The places where we’ve lived and our interests, but we’re more similar in the small things.” “There’s a lot that’s autobiographical in Claire,” Gran says. Things would probably be better.”Ĭlaire is rooted in much of the author’s own experience. I think that’s a bit of surprise to readers because in most detective series the character is the same in every book.

“People really do change with the character every book. Gran says writing about Claire’s personal challenges and seeing her change is what she loves most about the series. The two cases, past and present, lead Claire into a downward spiral of self-destructive behavior involving drugs and alcohol. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest stories and tell us what’s influencing your life.Īs Claire digs deeper into Paul’s murder, she’s drawn to one of her past cases, another friend, this time a teenage girl, gone missing in 1980s New York.

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You just can’t know and that’s part of what’s really hard for Claire, is never really knowing.” Gran says Claire looks at losing Paul “as a huge mistake that she’s made in her life of letting someone go, or maybe it wasn’t a mistake, maybe things were better the way they turned out. The case hits Claire hard, bringing up unresolved feelings of love.

Police are calling his death a robbery gone wrong, but Claire suspects murder. In the new novel, Claire has moved on from New Orleans, the scene of her last case in “Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead.” She’s now living in San Francisco when called on to investigate the death of a close friend, her musician ex-boyfriend Paul Casablancas. Gran’s writing is a mix of the gritty noir tradition in crime writing supplemented with a mystical, dream-like quality – a sort of hard-boiled surrealism. Claire is a new age heroine who uses dreams, visions and intuition to uncover clues and close cases. The self-described “world’s greatest private eye” returns in her second adventure from author Sara Gran in “Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway” hitting bookstores this week.Ĭlaire is not your typical P.I., and the book is not your run of the mill mystery. I have a new favorite female sleuth to add to the list, Claire DeWitt. From Nancy Drew to Miss Marple to the “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Lisbeth Salander, there’s a long and distinguished line of famous women in mystery fiction.

Claire dewitt