Texas authors Harry Hunsicker and Darryl Wimberley know all about Gulf noir. The star of Hunsickerยs Crosshairs is retired PI Lee Henry Oswald, who lives in Dallas, while the lead of Wimberleyยs Pepperfish Keys: A Detective Barrett Raines Mystery is Barrett Raines, who lives in Deacon Beach in northwestern Florida. The two men embody their hometowns ย the politics, the culture and even, in the case of Wimberleyยs book, the powder keg of race relations. In Pepperfish Keys, Raines is a black cop in a small ย and very white ย town, out to solve the gruesome murder of a crooked Florida senator while making sure that he doesnยt step on too many toes. In Crosshairs, the unfortunately named Oswald tries to help a medical researcher working on Gulf War Syndrome, but soon finds himself at the center of a government conspiracy. The big mystery for Oswald: Which side is the right side?
This article appears in Aug 16-22, 2007.