I agree, but your listing of both "MacDonalds" reminded me of a good "McDonald" author, Gregory. While not on the same level as the MacDonalds, his Fletch series is outstanding for those who are looking for something a bit less hard-boiled and contain some masterful dialogue. Don't judge the books by the Chevy Chase movies. They're good comedies (well, the first one at least), but the books are so much better and not as over-the-top.
Mystery / Suspense
- Thread starter graveflower
- Start date
-
This message board permanently closed on June 30th, 2020 at 4PM EDT and is no longer accepting new members.
I agree, but your listing of both "MacDonalds" reminded me of a good "McDonald" author, Gregory. While not on the same level as the MacDonalds, his Fletch series is outstanding for those who are looking for something a bit less hard-boiled and contain some masterful dialogue. Don't judge the books by the Chevy Chase movies. They're good comedies (well, the first one at least), but the books are so much better and not as over-the-top.
Youre right, he is capable but not on a level with the other two. One who is on the other hand but as a pure mystery writer is the english Philip MacDonald. The List of Adrian Messenger and The Nursemaid who Disappeared are two masterpieces. He wrote many other good ones.
The Sherlock Holmes "adventures" are some of the greatest mystery (not so much suspense) reading I've ever done. Arthur Conan Doyle was a unique genius.
The first collections are really good but you can see that he was dogtired of his creation after awhile. More or less had to write more about Holmes when his own interest had shifyed. It can be seen in his writings. Not as good, engaged as earlier.
I wanna say Raymond Chandler--he definitely falls in with that crowd. Tell ya, though, the LAST thing I care about in a Phillip Marlow story is the mystery. It's the style, the mood, the attitude--the MUSIC of Chandler that gets me. And besides, his plots are so Byzantine even he had a hard time knowing who did what.
Just who DID kill the Sternwood's chauffeur Owen Taylor? Aw, don't gimme that crap about small-time grafter Joe Brody.
I think it was Agnes.
Just who DID kill the Sternwood's chauffeur Owen Taylor? Aw, don't gimme that crap about small-time grafter Joe Brody.
I think it was Agnes.
I don't think of McBain as a mystery writer. He is the father of the Police procedural books. He takes us through the routine of police work. We often stare at dead bodies in the rain, the heat or the cold. The weather is important to him. It is seldom a mystery behind but we are walked through bad jokes, interrogations, autopsies and so on. And then they get the break, from a witness, or a lab report or something else and get the guilty party. They are good crimenovels, some are very good, but not mysteries. His main character, Steve Carella, are very clearly one of a group. Much more so, than for example Harry Bosch or Alan Banks or other police detectives in other series. His closest follower in style are probably, as far as i know Sjowall/Wahloo (Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö, two swedish writers in the seventies) that wrote 10 books with Martin Beck as the main character. They have since been copied by many authors in Sweden like Henning Mankell. I'm sure McBain has been copied in the us by someone i don't know about.