Re: RARA-AVIS: Re:Joseph Hansen

dspurlock@humana.com
Mon, 13 Apr 1998 14:57:58 -0400 <<
I couldn't figure out exactly what Tanner's fate was in Greenleaf's last
book. Greenleaf said in an interview that he wouldn't revive the Tanner
series unless there were commercial interest (I assume he was trying to say
that his sales haven't been great). But he didn't say that he would stop
writing, and I really hope he doesn't.
The case of Greenleaf is paradoxical: he has outdone Ross Macdonald at his
own game (and did it early, in State's Evidence, a brilliant tour de force
in which there are so many skeletons in the closet that nobody is who you
think at the beginning of the book); as a stylist he is second to none in
the mystery field. Yet he is not nearly as popular as his talent and
achievements would suggest.>>

Greenleaf is VERY good and I've enjoyed everything that I've read by him.
Some a little more than others, but that's true of nearly every writer. And
I agree that a couple of his earlier Tanner novels out-Archer Ross
Macdonald.

Another underrated writer is Jonathan Valin, whose Harry Stoner mysteries
I've found to be solidly written and very entertaining.--Duane

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