> > The case of Greenleaf is paradoxical: he has
outdone Ross Macdonald at his
> > own game (and did it early, in State's Evidence,
a brilliant tour de force
> > in which there are so many skeletons in the
closet that nobody is who you
> > think at the beginning of the book); as a
stylist he is second to none in
> > the mystery field. Yet he is not nearly as
popular as his talent and
> > achievements would suggest.
> > Greenleaf is VERY good and I've enjoyed
everything that I've read by him.
> > Some a little more than others, but that's true
of nearly every writer.
I agree with Mario, too. Greenleaf is one of the best of the
breed, and
it's a damn shame he may have written off his character, due
to poor
sales. Still, he's left us twelve books, which as a whole,
rank as one
of the best-written and most powerful P.I. series and the
last thirty
years or so. And Death Bed has one of the most chilling
murder method's
I can think of.
> I unhesitatingly recommend THE LIME PIT, FINAL NOTICE
and DEAD LETTER to
> any members of this list.
Then again, I'm surprised that Jonathan Valin's Harry Stoner
hasn't
placed at all, having been replaced by some of the newer,
shinier eyes.
Like Greenleaf, Valin has left us some powerful books, and
some even
more harrowing scenes (Life's Work and The Lime Pit come to
mind).
There's still a week or so to vote, and if Bill doesn't mind,
I'll post
the results here in a few weeks. And if anyone doesn't have
www access,
feel free to e-mail me with your top five picks.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Smith
The Thrilling Detective Web Site
http://www.colba.net/~kvnsmith/thrillingdetective
and don't forget to vote in The P.I. Poll!
April Topic: The Best P.I. of the Nineties
#
# To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to
majordomo@icomm.ca.
# The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.