This will probably sound ridiculous to many of you, but I
actually read my very first Perry Mason not so long ago --
THE CASE OF THE VAGABOND VIRGIN. Gardner seems to me to be
working in this same sort of
"semi-boiled" or "medium-boiled" niche -- something more than
a cozy, but less than the full hard-boiled treatment. (I
found Gardner wonderfully readable, incidentally, although
he's no Stout.). I'm no expert on Fifties-era mystery
fiction, but I suspect that you could find a host of writers
plowing the same field.
doug
--- Dick Lochte <
dlock@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> As for the continuing question as to whether or
not
> the Wolfe books are
> hardboiled, there were a number of authors
whose
> work, while less tough than
> the Hammett-Chandler school are far enough away
from
> the Christie-Van Dine
> type of mystery to qualify. Even Ellery
Queen
> breaks loose in some of his
> adventures. Perry Mason. Simon Templar.
The
> regrettably neglected Johnny
> Fletcher and Sam Cragg stories by Frank
Gruber.
> Craig Rice's John J. Malone.
> You couldn't call any of these soft-boiled,
exactly.
> There's probably even a
> case to be made for old Sherlock. How
many
> hardboiled heroes are as dark and
> moody as Holmes, or need a hit of that
seven
> per-cent solution to keep the
> world in focus?
> Dick Lochte
===== Doug Bassett
dj_bassett@yahoo.com
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