James wrote:
>One thing about the Shell Scott books that's a little
unusual for PI books
>from the Fifties and Sixties -- Shell gets along
really well with the LA
>police, and they usually wind up doing some of his
work for him. Homicide
>Captain Phil Samson is Will Gentry to Shell's Mike
Shayne, but there's no
>Peter Painter, no police nemesis for Shell. At least
not that I remember.
And on the flip side, has there ever been as vile a police
nemesis as McGregor in John Lutz' Carver books? Of course,
all of Ellroy's LAPD is more or less vile, and Irvine
(Trainspotting) Welsh hits new depths with his wormy copper
in FILTH, but there's something
"special" about McGregor, perhaps because he just keeps
coming back, more disgusting and corrupt each time. Are there
any other recurring police characters whose badge doesn't
exactly shine with honour?
Which reminds me (speaking of cops in general, not bad cops
specifically), our old pal (and federal cop) Jim Doherty has
a story in this month's BLUE MURDER.
--
Kevin Burton Smith The Thrilling Detective Web Site http://www.thrillingdetective.com
Now online: The 3rd Annual Cheap Thrill Awards. Fiction by Laura Lippman, Scott Wolven and Anthony Rain. And Tim Broderick's ODD JOBS. -- # To unsubscribe from the regular list, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to # majordomo@icomm.ca. This will not work for the digest version. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
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