Bill, I can think of a few epics of hardboiled lit besides
Ellroy. First, there's the DC Quartet by George Pelecanos,
which follows characters over several decades. I've only read
the first of David Peace's Red Riding Quartet, but it would
seem to qualify -- isn't that what gets him so many
comparisons to Ellroy? And wouldn't the Lew Griffin books by
Jim Sallis qualify? I'm not sure when he really started
conceiving them as an epic, but they certainly work that
way.
Then there are a few I'd say are borderline epics, like Jim
O'Connell's books. They don't really have characters in
common, but I'd say they are an epic portrayal of a city,
Quinsigamond. What about Derek Raymond's Factory Trilogy --
those first three in the series certainly seemed to be
plotted together. Although the murders in each are solved,
they seem to be parts of an overarcing story about the
nameless DS investigating them. The two later additions, on
the other hand, are just series books (not a put down, but
they are more self-contained in my mind). I've only read Will
Christopher Baer's first, Kiss Me Judas, but wasn't it
supposedly conceived as the first in a trilogy? Has the third
ever come out?
Mark
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