1. I was disappointed in _Phantom Lady_. I suppose you have
all already been
through this line of discussion. Woolrich really doesn't play
fair with the
reader--and not in a clever sort of way.
2. Max Byrd's _California Thriller_. Great fun. A little
dated--very 1970s
California (published in 1981). A tough PI with a dash of
James Bond plot.
It also covers a lot of Bay Area territory, which I enjoyed.
The mystery was
pretty easy to see, but that didn't matter too much. Too bad
Byrd is out of
the hard-boiled game--maybe it didn't pay or his publisher
dropped him or he
had to focus on getting tenure (prof at UC Davis); I've
recently seen ads for
historical novels by him.
3. Jonathan Latimer's _The Lady in the Morgue_ (1936). Great,
great stuff.
One of the best books I've read in the last year. Not
hard-boiled (so maybe
not quite right here), but filled with tough PI Bill Crane
and his cohorts,
Chicago gangsters, and lots and lots of booze. It's more
along the lines of
_Thin Man_ in tone--screwy, very funny, great scenes. It begs
the hard-boiled
definition question again, since it's got tough PIs breaking
the law, low-
life, a morgue, etc., but not at all bleak. IPL reprinted the
book, so it's
around. Other than _Solomon's Vineyard_, are other Latimer
books available or
recommended? And is IPL still around?
I'll post my findings next time. Some good stuff, I think,
but I'll query the
list about what's worth reading.
Best,
Doug Levin
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