What defines a legend in mystery fiction?

When we speak of the masters of the genre, who do we really mean?

So often when readers/critics/authors, etc., discuss those who are legends and masters of the genre we seldom mention contemporary writers.

It’s almost that we are afraid to give these exalted titles to any living author.

Certainly I think we have living masters such as Michael Connelly, Laura Lippman, Dennis Lehane, Val McDermid, Robert Crais – and I am just getting started.

And you are welcomed to disagree with me, or offer your own ideas for living masters of the genre.

But usually when we talk about the legends/masters we are talking about Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Agatha Chrisitie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ross Macdonald and their ilk.

And if we really want to go out on a limb, Jim Thompson, James Cain, etc. 

But more and more I am hearing the late great James Crumley added to this list.

And it’s about time.

 Crumley, who died Sept 17, 2008, has always been a master, though not especially prolific.

Now that he’s passed, maybe he’ll finally get his due.

Those of us who’ve always enjoyed Crumley have always given him his due.

After all, few of us would argue that the opening paragraph of his 1978 The Last Good Kiss is one of the best beginnings of any novel:

“When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon.”

His One to Count the Cadence, published in 1969, has been praised as one of the most insightful novels about Vietnam.

Though neither novel cracked the best-sellers list – Crumley’s stated before that The Last Good Kiss sold less than 4,500 copies in hardcover when published – each remains in print.

This past year, at least books have been dedicated to Crumley.

Michael Connelly’s dedication in his current best-seller The Scarecrow states simply: “For James Crumley for The Last Good Kiss.”  I’ll agree to that. 

Laura Lippman dedicated Life Sentences to Crumley.

In an e-mail, she wrote me “Jim died around the time I was finishing [Life Sentences] and, well, I just cared about him so much. I am NOT one of his literary descendants, style-wise, but I loved his work and I felt that the discovery of his novels in the 1980s was an essential one. I saw what the very best could do with the form and I wanted to do it, too.” 

Craig McDonald dedicates Rogue Males (Bleak House, $14.95) to Crumley. This compilation of author interviews also includes one of Crumley’s last interviews.

So many of us – writers, readers and, yes, critics – owe a lot to Crumley.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 9th, 2009 at 10:43 am and is filed under James Crumley, Laura Lippman, Michael Connelly. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.