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The Books Briefing: A Study in Sleuthing

The Books Briefing: A Study in Sleuthing

Many thrillers trace a strange or catastrophic event back to its surprising source. Walter Mosley’s mystery-writing career was set off by a single simile from an older giant of the genre. Charles Willeford’s quartet of novels starring a Miami detective prompted many other tales about the city’s underworld—even though Willeford’s sleuth doesn’t technically do much investigating.