In his recent post Jim Doherty reminded me about Ed
McBain.
I read a lot of Ed McBain's earlier offerings in this series.
The last one I read, *The Frumious Bandersnatch,* published
in 2004, was less than satisfying, although written extremely
well and with twist that surprised Carella, but not me--and I
suspect not many others, who have read a lot of mystery
fiction.
What did surprise me though was that the book was decidedly
noir, considering the most important non-cop character was
screwed from the beginning, even though McBain gave us hope
up until the final moments.
One thing that did stick out to me, since it had been a few
years since I read an 87th Precinct, was the way that McBain
has not aged his characters all the way to old men, in spite
of the first having been published in 1956.
I didn't see anything about the Twins in TFB, but I may have
forgotten it since it has been a few months since I read it.
Carella was still married to Teddy, though.
What stuck with me was the way he handled the characters,
ages, especially Carella, who in the originals if I remember
correctly, was a Korean War Veteran.
I never did see his transition from Lieutenant to somewhat
just "one of the cops." (Anybody know where or how that
occurred?)
In this one, he says, and I'll paraphrase since I no longer
have the book handy: He (one of the characters) was a veteran
of one of our little wars, just as Carella was a veteran of
his.
Neat way to handle it.
It's a shame Parker hasn't been so inventive with Spenser
over the years.
Jack
http://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JackBludis
Try "Blondes, Blondes, Blondes" at
http://www.thrillingdetective.com/fiction/06_12_02.html
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