Re: RARA-AVIS: Healy-Boston

From: JIM DOHERTY ( jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com)
Date: 07 Nov 2001


Re Doug's questions below:

> Which
> of [Jeremiah Healy's] works would you
> recommend to new readers of your work? If you don't
> want to answer that one,
> maybe you could answer a similar one toward the
> topic of Boston: which of
> your books do you think best captures the
> ethos/geography/politics/etc. of
> Boston?

Not to second-guess Mr. Healy, either, but I'd agree with Carrie that BLUNT DARTS is the best one to start on. It sets up most of the elements that move the series along in later entries, Cuddy's recent widowhood, the professional crisis that necessitated his opening up his own office, his military/law enforcement background, etc.

RIGHT TO DIE, which is involves Cuddy with a controversial ethics professor at a typically Bostonian university, and has a marvelous sub-plot about Cuddy's getting in training for the Boston Marathon, is probably the book that best captures the city.

My personal favorite is THE STAKED GOAT, which won Mr. Healy the Shamus for best novel. I'd also highly recommend any of the Cuddy short stories, many of which are collected in THE CONCISE CUDDY. I've never been disappointed by a Cuddy book; however, just as the Op sometimes leave the Bay Area, and Marlowe sometimes leaves LA, there are several Cuddy books that aren't set in Boston, or even Massachusetts, at all.

JIM DOHERTY

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