Is George Harmon Coxe considered hard-boiled? I always kind
of nudged him
into the generic mystery nook.
<<Charles Williams>>
I read a nice one by Williams this weekend: SCORPION REEF.
Good stuff. At
times, he was at least as good as John D. McDonald, sometimes
better. Maybe
just not as prolific or as well known.
I also read THE UNDERGROUND MAN by Ross Macdonald. This was
excellent.
Macdonald's whole missing father neurosis was bleeding all
over every page.
This novel is less hardboiled than some of the earlier Lew
Archer novels --
most of the violence happens off-stage -- and Archer serves
more as the
objective catalyst uncovering the dirt. Still, a fine
novel.
Ross Macdonald seems to be falling into that limbo of
unrecognized writers
among general readers these days. That's too bad. It's an
interesting
phenomenon, too, when you consider that he, along with John
D. McDonald,
were sort of the mainstream mystery powerhouses of the late
'60s and early
'70s. Travis McGee remains fairly popular, but I rarely
encounter any
passing mystery fans who recognize Lew Archer's name. --
Duane
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