Bill,
I second Mark for some of his selections.
David Peace and his Red Riding Quartet. Not only an epic, but
the work of a real top class writer. Absolute noir in West
Yorkshire. Far from the ridiculous SK gothic replays of so
many best-sellers. I read only 3 of the series of 4, but it's
enough to make my mind: Peace belongs to the kind of authors
which appears once every ten years, when we're lucky! My
advice: don't read the 4 books (1974-1977-1980-1983) in a
row. Wait at least two weeks between 2 of them... IMO he is
closer to Derek Raymond's universe than Ellroy's, but he
shares some technique and the power of his writing with the
second. Do not miss this series.
Derck Raymond's Factory cycle. The nameless sergeant is the
centerpoint of 5 novels, making the entire cycle. I had
myself some difficulties to find out about number 5 (Dead Man
Upright- 1993), but it happens I finally read it last week.
Dora Suarez and some other novels of the series were already
discussed here, and I'm sure you'll remember it. We could say
about the cycle it's a kind of personal quest of a loner
tracking the evil in the gardens of Death. Noir, gripping and
moving. A great writer.
Jim Sallis and his Griffin novels surely qualifies. An epic
stretching over the entire life of his central Black
character, told in non linear and fascinating stories. Could
not be for everyone's taste, an exceptional construction with
a quality of writing, all things being rare in HB/noir. Here,
I strongly recommend to start with the first volume of the
Griffin saga: The Long Legged Fly-1992, and to follow the
order for the others of the series.
There's also some novels by Paco Ignacio Taibo II, were the
epic already well developed in one volume could stretch over
one or two more, like "The Shadow of the Shadow" (Sombra de
la Sombra) prolonged by
"Returning as Shadows". He also mixes some historical events
and recurrent characters across several of his other novels.
Another great writer.
E.Borgers Hard-Boiled Mysteries http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6384
>Bill, I can think of a few epics of hardboiled lit
besides Ellroy.
>First, there's the DC Quartet by George Pelecanos,
which follows
>characters over several decades. I've only read the
first of David
>Peace's Red Riding Quartet, but it would seem to
qualify -- isn't that
>what gets him so many comparisons to Ellroy? And
wouldn't the Lew
>Griffin books by Jim Sallis qualify? I'm not sure
when he really
>started conceiving them as an epic, but they
certainly work that way.
>
>Then there are a few I'd say are borderline epics,
like Jim O'Connell's
>books. They don't really have characters in common,
but I'd say they
>are an epic portrayal of a city, Quinsigamond. What
about Derek
>Raymond's Factory Trilogy -- those first three in the
series certainly
>seemed to be plotted together. Although the murders
in each are solved,
>they seem to be parts of an overarcing story about
the nameless DS
>investigating them. The two later additions, on the
other hand, are
>just series books (not a put down, but they are more
self-contained in
>my mind). I've only read Will Christopher Baer's
first, Kiss Me Judas,
>but wasn't it supposedly conceived as the first in a
trilogy? Has the
>third ever come out?
>
>Mark
>
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