BEST OF CRIME with Julia Dahl

Welcome to my latest BEST OF CRIME feature, looking at crime writers' top picks, from their favourite author and fictional detective to their best writing tip. 

Today I'm delighted to welcome 

JULIA DAHL

to share her BEST OF CRIME ...

... AUTHORS

It feels impossible to pick a favorite among so many, but I suppose if I had to take the books of just one crime author to a deserted island it would probably be Patricia Highsmith. She is an absolute master of menace. The sun is shining in paradise, everyone dresses for dinner, but the ugliness beneath the surface casts a pall over everything.

... FILMS/MOVIES

My lifelong love affair with the Coen Brothers began in 1996 with Fargo. It’s a wickedly funny, twisted drama about a kidnapping gone wrong in the frozen tundra of America’s upper Midwest. Joel and Ethan Coen have an uncanny ability to inhabit and illuminate subcultures that has you rooting for everyone, even the most depraved career criminal.

... TV DRAMAS

Soon after I moved to New York the HBO series Six Feet Under premiered. It’s the story of a family in Los Angeles that runs a funeral home and at the beginning of each episode, we watch someone (whom the family will later bury) die. It wasn’t a crime show, per se, but death was an integral part of the fabric of the character’s lives. That darkness permeated their psyches and affected them in endlessly fascinating ways.

... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES

Jessica Fletcher of Murder, She Wrote. I started watching this television show as a pre-teen and decided my life goal was to be Jessica: a crime novelist/amateur sleuth. I haven’t solved any murders yet, but maybe it’s just a matter of time. Jessica (otherwise known by her nom de plume, J.B. Fletcher) was a feminist hero. She was a widow with a booming career (an apartment in Manhattan and a house in Maine? Unheard of!), a generous heart, and a spot-on bullshit detector. The first gift my husband gave me when we started dating was a book in the Murder, She Wrote series – I knew I’d found “the one.”

... DEATH SCENE 

I have to go back to Fargo for this, too. At the end of the film, the character played by Steve Buscemi meets his end…inside a wood chipper.

... BLOGS/WEBSITES

Local newspapers are where I go to learn about contemporary crime. These days, there are around 17,000 homicides in the U.S. each year, and much as I love the New York Times, the paper of record doesn’t cover more than a handful. If you want to know who is killing who and how justice is – or isn’t – meted out, you need to read the Fresno Bee, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the Arizona Sun. 

... WRITING TIPS

I’ve read that there are two kinds of writers: those who plan, and those who run to the end. I am the latter. I want to get the skeleton of the book as fast as I can so that I have a solid structure to work with. If I’m writing a scene that I know needs details I don’t have at the moment, I use the journalistic notation “TK” (meaning, to come) and skip ahead. Getting caught up on small things can slow your progress.

About JULIA DAHL

Julia Dahl is the author of three novels about a New York City crime reporter: INVISIBLE CITY, RUN YOU DOWN, and CONVICTION. After 20 years as a reporter and editor, she now teaches journalism at NYU.

Find Julia Dahl on Twitter - @juliadahl

About RUN YOU DOWN

Publisher's description

Aviva Kagan was just a teenager when she left her Hasidic Jewish life in Brooklyn for a fling with a smiling college boy from Florida. A few months later she was pregnant, engaged to be married and trapped in a life she never imagined. So, shortly after the birth of her daughter she disappeared.

Twenty-three years later, the child she walked away from, NYC tabloid reporter Rebekah Roberts, wants nothing to do with her. But when a man from the ultra-Orthodox enclave of Roseville, NY contacts Rebekah about his young wife’s mysterious death, she is drawn into Aviva’s old world, and a hidden culture full of dangerous secrets and frustrations.

Run You Down was published in paperback by Faber & Faber on 1 January 2019

Look out for more BEST OF CRIME features coming soon.

Click here to read more BEST OF CRIME features.

Did you follow the Blog Tour?

Author catch up: Julia Dahl

I was excited and intrigued when I first discovered the existence of Julia Dahl's US-based Jewish-themed crime fiction (particularly as my own Work In Progress (WIP) is UK-based Jewish-themed crime fiction). I bought and read Invisible City in the summer and was then delighted to receive Run You Down from Faber. Here's my Author Catch up with a double review, for the Run You Down Blog Tour.

Invisible City and Run You Down are the first two books in a crime fiction series featuring reporter Rebekah Roberts. Both books are set within the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn, where Rebekah freelances for the local tabloid newspaper. The third book, which I haven't yet read, is called Conviction.

Invisible City: Publisher's description

Fresh out of journalism school, Rebekah Roberts is working for the New York Tribune, trying to make a name for herself. Assigned a story about the murder of a woman in Brooklyn, Rebekah finds a case from inside a closed, secretive Hasidic Jewish community - the same Brooklyn neighbourhood her estranged mother was brought up in.

Shocked to discover that the victim is set to be buried without an autopsy, Rebekah knows there is a story to uncover, but getting to the truth won't be easy - in the cloistered world her mother rebelled against, it's clear she's not welcome, and everyone she meets has a secret to keep, most of all from an outsider.

Run You Down: Publisher's description

Aviva Kagan was just a teenager when she left her Hasidic Jewish life in Brooklyn for a fling with a smiling college boy from Florida. A few months later she was pregnant, engaged to be married and trapped in a life she never imagined. So, shortly after the birth of her daughter she disappeared.

Twenty-three years later, the child she walked away from, NYC tabloid reporter Rebekah Roberts, wants nothing to do with her. But when a man from the ultra-Orthodox enclave of Roseville, NY contacts Rebekah about his young wife's mysterious death, she is drawn into Aviva's old world, and a hidden culture full of dangerous secrets and frustrations.

My verdict of both books
Both books provide a fascinating insight into the Ultra-Orthodox Hassidic (Chasidic - if you are in the UK) Jewish communities, which often remain an enigma to outsiders. Julia Dahl gets right into the heart of the problems that Jewish families (and individuals) face from within their own community as well as the outside world. In particular, she focuses on the darker side - what happens when some people choose to escape what they feel is a restrictive religious lifestyle and how the community closes ranks when necessary (for example, in cases of murder or abuse). Her books prove that there is just as much diversity within these communities as there is within the rest of the world (Jewish or otherwise) - helping to break down religious stereotyping.

In Invisible City, Rebekah Roberts is dragged into an investigation within the local Hassidic community when a young mother is murdered. At the same time, she's wondering what happened to her own mother Aviva, who was brought up within this community, rebelled, became pregnant and then returned to them (leaving Rebekah with her father). The book is an interesting whodunnit, with a twisty, multi-layered plot. It provides an introduction to the secret world of the Hassidic community, as Rebekah learns more about Jewish traditions and her own heritage during her investigations.

Run You Down follows almost straight on from Invisible City. Rebekah is investigating the supposed suicide of a young woman. The husband believes instead that it was murder. But due to the Jewish tradition of burying bodies within 24 hours of a death and the Hassidic community not wanting to seek attention, the family refuses an autopsy and investigation. The narrative switches between Rebekah and Aviva, providing an insight into why Rebekah's mother left the religious community - and then returned to it. At first, Aviva's story of the past seems to break up Rebekah's investigation in the present, but it gradually becomes clear that there is a link between the two. The pace ramps up in the second half in particular, culminating in a dramatic conclusion.

Invisible City and Run You Down are both thought-provoking crime novels that cover social issues and contemporary themes, including diversity, race and religion, gun control, white supremacy, acceptance, racism and anti-semitism. They are also bittersweet stories of family relationships and self-discovery. Protagonist Rebekah is a well-rounded, likeable character. As a journalist, she's determined to find a publishable story, whatever it takes. But with personal connections to the Jewish community, she also has to maintain empathy and sensitivity towards the people she's investigating - just as Julia Dahl has done in writing these multi-layered books. The stories feel believable and very real, emotional and poignant as well as gripping and compelling.

I look forward to reading Conviction to see how the series moves forward, develops and grows along with its main characters.

Invisible City was published by Faber on 31 July 2018.
Run You Down was published by Faber on 1 January 2019.