Re: RARA-AVIS: Realism and Reality

Kevin Smith (kvnsmith@colba.net)
Wed, 12 Aug 1998 07:47:34 -0500 Actually, one of the reasons Ed McBain chose to spin the Big Apple on its
axis, and call it Isola, instead of just using New York, was so he couldn't
be accused of being wrong about minor details of police procedure. Jim, you
are indeed cursed by knowing too much about police procedures. I'm the same
way when it comes to reading books that have info about stuff I know. Even
some books that were written only a few years ago really misrepresent
computers and the internet, and anyone reading them now will find the
misunderstandings and misrepresentations quite jarring, and I'm not even
much of a computer guy.

And here's a pet peeve to go with the one about where people in P.I.
fiction are always going, "A private eye? Like Magnum, Rockford,
whoever...." How come so many private eyes in fiction boast about not
knowing anything about computers, or are just now learning to use them? It
seems to me that computers and access to databases via the internet would
have been standard equipment for any real-life private eyes who are serious
about their work, for years now...Of course, it fills pages with witty
repartee and a two-page description of some fine micro-brewed beer to take
a cop buddy for a beer or a cute librarian for dinner and convince him to
use their computers to run a search on whatever. It's probably more
interesting than saying "I sat down, got online and downloaded all I could
find on so-and-so."

**************************************************
Kevin Smith
It's summertime, and the living is cheesy...What are you reading this summer?
Tell us in this month's P.I. Poll on The Thrilling Detective Web Site
http://www.colba.net/~kvnsmith/thrillingdetective/

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