I've been using Twitter a lot lately, and one term that keeps cropping up is "Tartan Noir," a genre of Scottish murder mysteries set in gritty cityscapes like Glasgow and Edinburgh. I love this new, original genre! Authors include Ian Rankin and, most recently, Marianne Wheelaghan with her Scottish/South Pacific heroine Louisa Townsend (and what a great name!). Her new novel, Food of Ghosts, is set in Tarawa, and so it is an unconventional Tartan Noir!All this talk about "Noir" got me thinking... Why not have a specifically Southern mystery genre? And what's more Southern than grits? Thus, "Grits Noir" came about. My friend and fellow writer Lisa Logan and I are planning to set up a blog focusing on authors from this new genre -- writers from the South and/or mysteries based in the South. Please stay tuned!
P.S. Harking back to our earlier discussion on book trailers, here's a link to the trailer for Food of Ghosts. I think it works really well!
