Actually it's used quite often in hardboiled crime stories, including novels such as The Big Sleep and a lot of pulp stories.
Jeff
>I was rereading a Westlake novel (a Dortmunder) and, sure enough, a
> guy is described as "hatchet-faced". I don't even think this adjective
> is typical of hardboiled. I've seen it in other types of writings.
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