RARA-AVIS: hard-soft/George V. Higgins


Doug Bassett (dj_bassett@yahoo.com)
Tue, 9 Nov 1999 04:35:28 -0800 (PST)


For what it's worth:

I think "hard-boiled" is a style, as much as anything else. It's certainly possible to write a PI novel, a good one, that's not hard-boiled (Stephen Greenleaf's stuff, for example). I also think it's possible to write a fine hard-boiled story that doesn't have anything to do with crime or criminals (Charles Bukowski's stories, for instance).

Personally, I like my PI's very hard-boiled, but that probably says more about me than it does about the merits of Parker, Block, Paretsky, etc. Still, I'd like to think that I'm not alone in my tastes, and if there was a bracingly tough PI series out there I'd be the first one in line to grab a copy. Anyone have any suggestions?

Regarding, Higgins, I was sorry to hear about his death. I read Friends of Eddie Coyle for the first time some months back and it's just a masterpiece of carefully constructed dialog. I highly recommend it.

Doug

===== Doug Bassett dj_bassett@yahoo.com
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