See Jane Read

There is an amusing scene in Karen Fowler’s “The Jane Austen Book Club” where Griggs, the newest and only male member of the club, hosts the group for the first time.

His bookshelves reveal that he reads science fiction: “books about rocket ships.” The other members’ disdain cannot be suppressed.

For some reason, so-called “genre fiction” tends to be considered a lesser literature. The authors of romances and westerns, in particular, but also of science fiction and mysteries, seldom achieve recognition outside the confines of their genre.

I’ve never understood this prejudice. I grew up in a mystery-reading home and hereby confess that I believe Zane Grey’s “Riders of the Purple Sage” to be one of the greatest books ever written. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that a member of my very own book club had never read a mystery!



Eager to broaden her horizons, we decided to read “Death at La Fenice” by Donna Leon.

This is the first in a series featuring Venetian policeman Guido Brunetti. Brunetti is a cynical but stalwart defender of justice whose struggles with the inept, the corrupt and the criminal are balanced by the challenges and rewards of his relationship with his wife, a professor of English literature, and his teenage children. Venice itself plays an important role in this series.

After reading and discussing this title, the nonmystery-reading member of my club — let’s just call her Jane — decided to read the next book in the series. And then she read another … and another. Before long, she had read all 19 books by Leon!

Now what? Jane had enjoyed the author’s elegant writing style, the character-driven plots and the evocative sense of place in the series. Leon’s own two favorite authors — P.D. James and Ruth Rendell — are often cited for those same qualities, so she decided to try James next.

James’ favored approach is a closed setting — a small hospital, a museum, a remote location — anyplace where it is immediately apparent that the murderer is “one of us” and the role of her poet-detective, Adam Dalgliesh, is to probe psyches and lay bare secrets.

Dalgliesh is a sensitive man and well aware of the moral ambiguities present in every murder investigation; that doesn’t stop him from doing his job.

Jane, however, was not seduced by the charming-but-melancholy Dalgliesh. Nor did she care for the “closed circle” setting. Since Ruth Rendell shares James’ fascination with the psychological side of murder, I thought we should perhaps look elsewhere.

At my library, we have a number of resources for finding authors to read next. Some of these are based on rather mechanical connections, while others come from human perceptions.

One of the best of these human “connectors” is Joyce Saricks, an Illinois librarian who has written extensively on genre fiction. Focusing on place, Saricks suggests series by Magdalen Nabb and Michael Dibdin for those who enjoy Leon.

Nabb’s Marshal Guarnaccia series is set in Florence. Guarnaccia is Sicilian, overweight and clumsy, but with a remarkable intelligence and sensitivity. His work is with the secret side of Florence, the life behind the walls and out of sight of the tourists. As in Leon’s novels, social issues and corruption figure prominently.

Dibdin’s protagonist, Aurelio Zen, is also Venetian, but he is based in Rome, where he works for the elite Criminalpol, which fights crimes of national import throughout the country. Dibdin’s stories are complex, Zen is “world-weary and cynical” and a dry humor leavens the mix.

Searching out these authors led me to another series. Described as novels of “food, wine and homicide in small-town Sicily,” the Inspector Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri is yet another one focusing on social issues and driven by dark humor.

Though my sources were impeccable, I hesitated. These authors were chosen for established mystery lovers; I wasn’t sure they were quite right for the fledgling fan. What would Jane think? Perhaps the secret side of Florence was unpalatably seedy; Aurelio Zen might be just too world-weary; did Camilleri adhere to Leon’s principle of only off-the-page violence?

I went online and discovered that another book club had read Leon and then searched for similar authors to read next. They recommended Louise Penny, who writes mysteries set in Quebec, and Stephen Booth, whose works are called “rural noir” and are set in the Peak District of England. Possibly promising, but then, who knows?

Perhaps it’s OK if Jane never reads another mystery. Or perhaps you have a suggestion.

This business of connecting readers and books — it’s not so simple.