Fair warning: this is going to be a much more opinionated blog post than many that I write. Normally I try very hard to be objective in my crime fiction posts, partly because I don’t have a corner on the truth market and partly because people have different tastes and priorities when it comes to crime fiction. I’d hate to live in a world where there wasn’t room for variety. And that’s sort of what this post is about.
An excellent post from Bill Selnes at Mysteries and More From Saskatchewan has got me thinking about where novels and series are set. Bill makes the point that there’s a lot of pressure on Canadian authors to set their books in the U.S. Not being Canadian I’ve not felt that pressure, but his post convinced me that it’s there. And that’s what’s got me thinking of the settings for novels and series.
Setting is one of the fundamental elements of a crime novel (well, of any novel). It colours the story, affects the characters and sometimes it’s related to the murder or other crime at hand. For instance, Adrian Hyland’s novels featuring his sleuth Emily Tempest take place in Australia’s Outback. The land itself, the climate and other aspects of that setting have an awful lot to do with the way the stories progress and the way the mysteries are solved. You could even argue that the murders Tempest investigates depend heavily on that setting. At least I think they do. To move that series to another place would fundamentally change it and I’ve a strong feeling that change would not be for the better. And yet those novels have been received with a great deal of critical and popular acclaim. Why? They’re good stories and part of the reason they are is that they are set in a unique place.
Bill’s post specifically features Canadian authors who’ve felt pressure to place their series in the United States. But think what would be lost if that happened. Here’s just one example. Louise Penny’s series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache takes place in the province of Québec, where Gamache is a member of the Sûreté du Québec. Many of the novels take place in the fictional small rural town of Three Pines, where there is the unique mix of French and English language and culture that makes that part of Canada distinctive. That particular setting doesn’t just add a nice background to the series (although it does do that). It permeates the characters, it motivates some of what they say and do, too. The setting is woven through this series so that to set it anywhere else would in my opinion detract from it. Has that hurt Penny’s popularity? Um, I don’t think so. Her work sells very well and I can see why. I truly admire her writing, her style and her characters. But those characters are Canadian. That writing is Canadian. That’s part of what makes this series special.
Gail Bowen is perhaps a less well-known Canadian author than Penny is, but she too has had success. Her Joanne Kilbourn series has reached thirteen novels, and that’s saying something. Her novels are well-received, and in my opinion deservedly so. They are also uniquely, distinctly Canadian. For instance, Kilbourn is a political science academic and a political TV commentator. So in the novels we learn a lot about provincial (the series is based in Saskatchewan) and national politics. Those politics are Canadian, not United States, and that’s part of their appeal. If I want to know about U.S. politics all I have to do is turn on the television or read a local paper. Trust me. Part of what makes Bowen’s series distinctive is that they are not something I experience every day. My point here is that they are solid, strong and successful stories without having to be U.S. stories. The Canadian setting and background are part of what makes them good stories. There are many other Canadian authors of whom I could say the same thing.
One could say a similar thing about the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series from Alexander McCall Smith, one of the most popular series of mysteries there is. This series doesn’t take place anywhere near the United States. It takes place in Botswana and is uniquely, distinctly Botswana in character. The series protagonist Mma. Precioius Ramotswe is among many other things very proud to be African and particularly proud to be from Botswana. In the novels we learn a great deal about the Botswana way of life and not in a self-conscious ‘This is a multicultural series’ sort of way. Rather, the setting is carefully woven through the stories and quite honestly, I couldn’t imagine it set anywhere else. If you’re a fan of this series, you know what I mean. And the fact that the setting isn’t ‘same-y’ only adds to its appeal, and certainly hasn’t taken away from its commercial success.
The New Zealand settings for Paddy Richardson’s novels are woven through them as well, and add much to them. Hunting Blind is set on New Zealand’s South Island and features Dunedin psychiatrist Stephanie Anderson. A patient’s revelation spurs Anderson to search for the person who abducted her younger sister seventeen years earlier. As Anderson follows the trail, we get a real sense of what life on South Island is like. It’s woven through the novel and honestly, the story wouldn’t be the same if it was set somewhere else. Neither would Richardson’s Traces of Red which is set in and not far from Wellington. As TV journalist Rebecca Thorne searches for the truth about a terrible triple murder, we learn about New Zealand television. We learn about life in the Wellington area and in some of the more rural areas around that city. And the fact is, the story wouldn’t work (at least in my opinion) if it wasn’t set there.
I think there’s something else that’s important here too (told you this was an ‘opinion piece’) and that’s the author’s voice. We are all deeply affected by our backgrounds, whatever they are, and part of those backgrounds is where we live and how we identify ourselves. Authors are no different when it comes to voice. Each author develops a distinctive voice that is coloured by her or his background. To ask a distinctly Canadian author to ‘change voice’ to make a story ‘more American’ risks taking away part of that author’s authenticity. To ask a distinctively Australian author to ‘change voice’ and make her or his work ‘more American’ does the same thing. The same’s true of any other author. The author’s voice is a unique part of what makes a story special and changing that voice takes away from that ‘specialness’ (yes, I can make up words; I am a linguist and I have a license 
). It also detracts from the ‘feel’ of a story.
Does this mean that authors should only set their novels in their own countries? Absolutely not. Angela Savage for instance is an Australian author whose novels are set in Thailand. Her protagonist is an Australian PI Jayne Keeney who lives and works in Bangkok. In these novels, the Thailand setting adds a great deal to the novels and honestly, I’d be hard put to imagine the stories taking place elsewhere. There are other excellent stories too that are set in places other than the author’s home country. But in those stories, as in Savage’s, the setting is distinctive and the author’s voice is distinctive.
And that’s part of what (to me anyway) makes crime fiction such an appealing genre. It’s varied. Do I like American settings? ‘Course I do. Do I like ‘American voices?’ Um, yeah. I’ve got one. But there are all sorts of different voices telling unique stories that are distinctively flavoured by their settings. I for one wouldn’t want it any other way. It would be very, very unfortunate for the genre if it were homogenised that way, and it isn’t necessary for commercial success. I sincerely doubt that Agatha Christie would have had nearly as much success as she did if she’d based her novels in New York or St. Louis. Her stories are distinctly English, just as she was.
There. I’ve had my say. I feel much better now. Thank you. Your turn…
*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Avril Lavigne’s Complicated.
Not at all too opinionated – I liked this. Some of the best crime fiction is set wherever the author wants them to be set – their own backyard, which they know best (Cambridge for Alison Bruce, for instance) or somewhere different, but which they comprehend so well (Michael Dibdin’s Italy, Donna Leon’s Italy). But setting is so important to these novels. Very often it’s the main thing that attracts me to a new author or series.
Marina Sofia – Thank you
– You’ve got an important point about what attracts readers, too. Sometimes it’s the setting. I know that has happened to me. You’re quite right too that an author who truly understands a place can convey it well enough to draw the reader in. Leon’s novels did that for me so I’m glad you mention her. And that place can be somewhere quite out-of-the-way or it can be a huge and well-known city; doesn’t matter. The key is that it has to have an authentic feel.
That’s too bad that Canadian authors feel that pressure. It’s much more interesting for the reader, I think, if we get a chance to escape to a different place through a book.
Elizabeth – That’s precisely how I feel! I don’t always want to read the same kind of thing, but just with a different author’s name. And I agree; the pressure on Canadian authors is really unfortunate.
I agree with everything you said while at the same time seeing the other side of the argument, I can see the push for Canadian authors to write their novels in American settings to give readers an “exotic”(?) settings far beyond the borders of Canada to mix things up and pique the interest ot Candadian readers searching for something different in their next book.
Uh … at the risk of being rude, which is decidedly un-Canadian, There is no way that Canadian readers need to read about exotic US from a Canadian writer. I think it is fine for writers to write about what ever area they are interested in and suits their plot. We Canadians have US culture up the ying-yang – American television, books, music, and so on. We are always in a tenuous and uncomfortable position when it comes to our own stuff. That’s why everyone loves Anne of Green Gables! Unabashedly Canuck.
Jan – First, you are not being rude. You make a brilliant point here. Canadians hear about and see the U.S and its culture all the time. It’s got to make it challenging to forge a strong voice of one’s own as a Canadian author telling Canadian stories. Way too many (I think) people see Canada as “just like America, but further north.” Not true. That’s what I love about reading Canadian crime stories that really are… Canadian. They are unique. And I can see why Anne of Green Gables is so popular. It’s not an American story but that’s what I like about it. I wouldn’t want it to be.
Howard – It’s possible some authors may get pressure to write about a different sort of place if it’s exotic. And I do believe there are authors whose conscious choice it is to write about a place different from where they live. I think my main concern is when authors get the message that they should change their ‘voice’ or setting because some other voice or setting is inherently better. Each author’s voice is unique and to dilute that is, I think, really unfortunate.
I wonder how much that trend affects authors in other countries as well. British thriller writer Matt Hilton, for instance, set his first novels (and his Brit main character Joe Hunter) in the U.S.
and both Elizabeth George and Martha Grimes are Americans who set their books primarily (solely in George’s case) in Britain.
Very good point, Jan!
Pat – Now that’s an interesting question! I’m sure there are authors in other countries who get that kind of pressure. I’m honestly not sure if that’s why Hilton placed his Joe Hunter novels in the U.S., but it may very well be why some series are written like that.
Excellent post, you put the case very well and I agree with all you say. Apart from anything else, surely one of the things mystery fans like is finding out about another place, getting a feel for New Orleans or Venice or Paris. And my own bugbear is authors who set a mystery in a place they don’t know well enough and make elementary mistakes that grate on the reader…
Moira – Thank you
– And you make a very well-taken point about the pleasure of reading books set in other places. For instance, I’ve never been to India (Well, not yet anyway). I enjoy reading books set there because as you say I can get a feel for what it’s like there. And right you are indeed about authors who don’t convey an accurate feel for a place. That thoroughly annoys me and it’s enough to pull me out of a story.
Can one even imagine Salvo Montalbano or Catarella in New York City? NOT. Or Commissionaire Adamsberg? Kurt Wallander? Nina Borg? Corinna Chapman? Irene Huss? Espinosa? Emmanuel Cooper? Arthur Beauchamp? Emily Tempest? Guido Brunetti? And the so many characters who live throughout the world?
Why would we want to read more books set in our own cities or countries when there are so many books already here?
The point is to experience new cultures and countries, to get a flavor of living there, to be distracted and learn, to have a “virtual” vacation.
I wonder why the pressure for Canadian writers to set books in the States. Is it because U.S. readers buy more books than Canadian? Is it because U.S. readers are, in general, more provincial in their reading? Is it because U.S. publishers want that for sales purposes?
I have read that U.S. readers — much more than Europeans — buy nearly all of their books from U.S. publishers, which means set here.
Yikes. Where would we be would our international detectives?
Yes, that is the reason but the thing is if you stick to your guns and you develop a readership no one is going to bug you about where you set it. We are constantly having our stories americanized but generally with those who just don’t have the imagination to see us a separate country. By the by, the people who rescued the Americans in Tehran were Canadians. It was a Canadian operation. Does Afleck mention it? I think so slightly that it goes unnoticed by most. Do I sound grumpy? I am a bit. But you started it Missy Margot!!!! I’ll be quiet now.
Jan – No need to be quiet. Seriously. I don’t blame you for being grumpy. You are quite right that there is far too much pressure to expect Canadians to be ‘Americans who just happen to live further north.’ And yes, it was Canadians who rescued those Americans and for that alone, let alone a deep friendship that’s endured a long time, we should at the very least not try to change who Canadians are as authors and what their stories are like.
I’m with Kathy on this. A huge part of my attraction to a book is the setting and I like to be transported when I read – and to transport my readers when I write.
The thing about living in another place where you are in the cultural minority is you realise just how much we are shaped by culture. Our manners, sense of humour, the way we relate to others – even the way we spell ‘realise’ and ‘humour’ – distinguishes us. These differences and the way we navigate them are what brings a story to life for me.
There’s a Groove Armada song that says ‘If everybody looked the same, we’d get tired of looking at each other.’ The same goes for voices in crime fiction.
But that’s just my opinion
Angela – I agree completely. Setting really does help transport me as a reader and I hope my readers are transported too. And thanks for sharing your views about living in a place where you are a member of a cultural minority. I’ve had the same experience you have, where it really brings into focus just how important a part of our identities culture really is. And yes, words and spellings are a part of that. They are part of a constellation of things large and small that create a sense of character and setting. They bring a story alive, they help reflect the author’s voice, too, and that makes a story that much more genuine. Anything that takes away from that unique voice or setting makes a story less real.
And feel free to give your opinion at any time.
And thanks for the Groove Armada song too – must listen to that!
Kathy – Oh, right you are indeed about the detectives you mentioned. Part of the pleasure of reading Andrea Camilleri’s, Henning Mankell or Helene Tursten’s work is that it takes place in other places. Those sleuths are an integral part of those places. They belong there. To set those mysteries in the U.S. would fundamentally change their characters.
As to the reasons Canadian authors get this sort of pressure, it may be a push for a bigger market. There may be other reasons too. Either way, I honestly hope that changes. Canadian authors have distinctly Canadian voices and tell Canadian stories. When I read their work, that’s what I want to hear. And you ask a good question too: where would crime fiction fans be without stories and sleuths from all over?
Moira is right, although I find some of the inevitable gaffes that American authors make when setting their stuff in Britain quite amusing (I recall a novel from the 80s where a tough, working class heroine spoke in a manner which was a mixture of bad soap opera and Dick Van Dyke in MARY POPPINS). A reviewer made an interesting point that the early Lee Child/Jack Reacher novels contain a few mistakes that should alert the reader to the fact that the author is English rather than American. It doesn’t seem to have made any difference to his popularity. For myself I would rather have the chance to see a different culture and setting-and for me that includes the USA and Canada! Historical mysteries are interesting to me because, to echo THE GO-BETWEEN, the past is a foreign country to all of us.
Skywatcher – Now that’s a fascinating topic all in itself. Historical times really can be like foreign countries. I’ll have to think about that one…. And you make another well-taken point too about writers from one country who set their stories in another without understanding that other country and its culture. That premise can work effectively (in my opinion anyway) only if the author really understands the nuances of language and life that are a part of that other culture. I’ve seen it work particularly well when the protagonist is a member of the author’s culture and so, sees the other place through those eyes if you well. And when the author does make the sort of mistake you mention it can pull the reader right out of the story.
Even as elementary as the most well-known and classic detective, Sherlock Holmes, was set in London. Can we imagine how he would have done in New York City or Los Angeles? He was the first detective whose adventures I followed, other than Nancy Drew and Wolfe and Goodwin, and this is true of so many crime fiction readers. But the draw would not have been the same had his cases been set in the States. The British culture and language and customs — and the city — were part of Holmes. To have set his stories here would have ruined them.
Kathy – Oh, terrific example! Holmes is an English character and a Londoner. To make him something else would make him…not Sherlock Holmes. And to set those stories elsewhere would have made them, well, less. I’ve read a few novels featuring Holmes that are set elsewhere and some of them have been just fine. But the real Holmes? Those stories are English.
Margot: Thanks for the kind words. You are always so generous.
Your post has generated as spirited a set of comments as I have read in a long time.
Jan has done a fine job of responding to Howard so I will move on to other thoughts.
Thank you for your support of authors everywhere, especially Canadian for me, to set their books where they can see their characters at home. I consider there are only so many types of police and private detectives but there are an infinite number of settings in the world to distinguish a book from other mysteries.
Bill – No need to thank me. Your post – Hey folks, do read it right here – makes a very important set of points about the pressure on authors to make their work ‘more American.’ And honestly, there is no reason for it. Novels are more interesting when they carry the author’s voice and when they take place where the authors sees them at home (I’m stealing that because I like the way you put that). That’s what makes books distinctive and interesting. As you say, there are a limited number of credible kinds of cops, private investigators and amateur detectives. But there’s no limit to the kinds of settings (and therefore the kinds of characters) who can take those roles.
And in which part of this post do we have to put up with your opinions, whether we like it or not. Every bit of it makes so much sense.
In so many books, the location is as much an intrinsic part of the plot as the characters. Would anyone have read Vish Puri’s adventures if they had not been set in Delhi, or can you take Isabelle Dalhousie out of Edinburgh? Elizabeth Spann Craig’s books work precisely because they are so Southern, and the one Louis Penny I read couldn’t have been based anywhere else but Quebec.
When the US is not ONE HOMOGENEOUS ENTITY, why would a Canadian have to set novels in the US- that I do not understand. But again, I am a person who loves reading novels set in my neighbouring countries, because it gives me a peep into a world similar but different.
But on one thing I disagree with you. Miss Marple would have been at home anywhere. Remember how she takes a walk through the new Development (Mirror Cracked, was it?), and concludes that human beings are just the same there as they were in her village. Put her in rural Canada, or Manhatten, or the slums of Bombay, she’s find herself at home.
Natasha – Thanks for the kind words
– You know, I was thinking of Vish Puri when I wrote this post, so I’m very glad you mentioned him. That Tarquin Hall series couldn’t really take place anywhere but Delhi. And you’re right; the Isabel Dalhousie series is a distinctly Edinburgh series. And I agree with you about Elizabeth Spann Craig too. Those stories are U.S. Southern stories. And that’s the thing. When you take stories out of the place the author intended, you take away that unique sense of setting that makes stories so enjoyable to read. Why do that?
You make an interesting point about Miss Marple. She is to me a distinctly English character. I honestly couldn’t see her otherwise. But she fits in in a lot of different places. In The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side, she does indeed visit a new housing development where she concludes that humans nature is the same regardless of place. And she does do some travelling (e.g. A Caribbean Mystery). Still, I would find it hard to see her as from another country and permanently living there. Or maybe I’m a purist…
I’d forgotten all about the Caribbean Mystery!
To me too, Miss Marple is a product of her surroundings- I cannot picture her anywhere else. But she’s the kind of person who will look like an anachronism anywhere else, but still be exactly herself.
Natasha – You put that quite well. Miss Marple would indeed be herself no matter where she was. I like that about her.
Good point Margot – as a corollary to that, I think there is often pressure, even when setting books in your own turf (when that happens to be outside of the US) to use American idioms rather than local ones, which i think is very frustrating all round. It does seem to be quite common andyet does assume that the average American reader is quite extraordinarily parochial – are publishers just being contemptuous of the buying public or …
Sergio – Thank you
– It really is frustrating that there is that pressure to avoid idioms that aren’t American. Idioms are a part of one’s culture and language and they are unique to a place. Why not use them. There really is an implied assumption there that American readers won’t understand and can’t figure it out. And you know, the Americans I know are not that parochial. Also they’re not that stupid. They can figure out what things mean even if they aren’t Americanisms.
Pop culture inevitably aims for the lowest common denominator, it’s a given I suppose, but given how complex the marktplace now is you would think that a ‘one size fits all’ approach should be a thing of the past. the truth is of course that the market may have expanded but the financial resource in publishing have conrtacted … time to sigh I think!
Sergio – You make a very good point…
Margot, you make a terrific point here (and not opinionated). I love the variety books give us to visit other parts of the nation and the world, as well as other worlds. I would hate to see us lose wonderful stories because authors are being pressured to change their locations and thus change the story. Another great post.
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
Mason – Why, thank you
– And that’s the thing about setting. Varied settings equal a healthy variety in the genre. Take away that variety and you’ve got such sameness that you take away the appeal. Not something I’d want to see happen either.
I’ve just finished Deon Meyer’s SEVEN DAYS set in South Africa and I loved getting to know something about that country which I’ve never visited. The customs, tensions between races, and set-up of their police departments was enlightening and fun. Excellent example of someone writing knowledgeably about a place he knows well, and giving us a cracking good story too.
I used to love Robert B. Parker’s novels, especially the Spenser series because, being a lifelong Bostonian, he knew the people and the place so well. Reading one of his novels was like being in Boston, a city I love too.
Barbara – Now, those are two excellent examples of the kind of thing I mean! Parker really did do a terrific job of giving readers a sense of the Boston setting. And that most definitely adds to those stories. And yes, Deon Meyer captures South Africa so beautifully. I’ve learned quite a bit about the people and life in South Africa from his work. I’m really glad you shared these.
Interesting post Margot. I believe in the past there was some pressure for Scottish authors to set their books in England but I’m pretty sure that it isn’t the case now. I suspect there is still some pressure for English crime writers to use a London setting as I seem to be reading a lot of these at the moment.
Sarah – Thank you
– I think you’re quite right that there’s no pressure now for Scottish authors to set their stories in England and I’m glad of that. I couldn’t see Denise Mina’s novels or Ian Rankin’s novels as having any setting but Scotland. Same with Craig Russell’s Lennox series. Interesting point too about pressure on English novelists to set their novels in London. Not being English of course I don’t know if that’s true, but I can see why there might be that pressure. Pity if it’s true because I truly enjoy the flavour of different parts of the country. You can’t get that if novels are set only in London.
Well, I never knew that, about the pressure on Canadian authors to write in an American setting. I think it’s ridiculous. Canada has plenty of it’s own to offer and I agree, writing with your own voice is generally more realistic and I can’t imagine writing something in a setting somewhere, simply because someone told me to.
I do actually know a published UK crime author, David Jackson, who is published and his novels are set in New York. I love American crime and his books are amazing. You would never guess he was English.
Rebecca – Oh, that’s really interesting that Jackson’s work is set in New York. There definitely are cases such as that where the author chooses to set her or his books in a different place and it can work well. But that said, I agree with you that writing with one’s own voice is essential. If the author’s voice doesn’t feel genuine then the story doesn’t either.