of place than the crime, and we've chosen excerpts that highlight Texas's physical and cultural geography (p. xii)." Of the seven geographical zones which the editors use to organize the volume, "Austin and the Hill Country" is particulary relevant to those of us living in Central Texas. Among the authors in attendance was Susan Wittig Albert, former Southwest Texas Graduate Dean and VPAA, whose heroine, China Bayles, is a lawyer turned herb-shop owner who chases murderers in Pecan Springs, an amalgam of several hill-country locations. Visit her WEBSITE.
Ben Rehder was also there. His comic mysteries are set in neighboring Blanco County where his game-warden hero, John Martin, exercises investigatory functions that you would never guess a game warden has. In addition to being good fun, Rehder's five novels to date tell one much about rural hill country ways. Visit his WEBSITE.
As the editors clearly explain in their excellent "Introduction," Texas mystery fiction is not only an excapist passtime but it also reveals the richness and diversity of this state's history and society: ". . . overall, the majority of Texas-based mystery and detective fiction presents an accurate picture, and mystery writers have created memorable portraits of Texas's landscapes, people, and social issues (p. xi)."
Lone Star Sleuths focuses ". . . more on the sense of place than the crime, and we've chosen excerpts that highlight Texas's physical and cultural geography (p. xii)." Of the seven geographical zones which the editors use to organize the volume, "Austin and the Hill Country" is particulary relevant to those of us living in Central Texas. Among the authors in attendance was Susan Wittig Albert, former Southwest Texas Graduate Dean and VPAA, whose heroine, China Bayles, is a lawyer turned herb-shop owner who chases murderers in Pecan Springs, an amalgam of several hill-country locations. Visit her WEBSITE.
Ben Rehder was also there. His comic mysteries are set in neighboring Blanco County where his game-warden hero, John Martin, exercises investigatory functions that you would never guess a game warden has. In addition to being good fun, Rehder's five novels to date tell one much about rural hill country ways. Visit his WEBSITE.
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| Editor Bill Cunningham (left) is a SWT graduate and former Regent; Editor Steven Davis is the Assistant Curator of the South- western Writers Collection. | Lone
Star Sleuths was published in
Novem- ber, 2007, by the University of
Texas Press as a volume in the Southwestern Writers Collection
Series. |
Editor RolloNewsom is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Folklore Emeritus and a RFSA member. |
Lone Star Sleuths
is a great place to begin a
search for Texas mystery fiction. Readers who want a more
complete reference may refer to the Southwestern Writers Collection's
on-line BIBLIOGRAPHY.