Why do you think it is important to write about the Native American concepts of justice, crime, and the investigation of crime?
We have created a fantasy Native American that is also a generic Native American that ignores tribal differences, that ignores the realities of time passing and assimilation and their movement into the modern world. So, there are old questions of justice that obviously disturb us about out treatment of them in the 19th century, and there should be new questions that disturb us because reservations are classified as their territory yet there are major conflicts with the FBI. Why do you write using the detective genre? Why not use another genre?
The detective fiction genre allows these questions to be raised in a format with which we are familiar, and makes us see these cultures in a way outside of ourselves. At their very worst, they are simply other forms of fantasies. But, at their very best, they bring a passionate intensity and a realism that should make us re-evaluate our idea of “Indian.”
Where did you get the idea to write this book?
My husband and I had originally written an article on diversity and ethnicity in detective fiction. We were interested in the modern trend to place detective fiction into settings of new immigrants. We saw what was happening with Native American detectives, so we submitted a proposal at which point the editor said, ‘Well, no one has done it on all the genres.’ We ended up doing the genres firsthand coming back to the Native American detective.
What types of myths about the Native American culture does your book attempt to correct?
One myth is that they are all alike. Part of our division in our book is into regions to look at the way that place affects culture and sociology and the way that culture and sociology affects images of community, religion and concepts of justice and crime. Another myth is that they are just like us, only different. Part of what we try to do is to contrast a lot of slight modern mysteries where “Indian-ness” is clothing and jewelry to put on, or perhaps even just an attitude that is easily adopted.
Are there many books of this type in print now or is this a rarity?
The editors were terribly excited because there is nothing like this on Native Americans at the moment. Philip J. Deloria is the only writer who has actually dealt in any depth with this idea of why we write about Indians the way we do. But, his is a historical study of actual incidents where in out history we have played “Indian” like in the Boston Tea Party and sociologically like the cowboy and Indian games we played as children and trying to decide why this is so much a part of our mythology. Whereas, we are looking at particular, popular culture books and making it more literary centered.
Is your book more fact then fiction?
Our book is fact about fiction. What we have done is we have brought in someone to help us in the background as a specialist in Native American religions so we can get out philosophy right. We have both taught English as a second language and studied the linguistic and anthropological studies of different cultures and how they differ from our own. That has laid out an intellectual foundation for looking at what is done in some of the fiction. We are examining fiction, not history because the really intriguing question is why do we write so much fiction in so many genres with a Native American central and how do we transform that figure to make it fit our needs.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
I enjoyed reading all types of books and discovering sudden unexpected gems of good writing, good history, good anthropology. Many of these works are not read.
What intrigues you the most about Native American detective work?
I am interested in detective fiction because of the logic of it, the 18th century ideas of reason and order and our ability to discover through investigation. But, the question I am interested in is at what point does something stop being detection and become horror or the supernatural because of the emphasis on the spiritual as a way to discovery. We do have in our tradition intuition based on previous experience or some sort of second sense or a gut feeling. The Native American detective stories often include a Shaman who goes on a spiritual journey and does things in a spirit world that directly change things in the real world. My question is, is that detective fiction?
How long did it take you to write this book?
Usually, a project like this will consume anywhere from two to two and a half years.
Do you have any plans for a future book?
I am editing three books at the moment. The first one is ” Jane Austen on the Screen.” Then I am editing “British Mystery and Thriller Writers,” and I am writing about half of the articles for it myself. I am also working on ” A Literary Atlas.”
What type of advice would you have for future writers?
My main advice would be to write, write, write. You only learn from writing. Start small, work on compacting and clarifying ideas because you cannot write in a vacuum, you have to write to an audience. If they do not understand it you are not communicating.
