I really liked Barry Gifford's PORT TROPIQUE, which was
reprinted in one of the original Black Lizard paperbacks. It
has a wonderful tropical atmosphere of smoky bars with slowly
revolving ceiling fans and danger hiding in the shadows. It
reminded me of a bar in DaNang, Vietnam where the western
media liked to gather back in the day--good steaks, top brand
whiskies, and guards with automatic weapons.
Another one from the late 1930s is Richard Sale's NOT TOO
NARROW, NOT TOO DEEP which takes place on Devil's Island.
Clark Gable and Joan Crawford starred in the 1940 adaptation
entitled "Strange Cargo."
Both the Sale and Gifford novels have a little more going on
than a ripping adventure tale but that's okay with me. In
fact, I would say that old Joseph Conrad turned out several
that wouldn't be out of place on this list. His novel
VICTORY, which came out around 1915 IIRC, features a very
chilling killer. Yep, more I think about it, Conrad would be
a good place to turn for a tropical fix.
Richard Moore
--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, harry.lerner@...
wrote:
>
> Hello All,
>
> On a completely new topic...I'm just curious about
what's out there
in
> terms of noir set in tropical environs. I know, for
example, that
the
> first third of Ross MacDonald's TROUBLE FOLLOWS ME
takes place in
> Hawaii during WW2 and that Raoul Whitfield's Jo Gar
stories are set
in
> the Phillipines, but what other tropical settings
have been used in
> noir or hard-boiled literature?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Best,
> Harry
>
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