RARA-AVIS: Ross Macdonald's influence

Gary Warren Niebuhr (piesbook@execpc.com)
Mon, 08 Mar 1999 10:15:52 -0800 Over the years, I have talked to many private eye writers, and it is Ross
Macdonald's name that keeps coming up. This was especially true of the
women private eye writers I interviewed, including Marcia Muller.

Right now I am reading BLACKHEART HIGHWAY by Richard Barre, the next Wil
Hardesty novel to be published in June. I believe that Barre is another
author who is influence by Macdonald and the story frame that Macdonald
built to tell his tales.

However, in a recent interview in MYSTERY NEWS, I suggested this to the
author and Barre replied:

"Wondrously, that has brought me some humbling comparisons to Ross
Macdonald-although in truth his influence (Black Money ages ago; The Chill
only recently) runs not nearly so deep as Chandler's. I find
something new every time I re-read one of his. Among contemporary masters, I
would say Burke, Ellroy, Parker, Leonard..."

However, because I know more about the author's work than the author, I
still think I am right! Best, GWN

P.I.E.S. (Private Investigator Entertainment Service)
Catalogs of new and used private eye fiction
Gary Warren Niebuhr, Owner
P. O. Box 341218
Milwaukee, WI 53234
piesbook@execpc.com
<http://www.execpc.com/~piesbook/piescatalog.html>
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