Jim,
Seems my conclusions were built on spotty memory, and the
coincidence of which few ones I read -- I'm pretty sure they
were I, the Jury and Kiss Me Deadly, maybe another. So it
seems I read the ones where the killers were dames.
As for singling Spillane out fo some of these traits, I
didn't mean to do that. For instance, I fully recognize a PI
having a personal stake in a murder investigation is a
standard. Indeed, it's almost necessary; how else would a PI
get involved in a police investigation? (Yes, authors have
come up with a number of other ways, but this has always been
the most convincing, both for how they got involved in the
first place and why they ignore police warnings to butt
out.)
As you say, Spillane took a number of attributes that were
already standard. Based on my slight, long ago reading of
him, I believe he stripped those elements down to their
basics. And maybe that's part of why I never continued on
with him. All that was left were cliches and Hammer, and I
never much liked Hammer.
Mark
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