PI, hard or softboiled

MikeAngel said:

Anyone here studying and writing in the PI sub-genre? I'm writing my 4th novel in a series of PI stories and trying to read widely beyond most of the classic writers of PI Mysteries. I'd like to exchange notes on any or all of these:

Raymond Chandler
Dashiell Hammett
ED McBain
Elmore Leonard
Donald Westlake
Jeremiah Healy
Catherine Dain
Loren Estleman
Jack Kelly
Mickey Spillane
Walter Moseley
Robert Randisi
Ross MacDonald
Richard Prather
Ed Gorman
Lawrence Block
Jerry Kennealy

Yes, I know there are others, but these are the main ones I've read so far. Haven't yet done Grafton, Wendi Lee, Gar Haywood, Max Collins, but they're on my list. I'd be up to exchanging any writing with someone knowledgable about mysteries, especially those involving private investigators.

Click to expand...

I'm very knowledgeable in areas (though not all) of this genre... but, unless I'm mistaken, the following two don't write P.I. stories per se:

Ed McBain (police procedurals, unless you are including books in his guise as myself, Evan Hunter, which I have not read.)

Walter Mosley, though Easy Rawlins takes on cases, he's not a P.I., he's a school janitor. His other characters, Socrates Fortlow and Fearless Jones, likewise aren't P.I.'s

Michael Connelly is someone to read. His cop, Harry Bosch, has a stint as a private eye when he leaves the force for a book or two. Also, James Lee Burke's character, Dave Robicheaux, is a private eye between gigs on various police departments and his buddy, Cletus, is a PI.

Robert Crais's character, Elvis Cole, is a private eye. Crais is good -- lately he's been doing more serious work with other characters.

Robert Parker's, Spenser, is one of the best private eye characters in PI history. He's the master of quippy dialogue.

Grafton is a must read. Kinsey Milhone really shows the day-to-day stuff a PI is involved with.

Andrew Vachss has created a character, Burke, who acts like a PI avenger.

Jonathon Kellerman, of course, has created turned his former child psychologist into something of a P.I., or a least a cop's educated sidekick.

Carole O'Connell (sp?) has an amazing character, Mallory (a true sociopath), who is teamed with a genius in a sort of busman's holiday sort of P.I. investigatory capacity.

Dennis Lehane's pair of P.I.'s, Angie and Patrick, are worth reading.

So those are my recommends; if you read any of these, I would enjoy a discussion. I tend to read cop stuff or derivations thereof (Sandford, Childs) and those mentioned above as that's what I do for a living about half the time.

Sounds like a worthwhile and fun thing to do.

Jonathan Kellerman's main character Alex Delaware is a consultant to the LAPD, specialized in child psychology. He is often called into cases by his friend, a gay homicide detective named Milo Sturgis, because there is maybe a traumatized child involved in the case somehow. Delaware then proceeds to get tangled up in the cases for one reason or another. Not strictly PI, since he is almost always pursuing things under a police umbrella. Read the early books. Kellerman knocks out about one novel per year like clockwork, and lately the characters and plot lines have started to feel a bit stale.

I think he has also written one or two books that are placed on an Indian reservation, but I don't have the time to research today.

Probably the best female PI to my mind is Sara Peretsky's V.I. Warshawski (along with Grafton's Kinsey Milhone). She can be shrill at times, but definitely an interesting character and not just another "man's woman."

I think the Indian reservation bloke is Tony Hillerman - but I could be wrong.

No, you're right. It is Tony Hillerman. His mysteries have a great sense of place. The rez is almost a character. His detectives are tribal police officers, not P.I.s

For what it's worth, I have a hardboiled private eye series out, but admittedly it's not for everyone. The protagonist, Joe Box, is a former cop, Vietnam vet, recovering alcoholic, and...surprise: a brand-new Christian. The first two, Until the Last Dog Dies and When Skylarks Fall, garned some good reviews (my agent even told me Nick Nolte read DOG for a possible movie treatment last year; haven't heard if he liked it or not). The third, and possibly last, To Skin a Cat, ships this September 1st.

John

PS: the first one in series, Sock Monkey Blues, was lost for a time in the notorious PublishAmerica scam. Now that the rights have been reverted, I've reworked the MS with a new protag. Presently it's being considered by some ABA houses.

Except for his most recent Delaware book, I don't Kellerman has written his own books lately.