I recently read two books which make for an interesting
contrast when trying to figure out the nature of
hardboiled/noir. They were Last Ditch by G.M. Ford and Dead
Letter by John R. Riggs. I'm a fan of both authors and have
read several other books in each of their series.
On the face of it, Ford's book would seem to be the
hardboiled one. The book is a first person narration by
Seattle private eye Leo Waterman. Leo feels compelled to
investigate a decades-old murder in which his dead father, a
corrupt city politician, is implicated. Everyone, including
the rest of his family, wants him to leave it alone. During
the course of his investigation, Leo must examine his
memories of his father, learning a number of things about him
he'd rather not know. Although they are not as evident in
this book, Leo usually employs his very own crew of Very
Irregulars, a bunch of borderline homeless drunks, who
neither want nor accept sympathy from anyone. They are
perfect undercover operatives since most people have trained
themselves not to notice street people.
Riggs's Garth Ryland lives in a small town in Wisconsin. He
is the editor/owner of the Oakalla Reporter. The series
features a number of recurring town characters and a lot of
driving around on rural roads in the quirky car Garth
inherited from his grandmother. Garth receives help and
information from Ruth, his feisty elderly housekeeper who is
a clearinghouse on town gossip.
So Ford's series shoud be the hardboiled one and Riggs's
cozy, right? Hell, the latter sounds like it could be a CBS
mystery, complete with Angela Lansbury in the role of Ruth.
However, the voices of the two writers reverse the expected
feel.
Ford's books can be laugh out loud funny. Leo is one of the
more amusing smartass PIs. The drinking scenes with "The
Boys" are downright hilarious, drawing you into the joking
camaraderie, making likeable, defined individual characters
out of these people most would overlook. So even if the books
deal with ingrained city corruption, spousal and child abuse,
generations-old secrets, etc., Ford's tone casts out the
shadows of what could be Ross Macdonald's world. Now that I
think of it, Ford absurd sense of humor reminds me a little
bit of Jonathan Latimer, although Ford's character most
certainly show the effects of their drinking.
The smalltown Garth Ryland series is wrapped in shadows.
There is much skulking around town after dark. And Garth
uncovers just as much corruption in Oakalla as Marlowe did in
Bay City. The first in the series, The Last Laugh, is
particularly creepy as Garth tries to figure out if a man was
buried alive and if he was, was it part of a practical joke
gone dreadfully wrong or was it intentional? Along the way,
Garth is forced to suspect his best friend, which is further
complicated by the fact that he is in love with the suspect's
wife. The whole series is written in a dark, borderline
depressed voice. I guess you could shelf Riggs with the
smalltown noir of K.C. Constantine (okay, Rocksburg isn't
exactly a smalltown, but it ain't a big city, either) and
Archer Mayor.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that for me the
narrator's voice is at least as important as any checklist of
character traits and/or settings in determining a noir
sensibility.
Mark
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