RARA-AVIS: Re: occult PIs

From: foxbrick ( foxbrick@yahoo.com)
Date: 09 Jun 2008


--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, DJ-Anonyme@... wrote:

> The book also got me started thinking about other series that
overlap
> the hardboiled and occult worlds, especially loner investigators
who
> bridge the two worlds. [edit]
> But I'm not very familiar with horror and/or fantasy books, so I
was
> wondering if there are any other recommended series where an
> investigator works on both sides of these mean streets? For
example, I
> saw a series by Lilith Saintcross (gee, wonder if that's a
pseudonym)
> featuring Dante Valentine, the Devil's bounty hunter. They have
really
> cool covers, but I seem to remember the recently departed Bo
Diddley
> warning me about judging a book by its cover. Are they any good?
Any
> other recommendations?

It just so happens that I'm compiling a list of this kind of crossover fiction from the librarian-heavy Fiction-L mailing list...series are tougher than one-offs, from what I've read, such as Avram Davidson, him again, with THE ENQUIRIES OF DOCTOR ESTERHAZY
(and THE ADVENTURES... expanded edition), which is not hardboiled, but is worth pursuing in these terms (MASTERS OF THE MAZE, likewise, and it does verge on hb); Kim Newman's ANNO DRACULA series, which don't involve a single detective, but often take a form parallel to detective fiction, and his more on the nose THE NIGHT MAYOR and at least one other. Ron Goulart's Max Kearney stories, collected in GHOST BREAKER, are great fun. But almost all of these stress the fantastic.

Todd Mason



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