daredevil

Daredevil · 03-29-2011, 07:43 AM

Hi all. I'm a recent joiner, and still finding my way round the site. I was advised to post here, to start a debate and maybe try to compile our own 'chart': what are your best crime books ever??

Am also advised it's a BIG genre, so how about classic detective fiction, if that's still not too big...

My opening bid has to be Raymond Chandler. He got me hooked on crime from my teens onward, and I only wish he'd written more before his untimely death in 1959 (my birth year!). His prose is totally accessible but a pure delight - economical, funny, cool - and his characters are the sort you 'see' within just a page or two of reading. I feel like I could share a bottle or three with Marlowe if he turned up - a feeling no doubt helped by Bogart defining him in the terrific movies. And the archetype of the hard-drinking, troubled (?), womanising hard man with an intellectual streak surely begot a whole generation of detectives. (Although, arguably, Dashiel Hammett got there first?) I wonder if the hard-boiled cool Marlowe is only believable at a distance of 70-odd years, tho, - it wouldn't be possible, would it?, to construct a character like that now in our ironic times, except as a parody...

Looking forward to your classic detective writer votes!

kindlekitten · 03-29-2011, 09:55 AM

welcome to the forums daredevil! you may find this particular conversation better suited to the "what are you reading?" forum.

other than that, look around, settle in and have a cuppa whatever sounds good!

GeoffC · 03-29-2011, 09:56 AM

daredevil welcome to mobileread ....

fettpett · 03-29-2011, 09:42 PM

typical and classical, but Sir Author Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes stories are a great read

GeoffC · 03-30-2011, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fettpett

typical and classical, but Sir Author Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes stories are a great read

and available here in the Mobileread library

kennyc · 03-30-2011, 07:00 AM

Welcome. Great username, but are you?

03-29-2011, 07:43 AM	#1
Daredevil thrillerqueen Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: London Device: none	daredevil Hi all. I'm a recent joiner, and still finding my way round the site. I was advised to post here, to start a debate and maybe try to compile our own 'chart': what are your best crime books ever?? Am also advised it's a BIG genre, so how about classic detective fiction, if that's still not too big... My opening bid has to be Raymond Chandler. He got me hooked on crime from my teens onward, and I only wish he'd written more before his untimely death in 1959 (my birth year!). His prose is totally accessible but a pure delight - economical, funny, cool - and his characters are the sort you 'see' within just a page or two of reading. I feel like I could share a bottle or three with Marlowe if he turned up - a feeling no doubt helped by Bogart defining him in the terrific movies. And the archetype of the hard-drinking, troubled (?), womanising hard man with an intellectual streak surely begot a whole generation of detectives. (Although, arguably, Dashiel Hammett got there first?) I wonder if the hard-boiled cool Marlowe is only believable at a distance of 70-odd years, tho, - it wouldn't be possible, would it?, to construct a character like that now in our ironic times, except as a parody... Looking forward to your classic detective writer votes!

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03-29-2011, 09:55 AM	#2
kindlekitten Professional Adventuress Posts: 13,368 Karma: 50260224 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: The Olympic Peninsula on the OTHER Washington! (the big green clean one on the west coast!) Device: Kindle, the original! Times Two! and gifting an International Kindle	welcome to the forums daredevil! you may find this particular conversation better suited to the "what are you reading?" forum. other than that, look around, settle in and have a cuppa whatever sounds good!

03-29-2011, 09:56 AM	#3
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,599 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	daredevil welcome to mobileread ....

03-29-2011, 09:42 PM	#4
fettpett Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: (In Exile) In SW Michigan Device: Kindle	typical and classical, but Sir Author Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes stories are a great read

03-30-2011, 07:00 AM	#6
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,900 Karma: 119230421 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	Welcome. Great username, but are you?