Four American mystery writers have contributed new dimensions to the mystery form. Tony Hillerman's Navajos and their customs. Amanda Cross's (Carolyn Heilburn's academics and their feminist credentials or lack thereof), James Lee Burke's Southern Louisiana Cajuns and his own fiercely moral ""take"" on Southern gothic fiction, and Walter Mosley's urban blacks and their close-knit culture have challenged the conventional mystery's focus. Samuel Coale examines their works and investigates the compromises that each is forced to make when working with a recognizably popular literary form.