Berry's first novel,
The Manual of Detection, was published by The Penguin Press in 2009. It won the 2009
Hammett Prize and the 2010
Crawford Award. Set in an unnamed city, the novel follows file clerk Charles Unwin as he attempts to solve a mystery involving a missing detective and a criminal mastermind operating through people's dreams. Critics have noted that
The Manual of Detection combines elements from several
genres of fiction, including mystery and fantasy. Writing for
The Guardian,
Michael Moorcock situated the book within the tradition of
steampunk fiction.
The New Yorker called it “the kind of mannered fantasy that might result if
Wes Anderson were to adapt Kafka.” A reviewer for
The Observer compared it to
The Third Policeman by
Flann O'Brien, and described it as “imaginative, fantastical, sometimes inexplicable, labyrinthine and ingenious.” An abridged version of the novel, read by Toby Jones, was broadcast on
BBC Radio 4 Extra in January 2013. Berry's short stories have appeared in
Conjunctions,
Chicago Review,
Ninth Letter, and other magazines. He has taught at the
MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the
University of Massachusetts Amherst, and he currently teaches at
Bard College. Berry published
The Family Arcana, a “story in cards” in 2015. It was nominated for the
World Fantasy Award. Berry’s second novel,
The Naming Song, was published by
Tor Books in 2024. ==Notes==