I just re-read "The Big Knockover and Other Stories" and was
thinking exactly the same thing. I really enjoyed "The
Gutting of Couffignal," but
"The Scorched Face" stands out not just because of the
slam-bang-wow ending, but because of the wonderful pacing,
the strong characterization, and the ability Hammett
demonstrated to deftly paint a portrait of one of his
characters with an economy words.
Truly an American original.
Brian
At 03:08 PM 10/10/02 +0000, you wrote:
>Just to be able to say something dealing with the
theme of
>the month, I got out my copy of the
Pronzini/Adrian-edited
>HARD-BOILED, a highly selective anthology (James
Reasoner
>has a story in it; I don't) that conveniently has
the
>stories arranged chronologically. There are only two
from
>the '20s: Hammett's "The Scorched Face" (1925) and W.
R.
>Burnett's "Round Trip" (1929).
>
>The Hammett story, as you'd expect, is sharp and
fresh. The
>close connection that the Op has with the cops
(mentioned in
>Bill Denton's earlier post) is prominent. It's
a
>fast-moving story, with plenty of violence, but
there's also
>some methodical detective work. A great little
surprise in
>the last lines, too. This is a good one.
>
>It's telling, I guess, that the Hammett story was in
BLACK
>MASK, while Burnett's appeared in HARPER'S. "Round
Trip" is
>a gangster story, and it reminded me a little of
Hemingway's
>"The Killers," except that it's funnier. You can see
why
>Hammett's story would never have been published in
HARPER'S.
> Too much sex, for one thing.
>
>I liked Burnett's story well enough to consider
re-reading
>LITTLE CAESAR one of these days.
>
>Bill Crider
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