Welcome, Donna. A female mystery writer who cites Prather is
Jan Grape. She says she grew up reading the paperback
mysteries her father tossed in the trash after he finished
them. Prather was a favorite. But Jan's book, AUSTIN CITY
BLUE, is nothing like Prather.
I don't know if Spillane's brutal exercises were harmless or
not. I do know that when I started reading them in the late
1950s, I knew even then that they were some sort of
wish-fulfillment fantasies, even if I didn't know that
term.
I also know that I enjoyed them a lot on that level.
The first book I ever tried to write was an outright
imitation of Spillane. Luckily, it's been lost forever.
Bill Crider
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