Joy wrote:
>Doolittle is my candidate for most unappreciated
great hardboiled writer.
>Because his books were always promoted as "if you
like Parker's Spenser,"
>which I don't, I never read Doolittle until his books
were out of print.
Hmmm... but I do see the similarities between Tom Bethany and
the early Spenser. They share the same smug confidence and
delight in their own physical abilities, the well-drawn
Boston/Cambridge settings, the left of center politics, the
obsession with personal autonomy, the love of books and
reading, and the love of a good woman, with whom he shares a
rather peculiar arrangement.
Despite the similarities, though, Doolittle did create his
own character, a strong viable one with a fresh, original
voice that I wish we were still hearing from.
If nothing else, Doolittle is probably the best hard-boiled
writer whose first name is Jerome.
and Mario wrote:
>Yes, Doolittle is an excellent writer. Others in the
same league who
>aren't sufficiently well known are Max Byrd, Roger
Simon and
>Jonathan Valin. Byrd hasn't published for a long
time, and Simon and
>Valin for quite a while, as far as I know.
Actually, Simon's new book, DIRECTOR'S CUT (featuring Moses
Wine) will be out later this year. And an excerpt from it
will be appearing on The Thrilling Detective Web Site.
No, don't thank me, it's my pleasure....
--
Kevin Burton Smith The Thrilling Detective Web Site The 2002 Cheap Thrill Awards are here! Vote now, vote often... And win a copy of Elmore Leonard's latest. -- # To unsubscribe from the regular list, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to # majordomo@icomm.ca. This will not work for the digest version. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
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