I found some of Rinehart's works readable online. I read part
of THE BAT. Rinehart's style (at least what I read) is
awkward. This from THE BAT:
"Rat-faced gunmen in the dingy back rooms of saloons muttered
over his exploits with bated breath. In tawdrily gorgeous
apartments, where gathered the larger figures, the proconsuls
of the world of crime, cold, conscienceless brains dissected
the work of a colder and swifter brain than theirs, with
suave and bitter envy. Evil's Four Hundred chattered,
discussed, debated - sent out a thousand invisible tentacles
to clutch at a shadow - to turn this shadow and its distorted
genius to their own ends. The tentacles recoiled, baffled -
the Bat worked alone - not even Evil's Four Hundred could
bend him into a willing instrument to execute another's
plan.
It sounds hardboiled, but I can't place the style... Is it
some unholy marriage of Poe and Hammett? Scary.
miker
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