The 'soft' call on McCone is certainly a fair cop. I'll
second the Himes recommendation, especially if you like it
really dark - sometimes disturbingly so - those're really
great and original, and you can get them in three omnibus
volumes from a UK/CAN supplier. Ditto Bruen, whose Jack
Taylors are wonderful Beckett Irish - down in the gutter
looking at the stars, drunk on booze & books - and whose
London novels are less lyrical, more brutal (a la David
Lawrence, whose
'The Dead Sit Round in a Ring' was a terrific noir debut,
harkening back to the ultra bleak stuff of Derek Raymond) -
if you like your cops bent, broke and twisted, these are your
guys.
I'm going to go out on a limb and also suggest you check out
Ross Thomas's stuff, much of which has been recently
reprinted. Try Briarpatch or Chinaman's Chance or something.
These are not detective novels per se - more espionage,
really
- but they have a great voice and attitude, with some nice
humor. And those Doc Fords by Randy Wayne White clearly owe a
lot to Travis McGee. If you haven't read John D. McDonald's
non-series stuff, it is also worth checking out.
And I'd also look at Jess Walter's first two novels - Land of
the Blind and Over Tumbled Graves - two serial killer things
w/ great depth.
Have fun!
David Wright
- Seattle Public Library Fiction Dept.
"Only cease to cherish opinions."
-3d
patriarch of Zen
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