RARA-AVIS: Re:Ben Perkins

Kevin Smith (kvnsmith@colba.net)
Thu, 4 Jun 1998 09:19:09 -0500 MARK SULLIVAN wrote:

>I certainly didn't mean to dis Ben Perkins when comparing him to
>Streeter. I am also a big fan of Perkins and all of his friends,
>including his occasional farming out of extra work to Loren Estleman's
>Amos Walker (I love cross references between series, like those between
>Gores and Stark/Westlake). I was just comparing the two detectives'
>shared arrested development. (Is it just a coincidence that the Perkins
>series stalled shortly after Perkins was forced to grow up when becoming
>a father?) In this way they both accentuate the private eye novel's
>roots in the western: the last loner adhering to an increasingly
>antiquated code while protecting society from those who would tear it
>down. Down these mean streets a man must go, be they the streets of LA
>or Laredo.

Nope, and I didn't mean to dis you for dissing Perkins either, since you
didn't...I wonder if the publisher pulled the plug and Kantner decided to
wrap up the series? Evidently, Kantner was dropped by his publishers
(Crimes Against Quality in the 90's, Example #42338), but whether he
wrapped up the series (well sorta) because he knew it was coming, or it
just worked out that way, I don't know. I do know that I was interested in
seeing how Kantner handled the whole detective with kid thing, since
Perkin's domestic situation seemed to sometimes be paralleling mine. Now
I'll never know...

I also love cross references and sly tributes to other eyes. One of my
favorites (and I read this years ago, so some details may be off, and it's
not to an eye, come to think of it) is in one of the Toby Peters books (is
it the Marx Brothers one?) where Toby notices some professorial-looking
oddball sitting in a rundown hotel lobby scribbling away. After noticing
him a few times, he confronts him. Turns out he's some pulp writer turned
novelist, doing research, trying to soak up some atmosphere. Chandler.

And Pronzini and Muller's Nameless and McCone appear together a few times,
and refer to each other now and then. Which is nice, keeping it all in the
family and stuff.

And, of course, there were several references to/potshots at Spenser
several years ago. I figure Parker must have offended someone terribly for
so many fellow private eye writers, most of them more than eager to praise
each others work, to suddenly decide to snipe at him.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Smith
The Thrilling Detective Web Site
http://www.colba.net/~kvnsmith/thrillingdetective/

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