Where Investigation Meets Ruination

My 12th and latest piece for CrimeReads was posted earlier this morning. It’s a survey of crime and detective novels set amid real-life catastrophes—both natural and man-made. As I explain:

Disasters are already rampant in human history, and thanks to escalating terrorism, recurrent mass shootings, and myriad threats posed by global warming—wildfires, rising sea levels, extreme weather, pandemics, etc.—the world seems unlikely to become safer or more secure at any time soon. This may actually be good news for storytellers, including those working the crime and thriller side of the tracks, who can continue to capitalize on reader attraction to nightmarish events.

Most of the large-scale hardships this genre serves up are dramatic fabrications, or are rooted only partially in reality. Yet a number of books … have combined bona fide historical tragedies with invented misdeeds and mysteries, the disasters often complicating the detection.

Among the history-making calamities featured in the dozen books under review are the 14th century’s Black Plague, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, and Hurricane Katrina. Click here to read the full piece.