Mark Sullivan:
> But let's get concrete here, it's time to name
names. Can you actually
> name successful (as in believable, not sales) series
that meet your
> criteria? The only one I can think of is Joe
Lansdale's great Hap and
> Leonard series. And that is very much an exception,
as well as
> exceptional, case in my mind
>
>
I think it depends on how we define professionals. Travis
McGee is technically not a professional, nor is Jereome
Doolitle's Tom Bethany. Pete Hautman's Joe Crow was a cop for
a while, but makes his living playing poker and doing
assorted jobs. KS' Clay and Karras would be classed amateurs.
I don't think any of Ross Thomas' protagonists are cops or
pi's. To start this thread Jim included lawyers or
newspapermen like Fletch as professionals even though
technically they don't fill the definition of people whose
occupation is very likely to encounter crime. According to
today's sports headlines even Coben's Myron Bolitar could
logically get involved if he were to attempt to protect a
client. I think we can exclude most white collar jobs and
retired beekeepers as believably often being involved in
violent situations, but there is probably a pretty wide
spectrum that could fit that definition. I guess having your
protagonist only being restricted to certain criteria really
limits the choices for an author who wants to write a hard
boiled series, but it can be done. Mark
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