RARA-AVIS: women PIs/Grant's accent/John Shannon

From: Carrie Pruett ( pruettc@hotmail.com)
Date: 20 Aug 2001


various and sundry -

Brian wrote:

1.
>But when I read about women PIs, cops, what have you, in
>fiction, something about it doesn't ring true and I tune out.

Um, well, I can assure you that there are plenty of female police officers out there; don't know about PI's but then I'm not sure how many PI's there really are period (probably not as many real ones as fictional ones, at least in the literary sense that we think of them). Not sure exactly what believability problems the existence of women in law enforcement should present in 2001.

2. Somebody way back mentioned Cary Grant having a modified Cockney accent. I never really thought of it that way - I thought he generally had this accent that was not exactly English/not exactly American, though he could sound more English or more American depending on the character. Anyway, the classic "Cary Grant" voice was obviously fake, so I don't imagine he would've had a problem making it sound a little more mean-streets-y if it came to that. Or maybe they coulda dubbed in Bogey's voice with Grant's body, how's that for a picture? I actually think Bruce Willis would make a good Marlowe; (not that a Marlowe picture should be a Bruce Willis Movie, with attended explosions, etc.) Russell Crowe would also be an interesting choice, though I think he'd be more interesting in an emotionally-rawer role, like a Lehane hero (or an Ellroy hero, she says, then thinks, oh yeah.
. .)

Finally, just finished up "The Cracked Earth" by John Shannon. It's a great book, a fresh take on a potentially hackneyed plot. Are the rest of Shannon's this good? Incidentally, this is one that made me absolutely marvel that anyone would ever choose to live in Los Angeles. There's a certain perverse appeal to Chandler's LA, or Connelly's LA, and Crais just makes me want to pack up and move there, but Shannon makes me glad to be on the east coast.

Carrie

*****************
"Is that what you do for a living?" she asked. "Find folks?"
"Sometimes," I said. "Other times I just look."
-James Crumley, "The Last Good Kiss"

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