RARA-AVIS: Doin' a damn good job of it, too...

From: Kevin Burton Smith ( kvnsmith@thrillingdetective.com)
Date: 26 Apr 2002


Jim wrote:

>Kevin Smith can give you better info on the third. It
>features a nun (or maybe a former nun) who's a
>licensed PI.

That would be the Harry Garnish and Sister Bridget O'Toole series by Frank Mc Connell (or something like that), a sort of at times cozyish spin on A.A. Fair's Donald Lam and Bertha.

Gee, I go away for a few days, and the list goes nuts!

>There were a series of PI novels produced for the
>Evangelical Christian market that touted themselves as
>being in the "tradition of Hammett, Chandler, and
>Macdonald." Unfortunately, I can't remember the name
>of the writer. They're the only honest-to-God
>contemporary PI novels I've ever seen in this market.
>If you're really interested, I'll try to find out.

Well, I'm really interested, Jim. You know where to find me...

Oh, and a few unrelated thoughts:

Brian wrote:

>I'd say James Bond was as hard-boiled as an Englishman can get.

Shhh... Brian, you're embarrassing yourself.

And speaking of colloquial speech...

> Spenser says to Hawk (I don't
> > remember why): "I just read a book by a guy named
> > Fielding that says that guys like us are repressing
> > homo-erotic tendencies." Hawk: "Doin' a damn good
> > job of it, too."

Anyway, hard-boiled is about attitude. You either have it or you don't. And Jim's definition still comes way closer than anything any of his detractors have managed to cobble together. In fact, Jim's definition, concise, unyielding, uncompromising and to the point, is sort of hard-boiled in its own right. Which may be the point.

-- 

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