RARA-AVIS: Hercule Poirot-Profiler?

Kevin Smith (kvnsmith@colba.net)
Tue, 26 May 1998 08:15:54 -0500 If Hammett gave murder back to the people who commit it for reasons, as
Chandler claimed, does that mean that the glut of serial killer books is
actually a return to the classical mystery?

After all, some sicko butchering a string of coeds because his goldfish
told him to do it, or he saw his football coach in a tutu when he was
twelve makes about as much sense to me as some looney toon bumping off
everyone in Greythorpe Manor according to some obscure nursery rhyme.

Personally, most serial killer books bore me in the same way many of the
Christie-type books bore me. Could it be that, in substituting a butcher
cleaver for an obscure poison for, and an alcoholic, divorced homicide
detective for a foppsish little foreigner or a schoolmarm, that the
traditional mystery is being wrapped up in blood-drenched,
supposedly-hardboiled clothes to appeal to a segment of the market that
wouldn't be caught dead reading Christie, et al?

After all, hardboiled to me is as much about attitude as anything, not the
violence of the crime committed.

Just a thought...(and pre-coffee, so you know how much it's worth...)

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Kevin Smith
The Thrilling Detective Web Site
http://www.colba.net/~kvnsmith/thrillingdetective/
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