>But it does seem out of step with what
modern
>readers expect out of a mystery - comprehensible
plot, extensive
>novel-length character development. Hammett's
up-front characterizations
>are very good; the characters are colorful and have
distinctive voices,
I like Red Harvest pretty well, and for more or less these
reasons. I like the writing 'voice'. Any weaknesses in the
book are compounded with The Dain Curse, which I re-read most
of a little while ago. The episodic nature of that plot is
much worse than in Red Harvest.
The Maltese Falcon might be the best of them partly because
there is a clearer plot line and a relatively limited number
of characters?
(Funnily enough, I can't read that because it was translated
so wholly
[and so very verbatim!] into the movie, and I seem to know
that more or less by heart. Weird.)
Marianne
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