Re: RARA-AVIS: Top Hard-Boiled Mysteries/ T. Harris

Etienne Borgers (freeweb@rocketmail.com)
Thu, 1 Apr 1999 15:50:59 -0800 (PST) Well,
I reacted to the fact that I was more shocked by the
writers listed than by the absentees in that biased
list...
And I'm still convinced that the other Harris
(Thomas) does not belong there.

This said, Timothy Harris is an exceptionally good
writer that ... gave up. That was in the midst of the
" black hole" created by the American mainstream
publishers for the kind of literature we like (during
the seventies and early eighties).
To make a living he deliberately choose to work for
Hollywood, where he did good commercial scripts
(comedies) but none in the Noir/HB genre, and
nothing innovating (was sometime using the name of
Hyde Harris).

I agree with you concerning the only two Kyd novels
he wrote, and we already could feel there the
potential of Timothy Harris for further works.

What you should really try to find is his last novel:
Heat Wave (1979)- to understand the loss.
A really great novel by any standard. Griping, moving
and proof of a real writer.
Just for that he really deserves to be remembered.
Especially when I look to the Z graders assembled in
the list posted.

PS: as a very young writer he wrote a totally
off-beat HB novel 'Kronski/McSmash'(1969)almost
treated as a pastiche, but still brilliant (maybe not
for everybody's taste).

E.Borgers
Hard-Boiled Mysteries
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6384

---Mark Sullivan <ANONYMEINC@webtv.net> wrote:
>
> Etienne,
> While I agree that most of your missing nominees
are worthy, especially
> Himes, do you really think Timothy Harris should be
included? I read
> the two Kyd books and enjoyed them very much,
especially Goodbye and
> Goodnight, but top 25 material? I don't think so.
Did he write some
> other hardboiled book I'm unaware of? His druggy
novel and movie
> adaptations don't really qualify.
>
> Mark
>
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