Michael Chabon, a Pulitzer prize winner and an accomplished literary novelist, is a big proponent on the genre novel. He has edited a McSweeney's compilation of sci-fi short stories written by contemporary writers and written a handful of comic books and sci-fi short stories as well. In The Final Solution he tackles the detective genre in a literary way, writing it in a style that harkens back to the old British detective stories.

In fact, though I admit this bit went over my head, the main character in this story - a nameless old Detective living in Sussex Downs and spending his time beekeeping - is meant to be Sherlock Holmes. Those, unlike myself, who are thoroughly familiar with those stories would pick up on the beekeeping clue.

This is a slim, 130 page novella but the densely constructed prose will keep you from reading through it too fast. Buried within the stylized writing is a quiet little story about a mute Jewish boy and his parrot who have escaped the horrors of WWII and become the center of a mystery concerning a murder and the strange German numbers that the parrot is fond of reciting.

Read more about Michael Chabon's The Final Solution: A Story of Detection at Amazon