I remember reading something by the late Gault to the effect
that in the
old days the Edgar was only given to beginning novelists
(and, in
typical Gault fashion, following it up by saying that
well-known veteran
writers didn't need to have their ego massaged, after
all).
To the person who enjoyed Mosley's "Devil in a Blue Dress"
and "A Red
Death", I strongly recommend "A Little Yellow Dog", which I
consider to
be Mosley's masterpiece so far. For the first time, I had the
distinct
feeling that Mosley's level as an artist was approaching
Chandler's. Not
Ross Macdonald (Greenleaf has done that, and even surpassed
him), but
Chandler himself; I had the same eerie feeling that I
invariably have
when I read Chandler - a delight in the perfect use of words,
dialogue
that is as fresh as Los Angeles early in the morning when
it's rained
the night before, a constantly surprising series of events
that seems
half chance and half planned, and an absolutely memorable
protagonist.
Not long ago we were discussing contemporary hardboiled, and
someone
(Etienne?) mentioned that there aren't very many authors
mining this ore
anymore. Well, Mosley is one of them, and to my mind he is
easily one of
the two or three most interesting authors to have appeared in
the past
decade.
Regards, and apologies for the length of this post.
Mario Taboada
P.S. I am by nature an even-tempered but nevertheless
rebellious person,
so I cannot bring myself to read the books as scheduled.
Besides, I
spent too many years in academia giving out assignments,
which has
probably made me constitutionally unable to accept
assignments from
others...In the case of Thompson's novel, I am not sure that
I ever want
to re-read it. It made a big impression the only time I read
it, and I
wouldn't want to spoil it.
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