Oh, Ross's fingerprints are most definitely all over the PI
novel. If you look at the early Spensers, that might be
Marlowe's sense of humor spewing forth from Spenser's mouth,
but the depth of characterization and the humanization of the
PI protagonist is mostly MacDonald.
Of the three - Hammett, Chandler, and MacDonald - I would say
Chandler may be my favorite, but MacDonald was clearly the
better writer. Even his early stories, which owe more to
Chandler than anything else, MacDonald was much better at
plot and characterization. I also get a better sense of place
from him (which is hard to do, considering that I'm comparing
him to Chandler, whose stories are all about place.)
Moreover, I think MacDonald handled the long form
better.
Chandler, though, was the original hardboiled stylist. But
his strength was more in the short form, and his best novels
(save, I think, THE LONG GOODBYE*) came from combining short
stories, something he did much better than Hammett in many
cases (THE MALTESE FALCON and THE THIN MAN notwithstanding.)
But Chandler's characterizations, aside from Marlowe, were
often flat or rather two dimensional, whereas MacDonald
clearly understood something too many writers don't:
Everyone's the star of their own drama. Where MacDonald has
the most impact is in how he handles antagonists,
protagonists, and minor characters. That's something that's
often lacking in even the better PI series (or the
post-CATSKILL EAGLE Spensers).
Having just read one of each writer's more mediocre efforts
back to back, I'd have to say that MacDonald wins both in
influence and skill hands down for simply doing more with an
average story. The difference is in the characters,
imho.
When I read Lehane or Pelecanos or Laura Lippman, I don't
think, "Gee, this sounds like Chandler." I think they sound
more like MacDonald. Too bad his star has faded in recent
years. But where Chandler's influence is obvious and
unmistakable (I'm quite sure Marlowe would have worn sneakers
if created 40 years later.), MacDonald's is subtle and often
unnoticed. But it makes all the difference in the
world.
Jim Winter
*Someone brought up THE LITTLE SISTER the other day, and
someone else said it was plotted from scratch. Is this
true?
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 29 Nov 2004 EST