RARA-AVIS: Baume's Rush, the Falcon etc.

Frank Denton (bearlodge@classic.msn.com)
Tue, 2 Dec 97 06:44:18 UT Thank you, Katherine Harper, for jumping in and straightening us all out
concerning Baume's Law. We have a "three strikes and you're out" law in
Washington. Three felony convictions and you get life with no parole. This
is going to cost the taxpayers a lot of money in the long run. Whether it
will decrease the number of felonies is yet to be seen.

Rick Robinson is no doubt correct that people raving about the newer
hard-boiled writers may not have read the older more classic writers. Many of
them have come to the mystery field later. The entire mystery field has
bloomed in the last ten years. I can remember Bouchercons with attendance of
300. People new to the field tend to stick with authors whom they have read
and enjoyed. One has to have a really deep desire to educate oneself about
the field to go back and read through Hammett and Chandler and Cain and all
the others. Thus the blank stares when you mention writers whom you consider
the core of the field from which every other writers proceeds.

I just recently watched The Maltese Falcon and when I started to read the
novel, I was struck by how close the movie dialogue followed the dialogue in
the novel. Am I correct or under a misconception? I was also intrigued early
on by the blow-by-blow description of how to roll a cigarette. I wonder if he
would have gotten away with that today.

I'm enjoying this discussion much more than others I've found.

Cheers,

Frank Denton

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