> After a bit of digging on the 'net, I discover these
(for the
record)
> to be THE AVENGER (1952) and DEATH IS A LOVELY DAME
(1954). I'll
add
> them to my "look for" list.
I've read THE AVENGER and liked it quite a bit. Never got
around to DEATH IS A LOVELY DAME. Both are about a character
named Morgan Wayne. I'm sure the name being similar to
Michael Shayne was no coincidence, but despite that Wayne
isn't a Shayne clone and THE AVENGER, at least, isn't a
private eye novel. Good stuff anyway.
> I recently finished Vicki Hendricks' MIAMI PURITY--I
believe she
also
> posts here. It was highly enjoyable to me to read a
re-take on a
lot of
> the "noir" conventions re-told in a (convincing)
female voice--I
found
> the novel a fascinating exercise in style that was
additionally a
> really enjoyable, lean, mean, and sweaty
tale.
I thought MIAMI PURITY was a wonderful book. Vioki's work has
one of the best voices in the business, and one of the most
distinctive, too.
By the way, I'm sorry I haven't been able to participate in
the Woolrich discussion so far. I read both FRIGHT and THE
BLACK ANGEL last year and really enjoyed both of them. I've
read a bunch of Woolrich's short stories and liked them, but
I need to delve deeper into his novels.
And just to cram one more thing in, I like Dick Francis's
books and would consider the ones I've read hardboiled. But I
didn't care much for the most recent one, DEAD HEAT, and
thought the plot really plodded along for the most
part.
James Reasoner
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