Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Hardboiled Omnibus

Mark Sullivan (ANONYMEINC@webtv.net)
Tue, 1 Sep 1998 18:28:53 -0400 (EDT) I also have a copy of Hardboiled Omnibus that I've had forever. It was
one of the first things I read in the genre after Chandler got me
hooked. I got it from a long-gone used book store outside DC called X
Marks the Spot, which specialized in mysteries, particularly hardboiled.
It's proprietor, generally known as X, recommended the Omnibus (the 1952
Pocket Book edition, $1, but this was a couple of decades ago) as a good
place to start. My reading list in classic hardboiled came from X;
Leigh Brackett, Anthony Boucher, Raoul Whitfield and Henry Kane were
high on his list. I'm most thankful to him, though, for turning me on to
the Paul Pine books by John Evans/Howard Browne. For years, every time
I saw X, I asked if he had gotten in a copy of A Taste for Ashes, then
only available in its original hardback. Of course, the answer was
always no, and I expected it to stay that way. A week before he closed
the store though, X answered yes. It was the classic doubletake, I
almost didn't register what he had said, taking a no answer for granted.
He sold it to me for $20, which, at the time, I thought was pretty
expensive (hey, I was making just over the $3-something minimum wage at
the time), but I paid it and never regretted it.

Mark

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