--- Mario Taboada <
matrxtech@yahoo.com> wrote:
> All three of these authors know alcohol
intimately.
> I think
> Block quit, just like Scudder. Crumley declared
that
> he
> comes from a family of heavy drinkers and that
he
> continues
> the tradition.
Yes, Block quit drinking some time ago. Several of his other
novels, of course, feature drinking, especially _Eight
Million Ways to Die_, which is, along with _Sacred Ginmill_,
one of my favorites.
I hate to keep bringing up Robert B. Parker, but Spenser can
also be a pretty heavy hitter--_Looking for Rachel Wallace_
and _The Widening Gyre_ both feature "medicinal" or
"theraputic" drinking, while
_Early Autumn_ clearly portrays alcohol as a rite of passage.
(Please note that I only cite works from the first half of
Parker's career...the half I like.)
Furthermore, I quote Stefan Dziemianowicz's 1993 introduction
to _Tough Guys and Dangerous Dames_, an anthology I picked up
a fews years ago from the Barnes
& Noble remainder tables:
"One of the more original [series detectives with personality
quirks] was Hugh B. Cave's 80-proof detective, Peter Kane. A
former cop, Kane epiomized the detective who was not immune
to the snares of his vice-ridden environment, drinking his
way through nine adventures written between 1934 and 1942.
"The Brand of Kane" (1935) [included in the anthology]
displays him at his wisecracking best, acting with more
shrewdness and perspicacity while under the influence than
any of his sober suspects." (p. xiii)
G.
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