I pulled out my copy of Rayond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, in
which a bunch of contemporary PI writers each wrote a short
story featuring Marlowe. Each is followed by a brief
afterward about what the author owes Chandler in his/her own
writing. I opened it to Paretsky's thoughts, from which Kevin
recently cited her views on Chandler's women.
However, in the previous paragraph she wrote:
"It's hard to describe the influence Chandler had on my own
work. I think all modern PI writers create very much in his
image, far more so than in Hammett's. It was Chandler who
really framed the relationship of the PI to justice, law and
society, and my detective, V.I. Warshawski, certainly
operates according to the values Chandler outlined in 'The
Simple Art of Murder.'"
It seems to me that this is, indeed, borne out in her books,
and those of many of the other contemporary female PI
writers. So might this be the answer to the question of where
the contemporary heroic PIs are? Could Warshawski and her
sisters be more faithful to the Chandler tradition than most
of their male counterparts?
To be honest, I haven't thought about this enough to decide
whether or not even I believe it, but I thought I'd throw the
idea out for discussion.
And I agree with Carries that Crais is one of the more
traditionally heroic of the male PIs. And although Elvis Cole
was certainly conceived in Spenser's shadow, I'd say the
Jimminy Crickett influence makes him even more of a gee-whiz
shining knight, sometimes almost cloyingly so, especially in
the early books. This is not a criticism, well not much of
one, I really, really like the Elvis Cole series.
I saw the latest book by Crais in a bookstore the other day.
I thought he was going back to Cole after one non-series
book. Guess not. Anyone know if his next one will return to
the series, or is he having the same problem deciding where
to go after the turning point of LA Requiem that Block did
after Eight Million Ways to Die?
Mark
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