Mark wrote:
"The Paul Pine books were one of, if not the first PI series
I read after Chandler and Hammett. The Halo books blew me
away. Then I searched for years before finding a copy of A
Taste for Ashes. It was even better.
Browne's non-series book Thin Air was also impressive and was
the basis of an episode of both Rockford Files and Simon
& Simon, one of which Browne co-wrote (I forget which
one, but I think it was S & S)." Browne is one of the
greats. I've always thought the Pine books were the closest
any writer has come to matching Chandler's style, although
Roy Huggins did a fair job of it, too, in "The Double Take."
Huggins used Browne's script-writing talents quite a bit on
the TV series "Maverick" and
"77 Sunset Strip." I can't imagine why he neglected him on
"Rockford," other than to use the novel. Not that the series
was lacking in good writers. The deal on "Thin Air,"
according to Browne, is that Universal bought the book
outright. The set up and solution is so good, it has been
used at least a half-dozen times on the studio's various TV
crime series. I think Browne said it had been used in a
western series, too. A similar plot device is featured in the
recent feature film, "Breakdown."
Bill Crider wrote:
"DAY OF THE RAM is part of the Brock (The Rock)
Callahan series, and I like all the books in it. Some people
prefer Gault's Joe Puma books, but I like the Callahan
stories just as well."
Fans of Joe Puma would do well to avoid Gault's Brock
Callahan caper, "The Cana Diversion." The author does an
astonishing 180 on the character of Puma. Dick Lochte
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