Where the Wild Books Are: A Field Guide to Ecofiction

9. Mysteries

164 9 Mysteries Development deals, high-tech secrecy, corporate-political corruption, endangered species, and animal rights controversies are all inherently controversial and loaded with subterfuge: perfect mystery material. The most significant current trend in mystery writing is the prevalence of female authors and protagonists, with over half of these books featuring one or both. Many have an ecofeminist subtext: working Mother Nature’s beat can be confusing and dangerous, the perfect job for a smart and sensitive but tough and decisive woman. Unlike their drawing-room predecessors, the new female detectives are not content to rely on gossip and the assistance of helpful male policemen to solve crimes. Kimberly Dilley notes that “detective fiction of the 1980s and 1990s critiques stereotypic assumptions of gender and expands the vitality of the everyday. The characters use wit and humor as they deal with social issues. The women heroes are resourceful, strong, independent .”1 Women may hold up half the snub-nose .38s, but are much less likely to use them, preferring to outsmart their opponents. According to Marion Shaw, “Our Feminist Gumshoe must be young and extremely active . . . live alone for the most part, and have . . . an occasional sexual relationship, usually of an unsatisfactory nature, which must not seriously interfere with her investigation. She will probably own a beat up old mysteries 165 car. . . . She will also eat badly, snatching pizza and doughnuts as she goes, sleep irregularly, drink a lot of coffee and a fair number of stiff martinis and single malts, and she may smoke, sometimes marijuana. She will use bad language . . . (and) will speak in a wise-cracking sardonic way.”2 Shaw also notes that “Dick Tracy has become a woman.”3 That may be a cute line, but in their values, methods, and personalities one cannot imagine a greater contrast between today’s ecosleuths and a simplistic, sexist cartoon character. They more closely resemble Sheila O’Donnell: an actual fifty-year-old private investigator who specializes in right-wing attacks on environmentalists. Her nickname is “Dickless Tracy.”4 The books in this section tend to have protagonists who are private investigators , game wardens, or police officers. Reasonable readers may disagree whether a particular book is a mystery, a thriller, or a suspense novel. Basically , the former emphasizes a murder investigation, though many thrillers also include murders. See the “Environmental Action/Ecodefense” section of the chapter 3 for thrillers by Karin McQuillan, Kenneth Goddard, David Poyer, Neal Stephenson, Ken Follett, Clive Cussler, Kim Heacox, and others. See chapter 4 for works by Native American mystery writers such as Louis Owens, Dana Stabenow, James D. Doss, Peter Bowen, Wayne Johnson, Stan Jones, and Stephen Graham Jones. It should also be noted that many mystery writers are highly prolific and sometimes formulaic, churning out books at an incredible pace. (The most formulaic of mystery subgenres, the “police procedural,” is rarely employed by green mystery writers who generally prefer a less restrictive form.) Some authors, such as Sarah Andrews, Richard Hoyt, Skye Kathleen Moody, and Randy Wayne White always focus on environmental issues, but many other mystery authors include ecofiction among a wider variety of work. This chapter can hope to survey only a representative sample of it. Hence not every title by every author is noted here, or included in the biliography. Susan Wittig Albert’s protagonist China Bayles is a former lawyer who has opened an herb shop but keeps getting involved in intrigues, some of which have an environmental aspect. In Thyme of Death (1992), an apparent overdose victim may have been murdered by the developer of an airport she opposed. 166 where the wild books are When a controversial biology professor is murdered, an animal rights activist is the prime suspect, but Bayles tracks the real culprit in Hangman’s Root (1994). The series had grown to sixteen titles as of 2006. A delightful new series features a variety of human and animal characters, including Beatrix Potter as an amateur environmental sleuth in The Tale of Hill Top Farm (2004), The Tale of Holly How (2005), The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood (2006), and The Tale of Hawthorn House (2007). The three novels by Christine Andreae set in Montana featuring English professor turned camp cook Lee Squires are all immersed with wilderness lore. Grizzly (1994), with its theme of bear preservation, drew particularly strong critical acclaim. Sarah Andrews’s experience as a forensic geologist informs her...