This topic came up a month or two ago, but I didn't have time
to join in then.
In Robert Crais's Demolition Angel, one of the characters is
missing a digit on one hand. Several pages later, he's
missing the digit on the other hand, but he hasn't had any
more accidents in the meantime. (I thought this book was a
cut above the Elvis Cole series, which I was devouring this
time last year.)
In Walter Mosely's Devil in a Blue Dress, as someone
mentioned, there are too many bit players to keep track of.
What I found confusing was that two of them have the same
last name. At first it seems like it's a mistake that they
have two different first names, but at the end of the book
you find out they're cousins. The confusion was totally
unecessary, except as some sort of red (Green!)
herring.
In Black Betty, the last name of one of the main characters
(the maid) changes from one chapter to the next.
I've read three Mosely novels, and while Easy Rawlins is a
sympathetic character, I find the plots are full of holes and
messy things like the examples above.
I might blame the editor to some extent, but the primary
responsibility is the author's in all those cases.
Karin
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