A Ragtag Bunch of Misfits

Anybody in for a bit of trope talk? Here is one I am pretty fond of. You ever heard of a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits? Briefly, it's a team of heroes or protagonists made of heteroclite, mismatched members, some professional, some experts, but some not, with different backgrounds and conflicting personalities. It's often used in sci-fi adventures and in fantasies, I'm sure you can think of a lot of titles that use this trope, but it works for all genres and I particularly enjoy it in crime fiction, sometimes even in spy thrillers. And, I might add, sometimes the best of the genre: the Major Crimes Unit in The Wire is made of a ragtag bunch of misfits. They gather a bunch of cops from various departments, some (real or perceived) humps, some mavericks, into one unit to wrap up a hot potato case, they end up showing to be the best of the best. They're also great in heist stories. This trope makes for great character interaction. I use it in my own writing, because I love it so much.

Sherlock Holmes Day

Today is Sherlock Holmes Day .I missed it last year, but I knew I needed to commemorate it this year. I haven't read enough Sherlock Holmes stories, but I enjoy every one I have read, and of course for any crime fiction fan Holmes is an archetypal reference, THE archetypal reference for any investigator in crime fiction, and even beyond the genre. So I have one book of his adventures on my to be read list and once I read it, I will buy more. I also have a reference guide which I might read a bit today. And to accompany this post, I am sharing this image taken from this edition of The Hound of the Baskervilles. So happy birthday Sherlock. You remain to this day the greatest detective of all time.

I missed Sherlock Holmes Day!

 I learned recently, but too late, that the 22nd of May was Sherlock Holmes Day. Which corresponds to the birthday of his creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is kind of ironic, given how much he ended up loathing Sherlock Holmes. And now his birthday has been hijacked by his most famous creation. I feel sorry for him, to be honest. I guess if he'd known he'd... cry all his way to the bank. Anyway, I first thought it was the 30th, because the Facebook page of the British Museum made me aware of the Day on the 30th. I thought it had something to do with the anniversary of Holmes' "death" in The Final Problem. Anyway, I should blog some more in the upcoming days about this short story. And, while I did not observe Sherlock Holmes Day, there is one Holmes novel I hope to read before the end of summertime. And I have now put it as a special yearly event in my calendar.

Le prochain Quais du Polar?

 Bon ben je suis très en retard dans les nouvelles. Je m'en suis rendu compte hier: j'ai manqué Quais du Polar cette année encore. C'était du 5 au 7 avril. Pas que j'y serais allé, étant loin de Lyon, mais ça fait partie des évènements que j'aime souligner sur le blogue. Et puis j'aurais pu y être, ça tombait sur les vacances de Pâques de mon fils. Je songe à y aller un jour, peut-être l'an prochain, qui sait. Faudrait convaincre ma femme et Wolfie.Cela dit, malgré tout, on ne boudera pas son plaisir: quelle superbe affiche, très film noir.

Question existentielle (377)

 J'ai une question existentielle à la fois abstraite et onirique:

-Qui a peur du Grand Méchant Loup?

The Maltese Falcon for #Noirvember

As I mentioned before, I read , The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammet for this year's #Noirvember. The first time in decades, but I watched the I watched the movie over and over again. I read it at a snail's pace, shame on me, but it was great to read a proper old fashioned hardboiled novel and to revisit a classic in its original form, and meet again so many larger-than-life characters, private eye Sam Spade and all the array of shady, vulgar, obscene villains the plot has to offer. And at the heart of the plot, the Maltese Falcon of the title, the most perfect and maybe the most emblematic MacGuffin crime fiction (or indeed fiction in general) ever offered. I don't think any other book or film ever gave us a MacGuffin that is so perfect. Anyway, I don't want to give anything away for those who have not read it or watched the film, but if you are still looking for some #Noirvember read, this is the novel for you.

The "Amoral Afrikaner"

Sometimes, I spend far too much time on TV Tropes, either looking for something specific, or just browsing. So anyway, yesterday I stumble upon the entry on the Amoral Afrikaner, which I found quite interesting. I have developed a certain fascination for South Africa, became my father-in-law is from there and because I love the crime novels of Deon Meyer. Meyer's novels are actually full of amoral Afrikaners, often badguys, sometimes good guys, so I am familiar with that trope and really like it. There is just something about cynical, amoral villains, or antiheros who are almost entirely self-interested. I was also happy, but not surprised, to see that Meyer's novel Blood Safari was mentioned in the Literature section as an example of this trope. I wish there was a Northern equivalent of this trope, maybe I could use it in my own writing.

Pulp Fiction for January

Once upon a time on this blog, I used to upload every month an inspiring cover of pulp magazine Detective Tales and comment on it. It is a tradition which I have not followed, but I have decided to do it again today, as January is about to end. So here is the Detective Tales cover for January 1948. And what a great cover it is. A bloody one too, with a murdered man stabbed by a pair of scissors (!) about to have his clothes and gun stolen by his murdered, a thuggish looking escaped convict. This is what we can safely assume from the stripy clothes the villain is wearing. I don't know what the story of this image is, but it looks like a great one. And on a side note, how strong, desperate, committed and downright ruthless you must be to be capable of stabbing someone to death with a pair of scissors?

Portrait of Marlowe by Chandler

I have started reading this book again and in it I found a description of iconic private eye Philip Marlowe by his author Raymond Chandler which I found fascinating, for reasons which I will state below. Here it is:

"The date of his birth is uncertain. I think he said somewhere that he was 38 years old, but that was quite a while ago and he is no older today. He was born in a small California town called Santa Rosa about 50 miles from San Francisco. Marlowe has never spoken of his parents, and apparently he has no living relatives. I don't know why he came to Southern California, except that eventually most people do, although not all of them remain. He is slightly over six feet tall and weights above 13st 8lbs. he has dark brown hair, brown eyes, and the expression "passably good looking" would not satisfy him in the least. I don't think he looks tough, but he can be tough. If you ask me why he is a detective, I can't answer you..."

Chandler wrote this in a letter to an enquiring fan. So this descrption his fascinating for many reasons. Even in this letter, Chandler remains literary and evocative, it reads like a part of one of his novels. What is also just as interesting is the level of uncertainty: Chandler describes Marlowe physically in minimalist terms and is vague about his character's background. We get a better idea about his mindset, but even then it is more by evocation and the use of a few words than deep analysis. In sum, Chandler is writing here about someone he knows but not completely and not perfectly, rather than a character he created. So that is why I am obsessed about this quote. Now I want to find and read the whole letter.

I want a fedora

It has been fairly hot these last few days and it made me think of last summer when I wore a hat borrowed from my father-in-law. I was thinking that a hat could reallt be useful in the coming weeks and months, even though I am not really sure I have a head for hats. What I wore then was a Panama hat, but I thought it would be really nice to buy a fedora. I prefer it looks and shape, and also because its association with hardboiled crime fiction and film noir. But I have no idea of my head size and measuring it is always iffy if I cannot try the hat itself. So I am not comfortable buying it online (and I am being careful with how much I spend online as well these days). I will probably have to visit a shop to buy one, when the pandemic is over. In any case, I now know that I really want a fedora.

"To swap punches with a power shovel"

"I need a man good looking enough to pick up a dame who has a sense of class, but he's got to be tough enough to swap punches with a power shovel."

I am reading Trouble Is My Business by Ramond Chandler and this is how someone describes his legendary private eye Philip Marlowe. It fits him, but it fits so many that were inspired by him and it is such a great and vivid description that I wanted to share it here. I love reading Chandler just for such lines.

Outside the art gallery

I was a bit gutted recently: as I was walking downtown with little Wolfie, who was asleep in his cot, I saw that the local art gallery was having an exhibition of Fabian Perez. His latest works, apparently. Furthermore, he was there. I had known about it, but had forgotten. Wolfie being fast asleep in his cot,I was tempted to go in quickly, check the painting and maybe even say a word to the maestro, whom I briefly met once. I did not for a few reasons: 1)I looked utterly unglamorous in my worn out jeans and old jumper, 2)it was very crowded and did not want Wolfie to wake up and 3)I did not feel like I belonged there, if that makes sense. But I could at least admire the painting in the window. Perez makes great femmes fatales. I was all the happier that it was one I had not seen yet.

Pulp cover for #Noirvember

Once upon a time, I used to display a cover from the old pulp magazine Detective Tales and comment on it, as a sort of monthly tradition. I thought this would be something perfect to do for #Noirvember. I decided to go for a stereotypical pulp fiction cover, from the November 1938 edition: a damsel in distress, a hero and a few villains in a dramatic action scene. The setting is what appears to be an exotic temple or palace. The damsel in distress is a blonde, gagged but curiously not tied up. There is a henchman holding her and towering over them what appears to be the leader, all clad in white and sporting a devilish looking goatee. The villains seem to be of Middle Eastern or Asian extraction, and they use old fashioned knives. There are three of them. The hero (private eye?) is already wounded and is fighting the biggest one, a thuggish looking guy with a bloody curved knife. Things are grim for the good guys. I wish I could find the story linked to that image, if there is one.

Marlowe and Mozart

I am finishing The Little Sister by Raymond Chandler, which features private eye and cynical hero Philip Marlowe. In one chapter, he is held in police custody and discusses with the police officer about... Mozart. The policeman plays piano in his spare time and is actually a Mozart aficionado. Here is what he says about the composer: "You'd be surprised how difficult some of that Mozart is. (...) It sounds so simple when you hear it played well." And then: "Mozart is just music. No comment needed from the performer." And Marlowe observes in his narration: "You could see he was a man who loved to move his hands, to make little neat inconspicuous motions with them, motions without any special meaning, but smooth and flowing and light as swansdown. They gave him a feel of delicate things delicately done, but not weak. Mozart, all right. I could see that." Marlowe got Mozart in a nutshell.

#Noirvember: time for crime (fiction)

When November comes, I change my reading genre and go from horror to crime fiction (which is actually the main genre I read all year round). This is nothing new for the month, or at least nothing unique: I learned on Twitter that there is a hashtag for it: #Noirvember. I am currently reading The Little Sister by Raymond Chandler, which features legendary private eye Philip Marlowe. I was in the mood for a good old fashioned hard-boiled thriller and I want to be up to date with the crime classics (as I am not, to my great shame). What I love about Chandler, it is how he slowly builds the settings and characters to create atmosphere and suspense. I might blog more about it, until then if you have any crime read suggestions for #Noirvember, please let me know in the comments.

The Gutter and the Grave

I blogged about it recently, but as I finished it since then, I thought I could have it as today 's reading suggestion. I am talking of course about The Gutter and the Grave, by Ed McBain. Surprisingly it does not feature the detectives of the 87th Precinct, but ex private eye turned drunkard and bum Matt Cordell, who lost his license and everything else, including himself, when he beat up the lover of his wife. Narrated by Cordell himself, the story uses many tropes, some would say clichés, of hard-boiled crime fiction: an investigation on a minor crime (someone stealing from a cashier) quickly leads to one on a murder, then a second murder, there are femmes fatales a plenty and a good deal of shady characters, an oppressive heatwave, violence of all kinds. What makes the novel stand above other similar ones is the strength of McBain's writing: vivid imagery, sharp dialogues, genuine characters behind their archetypes. One cannot go wrong with Ed McBain.

Crimes on sale (at £1.99)

I decided to take a break from epic historical novels and I am now reading crime fiction again. Well, I say I have decided but it is not quite true. As I have a pile of books to read, I just showed the couples of novels I was considering to Blonde Tickler during her last visit and she said: "this one looks like the best of them all". So I followed her advice as I trust her instincts. The book she was referring to was The Gutter and the Grave by Ed McBain. I know McBain a lot, but this is a new reading experience for me as the novel is not from his 87th Precinct series. It features an ex private eye now drunkard homeless Matt Cordell, who lost his license after beating up his wife's lover, and a few femmes fatales. I bought it at £1.99 at the local Oxfam. That is a true bargain for quality crime fiction and one of the few times when Ed McBain ventured into proper hardboiled territory.

Le lapin de Pâques

Photo prise au National Museum de Cardiff, placée sur ce billet car elle sert mon propos. Je veut bien entendu parler du lapin de Pâques (et non pas le furet que l'on voit en arrière-plan sur ce dessin, à moins que ce soit une hermine). Si la plupart des autres animaux associés à Pâques sont des animaux de basse-cour (poules et poussins) qui associés eux-mêmes à l'oeuf symbolisent donc la fertilité, le représentant par excellence de la fête est considéré en général comme un animal sauvage, qui vit dans les bois, libre et insouciant, voire débridé (puisque l'on parle de fertilité). Il ramène vraiment la Fête à ses racines païennes. J'ai par conséquent, inconsciemment ou non, toujours aimé le lapin de Pâques, comme archétype. Et parce que c'est cute un lapin.

Corto Maltese en Irlande

Je pensais à donner une suggestion de lecture pour la Saint-Patrick, mais je ne savais pas laquelle, puis ça m'a frappé: la première association littéraire à l'Irlande que j'ai faite est avec Corto Maltese. Il y voyage dans une histoire de l'album appelé Les Celtiques, Concerto en O mineur pour harpe et nitroglycérine, en pleine insurrection. Quand j'ai lu l'histoire pour la première fois, j'avais été choqué de voir les Anglais jouer le mauvais rôle, mais ça m'a fait découvrir l'Irlande. Et comme toute aventure de Corto, c'est un vrai régal, pleine d'atmosphère, poétique, mais avec pour trame de fond l'Histoire avec un grand h. Je partage cette vignette pour vous donner un avant-goût.

The Long Goodbye

Sometimes I wonder if Vraie Fiction should not be renamed Crime Fiction. Anyway, I recently finished a novel which I wanted to recommend to my readers: The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler. His longest novel, his most autobiographical, maybe the most literary, maybe also the most existentialist.It was also the one Chandler considered to be his best. In it, private eye Philip Marlowe befriends Terry Lennox, alcoholic married to the daughter of a media mogul and reluctantly helps failed writer Roger Wade, also alcoholic. Both plots intertwine and merges seamlessly, death and violence abound, in the end the dead have little to envy the living, who manage to survive but at a heavy price. They are wounded, scarred, both emotionally and physically. It's more than four hundred pages, but it never feels like it, in fact you would wish the story to last a little longer, so as not to say goodbye too early.