On Sun, 30 Nov 1997, Rick Robinson wrote:
> Hi, y'all,
>
> In the November 25-26 DorothyL digest, Marshall
Moseley posed the
> question "What's the best hardboiled novel you've
ever read?" He listed
> a few titles that he said 'came to mind' - all
written in the 1990s.
>
> Naturally I couldn't resist and sent off a reply
making (so I thought) a
> case for Hammett, Chandler and Ross MacDonald and
named two or three of
> each of these authors' novels that I think are among
their better
> efforts.
>
> There has been no response to my posting while the
rest of the list has
> named books written in the last couple of decades. I
don't have anything
> against the authors and books they mention, but to me
the very heart and
> soul of hardboiled fiction is the work of the authors
I listed above.
>
> Q: Have things gotten to the point that mysetry
readers, present company
> excepted, think the best hardboiled novels are being
written by
> contemporary authors? I wonder if the people who are
mentioning authors
> like Parker and Lee Child have read the classic
hardboiled novels but
> prefer the contemporary authors or if they haven't
read them and thus
> don't even think of Hammett, Chandler, MacDonald et
al when they hear
> the term "hardboiled"?
>
> Q: If so it's a sad state of affairs, and I wonder
how it has come
> about.
>
> "Yea, though I walk through streets mean and gritty,
my rod and my gat
> shall comfort me"
> - from The Hardboiled P.I.'s 23rd Psalm
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