Mat C wrote;
"And surely no-one's going to deny that Chandler was much
better in shorts than he was in novels? Are they ... ?"
Actually, I'd deny that most strongly. As much as I like
Chandler's shorts (I asked for and got The Collected Stories
for Christmas, so I should soon be going through them yet
again and not just for the second time on most), I think his
writing really came together in the novels, when he had the
space to really develop Marlowe's character. That's why I
prefer novels to shorts in general. Most shorts don't have
the space to develop both character and plot. Most mystery
shorts highlight the latter. I read mysteries more for the
former. With novels I get both.
That said, I would give little argument against your claim
being applied to Hammett.
Mark
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