My name is Al and I have lurked for some time now and have
decided to come out
of the shadows and introduce myself. I'm 30 years old and
work in advertising
at the New York Daily News, (definitely a hard boiled
newspaper, if there is
such a thing). I've read mysteries since I was young. Having
lived 6 years in
Hong Kong, I was introduced to mysteries with the British
author Enid Blyton
(Secret Seven and Famous Five Series). Moving to the States I
was introduced
to the comparatively testosterone infused Hardy Boys and the
Three
Investigators. Mid to late teens brought mostly popular
thrillers (ie. Ludlum
and Cussler), classic literature and on a rare occasion, a
mystery. College to
mid-20's I read history only.
About four years ago, getting older and more nostalgic, I
rediscovered
mysteries and started reading Doyle, Sayers, Carr, Stout,
Dick Francis,
Reginald Hill and Colin Dexter. Then one day, unbeknownst to
me I discovered
the hard boiled genre with the Black Echo by Michael
Connelly.Dark,
intelligently written with style. I read the entire Harry
Bosch series and
thought it was the greatest. That is until I discovered the
old masters.
Since then I have read almost all of Chandler and Hammett and
much or some of
both MacDonalds, both Cains, Goodis, Himes, Spillane, Jim
Thompson, Willeford,
Mosely, Burke, Crumley, McBain, Block, Ellroy, Pelecanos and
others. I'd read
more if I could, but a 9 month old baby girl makes this
impossible. My most
recent reads include, Kiss Me Deadly (Spillane), They Shoot
Horses, Don't
They? (Horace Mccoy) and The Wrong Case (Crumley), the latter
two excellent.
Next on my list is The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V.
Higgins and a
Parker novel, The Man with the Getaway Face. In addition to
reading, digging
up old books by these great authors has spawned an interest
in collecting
vintage paperbacks.
Speaking of children, anyone trying to pass on their love of
the hard-boiled
to their offspring? Forget Charlotte's Web, I can''t wait to
one day
introduce my daughter to Nate the Great.. a sort of pint
sized Sam Spade for
grade schoolers!
Later,
Al
akaff@aol.com
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