David Masciotra says you can find faith in modern literature by reading crime novels. “The case for faith in fiction is to be made by those who deal with cracking cases for a living—the fictional detectives, private investigators, and troubled protagonists who inhabit the scandalous, seductive, and serpentine setting of noir.” Take Hit Me by Lawrence Block, for example. Mascoitra notes the main character’s desire to kill for money and conviction when confronted by iconography. When the man must pass a crucifix in order to kill someone, he can’t do it.

Mascoitra praises James Lee Burke for weaving these spiritual questions and motives better than most crime authors. Burke wrote to him: “Most of my plots come from the Bible or Greek mythology. I believe in the unseen world and believe the cosmos is probably something like the Oversoul that Emerson wrote of. I believe the essential human drama is between the forces of good and evil.”