and then James wrote:
>The only Kendrick I've read is one featuring his blind
detective, can't
>remember the character's name or the title. I have
that Ed Jenkins
>collection by Gardner but haven't read it yet. About
twenty years ago, a
>couple of collections of his hardboiled Westerns came
out. _Whispering
>Sands_ was the title of one, can't recall the other.
But these are great
>stories, and I recommend these two volumes. Actually,
I like the Perry
>Mason books, too, especially the ones from the
Thirties and Forties.
I too, have only read a few of Kendrick's Captain Duncan
Maclain books, but
I've enjoyed them. Considering the fact that the detective is
blind, and
that many were written deep in the heart of the pulp era,
they're pretty
down to earth. Then again,as a kid I also loved Longstreet,
the old TV
show, that was more or less based on Kendrick's books. In
fact, a couple of
the books I do have, despite being written in the thirties
and forties,
sport very funky early seventies artwork on their covers that
make Maclain
look like some sort of supercool James Bond guy, and make
much of the
Longstreet connection.
and then Ned weighed in about Ellroy:
>Boiling hot in Kansas today. Heat index 105. I decide
to mow the grass,
>natch. I put the brain on automatic, push the mower,
and begin to think
>. . .
It's damn hot here in Montreal, too, and just thinking about
mowing the
grass is too much work...
I'm not a "dyed-in-the-wool right-wing square," I'm more of
a
"semi-socialist liberal bleeding heart", but I agree with
much of what Ned
says about Ellroy. I haven't read My Dark Places yet, but I
didn't enjoy
American Tabloid nearly as much as the L.A. trilogy-mostly
for the same
reasons Ned cited. Ellroy probably is a nutcase (if I may use
a medical
term), and his cultivation of the "cult of personality" can
be extremely
tiresome. I realize he wants to sell books, and he obviously
enjoys the
attention (and no doubt profits from it), but I'd rather read
something by
him than read something about him. What's next? Hauling out
the family
album to show Regis and Cathy Lee?
Granted, like Bruce Springsteen once said (or it may have
been Lennon),
"Trust the art, not the artist." I mean, Chandler and Cissy?
Then again, we
didn't have them making the rounds from People to Letterman
to Newsweek to
Leno to Jerry Springer, discussing the intimate details of
their lives in
exchange for a chance to plug his latest book.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Smith
The Thrilling Detective Web Site
http://www.colba.net/~kvnsmith/thrillingdetective/
Vote for The Best and the Worst of the TV Eyes-in this
month's P.I. Poll!
Admit it! You watch television!
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