Okay, I agree that Parker and a few others may have created
dark side alter egos for their lead characters. But I agree
with Dick Lochte that many of these sidekicks are simply
handy ways for writers to get from here to there. If
something needs to be done that, ahem, might be a bit
ethically questionable, why not have someone in the series
capable of doing the dirty deed. That's very handy for a
writer.
I mentioned in an earlier post the cliche of the cop
boyfriend of women amateur detectives. I once was moderator
on a Malice Domestic panel with four authors of series, all
of which featured a cop boyfriend. I raised the question and
talk about being the skunk at the picnic! Cutting through the
defensive fog, the cop boyfriend was just a handy way for the
writers to get from here to there. I suspect the shady
sidekick is often born of the same need, not some
philosophical motive.
With some hesitation, here are a few other random
observations on sidekicks.
It used to be common in harboiled fiction that the PI had
sidekicks within the system to help out, while our PI was the
guy functioning outside the system making things happen.
Remember the early Mike Shayne novels? He had the cop and the
reporter pals to help out but when something outside the
system had to be done, Shayne did it.
A separate observation: Chandler's Philip Marlowe is the
classic tarnished knight going down those mean streets. He
was a force outside the system but he generally stayed within
the lines drawn by the system. At the same time Chandler's
friend Cleve Adams was writing the Rex McBride series.
McBride did his own dirty work, as did many other pulp
heroes. He was a cretin, famous for his statement that "An
American Gestapo is goddamned well what we need." Marlowe
became the model for the future, the classic tarnished
knight. McBride, for the few who have read him, is one of the
most repugnant characters in detective fiction history.
Lessons learned.
Finally, I have trouble with the hair-splitting on morale
codes that okay bad stuff done on the behalf of (but not
personally by) our fair-haired hero.
I'm no Parker expert. I read a couple of early Parkers and
found them unsatisfactory. Yet with Bill Crider and others I
respect sticking up for him, I know he deserves another
chance. But I will say I am troubled by the concept of a
black guy doing the dirty work for a white guy. I grew up in
the south and, brother, do I know that story.
Richard Moore
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