Re: RARA-AVIS: Willeford

From: DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net
Date: 18 Jul 2008

  • Next message: jacquesdebierue: "Re: RARA-AVIS: Willeford"

    JT wrote:

    "All three might appear one of these days through Point Blank (or other related ventures)... UNDERSTUDY being the first. Considering the sales so far for MIAMI, though, we'll be lucky to break even. Reviews for MIAMI on, say, amazon/blogs/other venues might help the cause. KISS YOUR ASS GOODBYE and THE DIFFERENCE may also make it through the system if there is some interest."

    It continues to amaze me that Willeford isn't more widely read. Then again, while reading Made in Miami, I was thinking about that Gold Medal editor who supposedly told Willeford to stop sending his books to GM, started thinking about why he might have been put off. And then I hit the introduction of Ralph's landlady, with her imposed natural diet and discussions of her boarders' regularity during dinner. Now I love those odd bits of absurdist satire, but it ain't exactly Travis McGee's righteous indignation.

    And even when Willeford finally submitted to writing a series, he didn't offer a normal one. Yes, the Hoke Moseley books feature police investigations, but what makes them so great is his weird household, with his pregnant (not by him) partner and his estranged kids who have been dropped on his doorstep. Far from usual crime fiction, but for the right reader there's no one like Willeford.

    Mark



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