RARA-AVIS: JC Constantine's _Joey's Case_

Bill Hagen (billha@ionet.net)
Mon, 8 Jun 1998 23:29:54 -0500 (CDT) More pent-up comments from the Road. (Blame it on my Apple e-Mate.)

Sometime ago, a thread on J.C. Constantine got me interested, so I checked
out _Joey's Case_, when I saw it in the library at Stuart, Va.

I say "thanks" to the several of you who promoted JCC, especially this fine
novel. It's almost mandatory for successful series detectives to have
interesting private lives, but how seldom does it occur! With Streeter
(_The Long Reach_), the question is whether he will ever have a private
life; on the other hand, Chief Balzic has home and personal problems that
loom so large that they co
and his demeanor as a policeman. They're not just background coloring
(which several have complained about with other "newbies"). Garnish those
with all the crazy things people bring to their local police department.
And then there's the tortured Catholic consciousness of the Chief himself,
which regularly erupts in mental "rants." The one on the hormone potency
pill in _Joey's Case_ is as good as anything Chandler pulled in _The Long
Goodbye_.

[Perhaps someday we should share our favorite "rants" from hard-boiled novels.]

Bill Hagen
<billha@ionet.net>

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