I joined this group about seven months ago and have been
lurking silently and enjoying the digests since then.
A couple of weeks ago I followed up some discussion and read
Rivertown Risk by Joe L Hensley and then Framed in Guilt by
Day Keene followed by Shake Him Till He Rattles by Malcolm
Braly. The first was prompted by the notice of his death that
came via Harlan Ellison. I enjoyed it - it is a murder
mystery with a small town political corruption as its
thematic backdrop. One of the minor characters is George
Jones who is known as "Half a Man" because he was born with
only one leg and arm. He is a reader of books and it is noted
that "he's a completist on Harlan Ellison." All through the
book there is endless stuff about "the party" which I assumed
to be the republican party although it is never named. There
is no mention of another party giving it a flavour of the one
party state - you could have been reading about the communist
block. Was I reading this right and are there parts of the
USA where it is virtually a one party state? I also wasn't
sure where the book was set
- where was Joe L Hensley from? I enjoyed the Day Keene book
which was one that Al in his list deemed "Very Good" and a
couple of other people on the list had read in the last month
or two. Nice brisk story. Finally I also enjoyed the Braly
and although the beat language and characters are all rather
dated that was part of the pleasure if that doesn't sound too
perverse.
I was also prompted to go and drag my box of noir fiction
paperbacks out of the loft and have three Peter Rabe books
sitting by my bedside - Benny Muscles in, Journey Into Terror
and Stop This Man. I haven't decided which to read yet.
Since then I have read the new Ian Rankin - as good as ever -
and have just begun Miami Purity by Vicki Hendricks who I
have been meaning to read for ages.
As to me I am simply a fan. In my teens I read all of
Chandler and Hammett and a number of books by Ross MacDonald
and Simenon. In my twenties I devoured all the Elmore
Leonards had a lot of fun with Chester Himes. Then after
watching Phantom Lady I at long last discovered that as well
as Film Noir there was noir fiction. Since then I have read
Woolrich, Goodis, Willeford, Thompson and many others with
Jason Starr being a relatively recent discovery. I have also
read any number of books by Lawrence Block, Ed Gorman, Bill
Pronzini, James Lee Burke among others.
One other question - I have found a few things on the net
about noir fiction by George Tuttle but have been unable to
find out who he is. Can someone please help?
And finally, thank you for these digests - they are always
full of interesting facts and discussion.
Raymond
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