What they share, in my opinion, is that they are both
supervirtuoso
natural writers, who are interesting no matter what they
write about and
who never force themselves on the reader by gimmicks; this
all too rare
virtuosity and spontaneity is what makes them so unique. They
also exude
real knowledge of the real world, and in spades.
For an experiment, try picking up an ordinary mystery (even a
good
conventional one) after reading, say, Willeford's "Miami
Blues" or
Leonard's "Freaky Deaky" or "The Moonshine War". What happens
to me in
this situation is that I very quickly put aside the book. The
great
pianist Artur Schnabel once said that two composers can excel
on
different planes of achievement - but that the planes remain
different.
In the cases of Willeford and Leonard, we have examples of
the highest
plane in the crime novel.
In case you are wondering, I am a fan of these two
gentlemen.
Regards,
Mario Taboada
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