So this year I decided to turn the theme into something different: Crime Fiction involving Labor Unions. Murder, Mystery & Mayhem put together a great list of Labor Day Mysteries involving unions, tradesman and works. I've added a few more titles and annotations. Some great reads here!
LABOR UNION MYSTERIES
For the Love of Mike by Rhys Bowen (Garment Workers)
White Hot by Sandra Brown (Labor Dispute)
Big Boned by Meg Cabot (Graduate Student Union)
Airframe by Michael Crichton (Union Trouble)
Cactus Blood by Lucha Corpi (Farm Workers' Union)
The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle (Union Group called the Scowrers)
Third Strike by Philip Craig and William Tapply (Steamship Authority Strike)
October Heat by Gordon DeMarco (1934 San Francisco General Strike)
The Bramble Bush (aka Worse than Murder) by David Duncan (San Francisco General Strike)
American Tabloid by James Ellroy (Teamsters)
LA Quartet by James Ellroy (Movie Unions)
Dead Reckoning by Patricia Hall (Union Strike)
The Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett (IWW organizer & Strike Breaking)
A More Perfect Union by J.A. Jance (Iron Workers' Union)
As Dead As it Gets by Cady Kalian (Creative Artists' Union)
Deadly Dues by Lulu Malone (Actors' Union)
Death at the Old Hotel by Con Lehane (Hotel Workers' Union)
Any Given Day by Dennis Lehane (Police Union)
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (Labor Union)
Lorraine Connection by Dominique Manotti (Union rep in Cathode-ray Tube industry)
Conferences are Murder by Val McDermid (Journalists' Union)
Death at Pullman by Frances McNamara (American Railway Union)
The Viewless Winds by Murray Morgan (Murder of a Labor Leader's wife)
A Bitter Feast by S. J. Rozan (Restaurant Workers' Union)
Some Cuts Never Heal by Timothy Sheard (Shop Steward)
Absolute Rage by Robert K. Tanenbaum (Coal Miners' Union)
The Porkchoppers by Ross Thomas (Politics & Unions)
Killy by Donald Westlake (Manufacturing Union)
Have a great Labor Day Holiday!
DEATH AT PULLMAN by me, Frances McNamara 1894 Pullman strike American Railway Union vs. the railroads!
ReplyDeleteMaybe KILLY by Donald Westlake.
ReplyDeleteOCTOBER HEAT by Gordon DeMarco and THE BRAMBLE BUSH (aka WORSE THAN MURDER) by David Duncan are both set against the backdrop of the 1934 San Francisco General Strike.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Randal. I should have remember Gordon DeMarco. We had two Literary Salons for him...a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this list.
ReplyDeleteIsn't Val McDermid's A Darker Domain about the struggles of miners?
As the daughter of former union officials and members, and an ex-shop steward, and someone concerned with the attacks on public and private sector unions and workers' rights, I sure do appreciate this list.
Can you tell me how to refer back to it in the future?
With thanks for all the work you put into this blog -- and the chocolate recipes, too. The best addictions are to mysteries and chocolate.
Kathy, I think the link will always be here: http://mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2011/09/labor-day-mysteries-labor-unions-crime.html
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words