Doug asks about other stories in which the Op seems to go
'blood simple." In the first installment of *Blood Money*,
"The Big Knockover," the Op gets into a fist fight with what
seems to be every gangster in the country who've all come to
SF to participate in the large-scale bank robbery that fuels
the novel. He starts to think that this must be what heaven
is like, an eternity of punching out people who deserve to be
punched.
In *The Dain Curse*, he encounters what he thinks is a ghost.
When he reaches into its stomach and it comes away moist, he
thinks he's gutted the disembodied spirit. He starts to laugh
and says, "I'll gut you plenty!" It should be noted that he's
been drugged at this point, and isn't entirely responsible
for what he says or thinks.
Off-hand, those are the only two instances in which he seems
to really take a Mike Hammer-like enjoyment in violence.
Generally, the Op is much more matter-of-fact.
One of the things that strikes me about *Harvest* has already
been alluded to today. Hammett, who more or less invented the
hardboiled PI with no reference to an HB literary tradition,
also invented so many of the familiar plots. In addition to
the "avenged partner" plot, the "quest object" plot, or the
"falls in love with the villainess" plot, all of which are
utilized in *The Maltese Falcon*, he invented the "slightly
soiled damsel in distress" plot, which Chandler would utilize
over and over, and the "twisted family" plot, which Ross
Macdonald would make his stock-in-trade, in *The Dain Curse*,
and, of course he perfected the "town taming" plot in *Red
Harvest*. Probably every PI series that has lasted more than
ten years, and quite a few that lasted less time than that,
has had a town-taming entry. A few examples include Brett
Halliday's *A Taste for Violence*, Robert Parker's *Pale
Kings and Princes*, Mickey Spillane's
*The Twisted Thing*, and Richard Prather's *The Sweet
Ride*.
Hammett himself used the plotline more than once. His
"Corkscrew" has the Op sent to a wild a wooly town in Arizona
where he becomes the deputy sheriff assigned to being law and
order to the titular community. It's a great story in its own
right, and an interesting warm-up for *Red Harvest*, one of
the best PI novels ever written, and the Op's finest
hour.
JIM DOHERTY
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