It struck me tonight that in our discussion of the last few
days we have talked about Hammett's influence and Chandler's
influence and tipped our hat to Race Williams as the first HB
detective. There has not been much focus on the other writers
in Black Mask and elsewhere who took their lead from Hammett
and made their own contribution to the form in the crucial
years leading up to Chandler's first sale. The hardboiled
world did not begin with Hammett and then sit untouched and
unaltered for Raymond to make his debut. As he surveyed the
market in 1933, there were certainly other influences and
models available for Chandler.
Raoul Whitfield is an example of a writer who was a force to
be reckoned with in 1933 when Chandler sold his first story.
A star in Black Mask, novels published by Knopf, praised by
Hammett, who could know that his writing career would be all
but over by 1934. But check out GREEN ICE (1930) or DEATH IN
A BOWL (1931)--both have had fairly recent reprints that
should be easily found or the still in print JO GAR'S
CASEBOOK which reprints his series of stories about a
Philippine PI.
By the way, this has been one of the best threads of the last
year on Rara.
Richard Moore
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