"And in the long run, he's remained a strong influence on the
hardboiled
genre, like it or not.
"Certainly you can see traces of Archer's compassion (or
bleeding heart
weenie-ness, depending on your point of view) in the work of
Robert
Parker, Robert Crais, Michael Collins, Bill Pronzini, Sue
Grafton,
Joseph Hansen, Jonathan Valin and Stephen Greenleaf, among
countless
others. Someone must have actually read the books, and not
just a few
newspaper pieces."
I think MacDonald was even more influential in his
mutli-generational
plotlines, how a long ago crime can loom until it finally has
unforeseen
effects years, even decades, later. Several of the above have
used this
pattern, along with Michael Z. Lewin and Sara Paretsky.
Plus MacDonald perfected the depressed, gloomy atmosphere.
What is
Crumley's The Wrong Case but an extra depressing Archer book,
right down
to the quoting of Archer for the book's epigram about not
sleeping with
a woman whose problems are worse than your own (without
giving credit to
Nelson Algren, as MacDonald does when Archer says, "A wise
man in
Chicago once said, . . . " I think it was in The Chill, but
I'm not
sure; the Algren quote is from A Walk on the Wild
Side)?
Mark
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