Tuesday, March 19, 2013

"Grits Noir"

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!

2 comments:

Marianne Wheelaghan said...

Thanks so much for mentioning Food of Ghosts and the Food of Ghosts book trailer :) I love the idea of a Grits Noir. I hope it catches on. Maybe your mystery (with the woman in the wheelchair) can be one of the first books to be published in the genre!

Louisa said...

Thanks, Marianne! Yes, if I eventually finish that one, I will definitely classify it as grits noir!