I just finished another Australian hardboiled, this one by
Peter Corris called WHITE MEAT. It's the second in the Cliff
Hardy series. I loved it. I've always wanted to go to
Australia and check out the diving in the Great Barrier Reef
and maybe drive a ways into the outback. Barring seeing it
myself, Corris does a great job of evoking Australia and its
people in brief descriptive prose. He gets all this in
without getting in the way of the plot. Actually, it adds to
it. The scenery and the weather and the people and the plot
all blend together into a beautiful book. The book reminds me
some of Crumley's LAST GOOD KISS. The characters might not be
as expertly drawn, but they were still superb.
I have trouble occasionally finding PI books that I really
like. This book is one of the reasons I keep coming back. It
was great. Highly recommended.
Another one I just finished is Roger Torrey's 42 DAYS TO
MURDER. If I recall correctly, Richard Moore and Bill Denton
liked this one a lot. Demonstrating that reading is a
subjective experience, it didn't do much for me. I couldn't
develop any empathy at all with the protagonist or any
interest in the plot or any appreciation for his style. I
understand that Torrey is another one of those mysterious
writers with very little biographical information on
him.
I also started in on Ruehm's (sp?) collection of Black Mask
stories. I read Daly's "The False Burton Combs" and Hammett's
"The Road Home" and "The Gutting of Coiffignal." After
reading Daly's SNARL OF THE BEAST I'll have to admit that
I've grown tired of his particular style of colloquialism and
the continuous bragging on the part of Daly's protagonist.
Every page you gotta hear him tell you how tough he is. I
thought both the Hammett stories were good, especially the
last line of "Coiffignal." Norbert Davis is next, with
"Kansas City Flash." That will be my first exposure to Davis.
The one I'm really interested in is Lester Dent's
"Angelfish." His name was mentioned several times in Frank's
PULP JUNGLE.
miker
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