Recommend unusual mystery writers.

January 27, 2005 7:55 AM

I saw the post on Willaim Christopher Baer in the blue yesterday and it got me thinking about how much I like slipstreamy mystery writers. There is Jack O'Connell, who has produced some of the best hallucinogenic mystery writing i've ever read. And Carol O'Connell, (no relation, I think) who has a much greater mainstream acceptance, has a touch of the strange in her writing. But, alas, I've read most all of their stuff. Any suggestions?
posted by rtimmel to media & arts (5 comments total)

I'm not too sure exactly what you mean by slipstreamy, but it sounds like Jonathan Lethem could fit the bill.
posted by painquale at 8:16 AM on January 27, 2005

Here is a fairly decent definition. ANd Letham kind of fits the bill though his mystery, Motherless Brooklyn, struck me as a very realistic novel (though what do I know about Tourette's).
posted by rtimmel at 8:36 AM on January 27, 2005

rtimmel, based on the linked definition, I'd say "Confessions of a Crap Artist" by Philip K. Dick fits the bill nicely. I generally don't like SF but I make exceptions for a decent dystopia. It's not a whodunit mystery either, but a fun read all the same.
posted by scratch at 8:54 AM on January 27, 2005

This is a stretch as far as authorial intention goes, but Harry Stephen Keeler.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 10:40 AM on January 27, 2005

djinn by alain robbe grillet.
paul auster's new york trilogy.
murakami's hard-boiled wonderland/wild sheep chase/dance dance dance are all vaguely mystery-ish.
posted by juv3nal at 10:10 PM on January 27, 2005