A couple of thoughts
It strikes me that George V. Higgins has written maybe better
than anyone on work in the context of crime fiction.
Certainly The Friends Of Eddie Coyle rammed home the extent
to which crime really is a career, albeit a dangerous one and
not even a particularly well paid one. In Higgins' books,
whether concerning criminals, lawyers, politicians or all
three, everything starts with the work. In Chandler's phrase
these are people who commit crimes for a reason. Even in a
less than entirely successful novel like The Agent, Higgins
gives a wonderfully authoritative portrait of the sports
agent's job.
Another writer who shouldn't be forgotten in this context is
Higgins' great disciple Elmore Leonard. Is there a better
description of two guys just doing their job than the bomb
disposal fellers ingoring the gangster sat on the booby
trapped toilet at the beginning of Freaky Deaky (the last
great Leonard IMHO)?
In general it seems to me it's a great help when a writer has
a real experience of work to draw from - as with Higgins'
lawyer books or Pelecanos' Firing Offence & Shoedog or
Robert Sims Reid neglected cop novel Big Sky Blues or Anthony
Bourdain's chef noir Bone In The Throat - and conversely,
perhaps one of the weaknesses of much private eye fiction is
that writers are continually struggling trying to write
convincingly about a more or less imaginary profession.
John
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