Re: RARA-AVIS: Query for the Choir: Ed McBain, John D. MacDonald, Lawrence Block, Others

From: Patrick King (abrasax93@yahoo.com)
Date: 11 May 2010

  • Next message: Jack Bludis: "RARA-AVIS: Query for the Choir: Ed McBain, John D. MacDonald, Lawrence Block"

    Here's my question for the group: I now want to turn my attention to a few classic writers in the genre who are not just long-standing favorites but who have contributed particular books that rightly can be called masterpieces.

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    Where Ed McBain is concerned, remember the Mathew Hope stories. RUMPLESTILTSKIN, PUSS IN BOOTS, AND THE LAST BEST HOPE are especially good, but there's not a bad one in the bunch. These are eerie, dark stories about seriously troubled people. The thing is, Mathew Hope is no less flawed than the criminals he deals with.

    In the 87th Precinct series, we recently had a short discussion about THE HECKLER, the first of The Deaf Man stories. Here we see McBain at his most ironic and cynical when confronting skilled crime and police investigation. Wonderful gallows humor in this book.

    Patrick King

          



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