Like Bob, I'm mildly surprised that Chandler got the nod over
Hammett, but remember the parameters were not "the best
five," but "the five who most turned us on when we first read
them to the degree that we tried to read everything else by
them." That kind of experience happened to me in my high
school days, and I submit that that's when most of the people
on this list had that experience. That being the case,
Chandler's pre-eminence seems easily explained. As for the
more obscure older writers like Cleve Adams, Frederic Nebel,
etc., most people in the age group of this list didn't have
ready access to those writers.
Thanks to Mark for all the time and trouble he took compiling
the results.
JIM DOHERTY
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