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The Masters of Hard-Boiled Detectives

Oberon

Oberon

New Member
I just did a search in this forum for Chandler and Hammett and got a blank!

:eek: :eek: :eek:

:mad:

These are the masters! Terrific writers! Chandler wrote a wonderful pastiche of Jane Austen with a short story in "The Simple Art of Murder" that shows just how strong a stylist he could be. If you dare to read mysteries, you must have the foundation! Having seen the movies is not enough by a long shot!

Dashiell Hammett
Red Harvest / The Dain Curse / The Maltese Falcon / The Glass Key / The Thin Man

Raymond Chandler
The Big Sleep / Farewell, My Lovely / The High Window / The Long Goodbye / The Lady in the Lake / The Little Sister / The Simple Art of Murder

When you're done with them, the next crucial author is Ross McDonald, creator of Lew Archer, followed by John D. MacDonald, creator of Travis McGee.

Now let's hear it! ;)
 
Oberon said:
I just did a search in this forum for Chandler and Hammett and got a blank!

:eek: :eek: :eek:

:mad:

These are the masters! Terrific writers! Chandler wrote a wonderful pastiche of Jane Austen with a short story in "The Simple Art of Murder" that shows just how strong a stylist he could be. If you dare to read mysteries, you must have the foundation! Having seen the movies is not enough by a long shot!

Dashiell Hammett
Red Harvest / The Dain Curse / The Maltese Falcon / The Glass Key / The Thin Man

Raymond Chandler
The Big Sleep / Farewell, My Lovely / The High Window / The Long Goodbye / The Lady in the Lake / The Little Sister / The Simple Art of Murder

When you're done with them, the next crucial author is Ross McDonald, creator of Lew Archer, followed by John D. MacDonald, creator of Travis McGee.

Now let's hear it! ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I love these guys too, particularly their dialogue.

Ring Lardner is stylistically similar, though not a detective writer.

Have you read The Paperboy by Peter Dexter? Love that book.
 
If you're interested in Raymond Chandler, I strongly recommend tracking down a copy of his collected correspondence. The letters are wonderful, and just happen to contain some fascinating perspectives on how Chandler approached his work.
 
Thanks for the comments! Robert B. Parker, another hard-boiled type, took control of several unfinished manuascripts and completed them. Chandler was quite a writer and a character in his own right ...

Anyone else?
 
I like Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books. While Nero himself wasn't hard-boiled, his assistant Archie Goodwin, certainly was! Lots of action.
 
I like Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books. While Nero himself wasn't hard-boiled, his assistant Archie Goodwin, certainly was! Lots of action.
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I thought about suggesting that myself, but I didn't really think that Archie was quite cynical enough to qualify as "hard-boiled". Sure, Archie's been around, and knows all the tricks, some of them not so nice, but seems fairly cheerful. Maybe, in some ways, Wolfe is more "hard-boiled". Certainly, his handling of Arnold Zeck, to name just one example, would qualify.

In any event, I think that anyone interested in mysteries would do well to acquint themselves with Wolfe and Archie.
 
Yeah, it sort of depends on the book. Archie was *quite* hard-boiled in the earlier books, like "They Killed Caeser?" (the one about the mistaken identity bulls), and both of them became quite cold in "The Doorbell Rang", the final of the Zeck trilogy. But Archie was a softie for the ladies, I'll admit.
 
just today a friend lend me a book with hammett complete novels, ill make it my next read, took a peek of the first chapter of the red harvest, and really like the style
 
mr_michel said:
just today a friend lend me a book with hammett complete novels, ill make it my next read, took a peek of the first chapter of the red harvest, and really like the style
Click to expand...
Enjoy! But be sure to make The Thin Man your next read!
 
If you are talking hard-boiled detectives surely you must have Harry Bosch on your list!!! Michael Connelly
and James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux is no softie either.
 
Didn't by any means want this list limited! Burke is first-rate! Haven't gotten around to Connelly.

Sara Paretsky's VI Warshawski is definitely hard-boiled as well, as we define the sub-genre as bloodhound (they can't let go!) detectives with personal problems as well as the present case, who usually have a code of honor that puts them against their own self-interests at times.
 
Surprised to see James Ellroy hasn't appeared on this thread yet.

Not only are all his characters totally obsessive, corrupt and quite scary, so's the author :eek:! Read his memoir "My Dark Places" to see what I mean.

Start with "L. A. Confidential" or "Clandestine". "The Black Dahlia" is his masterpiece but definitely not for the faint hearted.
 
nighthawk said:
If you are talking hard-boiled detectives surely you must have Harry Bosch on your list!!! Michael Connelly
and James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux is no softie either.
Click to expand...

On my second Connelly book at the moment. Very impressed so far.
 
Thanks to this thread I've just finished reading "Farewell, My Lovely" by Chandler and thought it was really great, pressed all the right buttons; loved the dialogue, his dry humour.. the quote on the back sums it up :
"You're so marvellous", she said. "So brave, so determined and you
work for so little money. Everyone bats you over the head and
chokes you and smacks your jaw and fills you with mortphine, but you
just keep right on..."

Great stuff, I'll be lookiing out for more of his books. :)

Oh! made me think of a Mickey Spillane I read a few years back, anyone
remember Mike Hammer?
 
nighthawk said:
If you are talking hard-boiled detectives surely you must have Harry Bosch on your list!!! Michael Connelly
and James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux is no softie either.
Click to expand...
James Lee Burke's - Dave Robicheaux novels are some of my favorites. I eagerly anticipate each new release. He is one of 2 authors that have received the Edgar Award twice. His one book "The Lost Get-Back Boogie" was rejected 111 times over a period of 9 years before it was published....and then...it won a Pullitzer prize.

His Dave Robicheaux novels take place in Southern Louisiana, New Iberia and New Orleans to be exact. It is not necessary to read the books "in order" but it gives a person a better perspective on his main "character" in the books.

He is my favorite for hard nosed crime thrillers.......can't wait until his next book.
 
Heeeey glad to meet a fellow fan Muggle :D Have you heard when the next
Robicheaux book is due out? I can't find a date. :(
And have you read any of his other books? Billy Bob Holland and *Two for Texas* *Electric Mist....* etc.?
 
Burke has a new Dave Robicheaux novel...."Crusaders Cross" ....coming out in July of this year. We only have a few months to wait. :)

I have also read all of his Billy Bob Holland books including the last one "In the Moon of Red Ponies" where he once again has to deal with the psychopath Wyatt Dixon.

I really enjoy both the Robicheaux and Holland series but of course prefer the Robicheaux of the two. James Lee Burke really rocks and I enjoy his books tremendously.
 
Not sure about that, its been a while, but did a little browsing and found the Mickey Spillane site with extracts...
so now got a whole new load of hard-boiled books to try :)


And thanks Muggle.. here's to July.... :D It seems AGES since 'Last Car to Elysian Fields' and yes, 'In the Moon of Red Ponies' was a great Billy Bob book,
loved the shot into Karsten Mabus's living room and the character Johnny American Horse. Well, all of it really, just love the way Burke writes. :D
 
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