Two recent events brought back fond memories. I downloaded Theodore P. Druch’s Pure Gold, a collection of three novellas inspired by hard-boiled crime fiction, and ABC News decided to revisit the Robert Blake case. Although I have written hard-boiled crime stories myself, the fond memories were about a childhood where I “graduated” from reading one Hardy Boys story (The Secret of Wildcat Swamp) to books by authors who comprised the hard-boiled movement.

Pure Gold and Blake AKA Beretta are unrelated, of course. The connection was only made by my weird mind. (Many authors are always a wee bit weird, so I don’t feel guilty about that). I haven’t read Druch’s book yet (started it), but any homage to hard-boiled will probably be entertaining when I read it. My thoughts on Blake’s case are more complicated.

ABC’s biopic (exposé? scandal piece?) is yet another show that resurrects another shocking case as a technique to increase Nielsen ratings. I have no use for this practice because it only appeals to the crowds that love scandal. Blake’s character, though, added to my love for tough guy who fights crime. My Detective Castilblanco is a mix of such characters that my weird mind has created; you can see a lot of those hard-boiled cops and PIs in him.

Blake’s history (I’m sure ABC’s presentation will be slanted)—accused of murdering his wife, acquitted in a jury trial, and then sued for wrongful death by a vindictive family out to ruin his life, which they did—is reminiscent of the O.J. case. Whether you believe either one of these famous stars is guilty or not does NOT matter. They were acquitted of two heinous crimes, and families who reject those criminal court judgments should NOT be allowed to sue for wrongful death after the fact—in other words, they shouldn’t have a consolation prize. Criminal trials have much stricter tests for guilt than civil trials, so their decisions should take precedence. (Adopting that policy in our litigious judicial system would free up the courts quite a bit!) This is a serious flaw in our justice system that everyone forgets about until some TV producer gets the idea of resurrecting the scandal. (ABC isn’t as guilty of this as streaming video services like Amazon, NetFlix, and so forth).

That said, back to Beretta, with apologies to Mr. Druch. That show was better than Peter Gunn, Kojak, Spenser for Hire, The Saint, Magnum PI (the original), and Columbo combined because it emphasized the grittiness of crime fiction novels I’d read, at least as far as possible given the censorship posses of those days. (My Republican-leaning father—Eisenhower Republican—lamented that censorship, saying “Why can’t they show life like it really is?” He also scoffed at Dick van Dyke and his wife in their twin beds and loved the Smother Brothers. We know what the NBC censors did to them!)

What the show Beretta lacked, and all such shows and movies lack, is what the main character is thinking. Magnum PI tried (the original) or tries (the remake) to do some of that via Magnum’s soliloquies, but only a novel (or short story or novella) can provide that peek inside the main character’s head to see what’s going on in that hard-boiled cop or PI’s mind.

Fans of mysteries and crime fiction are some of the most faithful among readers. We all love the mix of action, suspense, and intrigue. New authors discover the genre and develop followings too. (I discovered Ian Rankin while studying many authors’ oeuvre as a prelude to writing Teeter-Totter between Lust Murder, not trusting my boyhood memories where my reading didn’t focus on skills and techniques, only enjoyment. Unfortunately Ian’s books have become too expensive—the price of popularity—but his Resurrection Men is featured on my “Best Mystery/Thriller Novels” list.)

And that hard-boiled style has influenced all my stories, thrillers and sci-fi as well as mysteries. I think of that influence as defining minimalist writing: terse, taut writing designed to make readers participate in the creative experience by giving them just enough description for them to construct their own images of characters, settings, situations, and action.

I’ll confess that TV shows influenced me a lot less that the stories I’ve read during my lifetime of reading, but Beretta was a major influence. Robert Blake is just an actor, but he played that role superbly well. With a bit more stature and a few more pounds, he could have played Detective Castilblanco. Now he’s only an old man lamenting his ruined life.

So thanks for the memories, Mr. Blake and Mr. Druch. You have reminded me why I write mysteries, or anything, for that matter.

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Comments are always welcome, with some exceptions. Please follow the rules indicated on the “Join the Conversation” web page. Simple kudos aren’t accepted. The idea is more to generate a discussion of ideas, a meeting of minds. In particular, I don’t need to inflate my ego. Exceptions to my rules can be made in certain circumstances. Also, please remember your first comment must be approved my me. (I do this to avoid all that “I’m not a robot” nonsense.)

Aristocrats and Assassins. #4 in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” is my favorite C&C book. In one very positive review with many kudos, the reviewer also commented that it could also serve as a model in a master class for authors who want to create a series: like all my books, it’s a completely independent story involving the detectives. Casilblanco is finally on vacation in Europe with his wife, and the action stays there. The assassins are terrorists, and the aristocrats are some European royals. Available at Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc).

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 5th, 2019 at 3:33 am and is filed under Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.