What I've Just Finished Reading
I haven't seen it in many years, but The Maltese Falcon was one of my favorite movies from childhood; I loved the mythical golden bird that may not even exist anymore under its protective enamel, and Sydney Greenstreet's never-ending list of things he doesn't trust in a man, and the great line, "I couldn't be fonder of you if you were my own son. But if you lose a son, it's possible to get another. There's only one Maltese Falcon."
Reading the book was an odd experience because, except for a lot of weirdly vivid eye colors, it deviated so little from my memories of the movie that it felt like a transcript, not a novel. Not surprisingly, Hammett wrote the screenplay and pasted all his own best lines in (plus a few extra; Greenstreet's best line seems to have been movie-only).
Sam Spade is an oddly opaque character, which I think is deliberate. I found his constant derisive chuckling plays a lot better as a performance by an actor than it does on the page. The descriptions of characters and their actions are highly meticulous and a little alien, as though Hammett were making notes for a Galactic Cosmographic Society study on Earth Detection and its Gestures. I think it must have been a startling prose style in 1930, but it may be suffering from its own success a little now.
What I'm Reading Now
Love Lies Bleeding by Edmund Crispin. It's not bad at all, even if the title pun is a groaner. Gervase Fen has just shown up, less actively unlikeable (so far) than he was in The Moving Toyshop, and the humor is less manic and forced -- it helps that it takes place in a school, with plenty of low-hanging fruit in the form of classroom discussions, etc., but the book also feels a little better constructed in general. And because it's not Fen's school, there's no opportunity for me to get annoyed by how indifferent a teacher Fen is. Two teachers have been killed, a chemistry cupboard has been broken into, and a student is missing. Is there a connection? Almost certainly!
What I Plan to Read Next
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett -- this one was also made into a movie, but I haven't seen it, so hopefully I will be better able to read it on its own terms.
Also, did you know that someone wrote a Porfiry Petrovich mystery? The Gentle Axe by R. N. Morris is a new case for Crime and Punishment's indefatigable detective, apparently. I found it today while cleaning up the mystery shelves at work -- I don't know when I'll read it, but probably sometime this year.
I haven't seen it in many years, but The Maltese Falcon was one of my favorite movies from childhood; I loved the mythical golden bird that may not even exist anymore under its protective enamel, and Sydney Greenstreet's never-ending list of things he doesn't trust in a man, and the great line, "I couldn't be fonder of you if you were my own son. But if you lose a son, it's possible to get another. There's only one Maltese Falcon."
Reading the book was an odd experience because, except for a lot of weirdly vivid eye colors, it deviated so little from my memories of the movie that it felt like a transcript, not a novel. Not surprisingly, Hammett wrote the screenplay and pasted all his own best lines in (plus a few extra; Greenstreet's best line seems to have been movie-only).
Sam Spade is an oddly opaque character, which I think is deliberate. I found his constant derisive chuckling plays a lot better as a performance by an actor than it does on the page. The descriptions of characters and their actions are highly meticulous and a little alien, as though Hammett were making notes for a Galactic Cosmographic Society study on Earth Detection and its Gestures. I think it must have been a startling prose style in 1930, but it may be suffering from its own success a little now.
What I'm Reading Now
Love Lies Bleeding by Edmund Crispin. It's not bad at all, even if the title pun is a groaner. Gervase Fen has just shown up, less actively unlikeable (so far) than he was in The Moving Toyshop, and the humor is less manic and forced -- it helps that it takes place in a school, with plenty of low-hanging fruit in the form of classroom discussions, etc., but the book also feels a little better constructed in general. And because it's not Fen's school, there's no opportunity for me to get annoyed by how indifferent a teacher Fen is. Two teachers have been killed, a chemistry cupboard has been broken into, and a student is missing. Is there a connection? Almost certainly!
What I Plan to Read Next
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett -- this one was also made into a movie, but I haven't seen it, so hopefully I will be better able to read it on its own terms.
Also, did you know that someone wrote a Porfiry Petrovich mystery? The Gentle Axe by R. N. Morris is a new case for Crime and Punishment's indefatigable detective, apparently. I found it today while cleaning up the mystery shelves at work -- I don't know when I'll read it, but probably sometime this year.
Comments
I'm amused, but not surprised, to find that someone's done a new case for Porfiry Petrovich (I don't remember him as much as I should but ha). Is Sergeant Cuff the only classic 19th C detective lacking new adventures? (Or, as is probably more likely, he has some, I've just never heard of them or they're terrible.)
I'm not aware of any Sergeant Cuff Adventures, but I would not be surprised to learn they exist.
Edited at 2016-01-12 05:18 pm (UTC)
Actually I think that could be kind of cool, if the author is sympathetic to Javert without actually buying into his worldview. It would definitely be a fun way to write about a lot of different facets of early 19th century France.
I could go for some Inspector Javert mysteries! Javert is nothing if not indefatigable, and it's not like I'm in complete political and ethical agreement with any of my faves. And just imagine the infodumping!
I'm kind of surprised no one has done this already, but as far as I can tell from a quick google search, Javert does not yet have a modern mystery series of his own. Maybe his suicide puts writers off?