The L. A. Times published a rave profile today of L.A.
mystery author Denise Hamilton.
(
http://www.calendarlive.com/books/cl-et-lacher12may12,2,540239.story).
The author of the profile and Hamilton herself explicitly
place her in the lineage of Chandler and Ross
Macdonald.
Hamilton's three novels feature Eve Diamond, a
"tough-but-vulnerable" L.A. Times reporter and alter ego for
Hamilton, herself a former Times reporter.
"I read Chandler and Macdonald, not because I wanted to write
like middle-aged white guys in 1950s L.A.," Hamilton says.
"My L.A. is a very multicultural place where
fourth-generation Angelenos butt up against people who've
just come off a boat from somewhere. This is very grandiose
of me, I realize, but I wanted to update Chandler's tone and
his noir feel for L.A. to a millennial, multicultural L.A.
from a female perspective."
I'm intrigued, but also wary: Hamilton's a former L.A.
Times reporter, so maybe the Times isn't an unbiased source.
And calling an L.A.-based mystery writer "the next Chandler"
is a little too easy, like dubbing any scrawny kid with a
gravelly voice, and a guitar "the next Dylan." Is anyone on
the list familiar with Hamilton? I found nothing in the
archives.
Also: do Chandler's novels - as opposed to the movies made
from his novels - have a "noir feel" for L.A.?
Thanks,
Steve
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