WARNING: Spoilers for Chandler's FAREWELL, MY LOVELY and
Kaminsky's VENGEANCE follow.
I read Chandler's FAREWELL, MY LOVELY here recently, and
followed it with Kaminsky's VENGEANCE. It was not until I had
completely finished VENGEANCE that I realized the many
similarities between the two books.
Both protagonists were former employees of a district
attorney. Both protagonists have little or no social life.
Both live in low-rent apartments. Neither have had much work
in the last month. Althought certainly not unusal to the
genre, both protagonists are also first on the scene of
multiple murders.
The protagonists both take on two tasks. The first task is
for little or no money and involves finding a woman who is
also being sought by a dangerous exconvict. The second task
is for a rich client and a beautiful rich woman in this case
ends up murdering the exconvict in the (at first) seemingly
unconnected first task. Both murders involve unloading a
handgun into the con at short range.
Both protagonists run into high-end criminals who threaten
the protagonists but end up aiding them and also respecting
them. Both books end with a woman in the protagonist's life
who they met during the cases and who helped them.
If I was to roll Chandler's THE BIG SLEEP into the mix
(spoiler coming up for that now, too), I could mention
similarities to VENGEANCE in a client who's daughter is
responsible for a murder which the protagonist keeps from the
police.
I have no point in all this. I just thought the similarities
interesting. I'm surely not calling it plot-stealing. Books
in the genre share many conventions. If anything, it might
lend credence to Jim's Marlowe paradigm.
Speaking of Jim and Marlowe, I'm looking forward to the
Chandler class coming up at B&N. I've got the novels done
now. I'll have to read some short stories.
miker
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