Ebooks Deep Dive: A Different Kind of Detective

One of the advantages of digital reading is the ability to dive deeply into a topic or genre you’re excited about. Into Civil War novels, histories of orange farming in California, or travel guides to places you never plan to visit? In a few minutes you can fill your phone or ereader with as many books on your latest obsession, the topic you want to research, the genre you want to become an expert in. So we’re asking authors to curate lists of books in particular genres, exemplifying particular traits or exploring particular topics to help you take a deep dive in your reading.

Our first list is from our very own bookseller and author Josh Cook, featuring a different kind of detective.

Since the invention of the character by Edgar Allen Poe in his short stories featuring C. Auguste Dupin, the detective has become a staple in western literature and entertainment. Whether featuring a cold, logical, detecting machine like Sherlock Holmes or a hard-boiled PI like Philip Marlowe, or someone kinder and gentler, there have been hundreds of different detectives solving thousands of different cases.

Here is a list of ebooks that feature a different kind of detective story, whether they incorporate science fiction (like The Shining Girls) or riff on the genre’s conventions (like Noir) or just kind of wander around an environment of mystery rather than seeming to solve anything (like Inherent Vice and The Search), these books play with and stretch the idea of the “detective” to new, interesting, and often entertaining heights.

Check out the full list here.

Tell us what books you’d add to this list in the comments.