Whose style do you admire most?

[carole gill]

A real toughie this, but if you had to name only one writer (of crime fiction) that you think was the best--who would you name?

[JackBludis]

Cormac McCarthy ... I see how he does it, but no one is likely to successfully copy it. Hammet and Elmore Leonard are pretty good too.

[carole gill]

i feel so ignorant! I haven't read him. but I will. From what you say it sounds as though his writing is different. avant garde?

[Tom Cooke]

Yeah Jack,
I like them too, along with Chandler. A couple of the old radio writers were pretty good too. I don't see how they did it pumping script after script out week after week. I always loved the cheesy dialogue in "Richard Diamond". I think that was Blake Edwards' work.

[Cyndi Martin]

Dick Francis. Love him more than life.

[carole gill]

thanks for that. are you interested in racing, it's mostly racing isn't it. not my forte.

[Cyndi Martin]

You know, I don't know why I love him so much. I'm not into racing (although it's much more interesting now). I seem to lean toward English writers for some reason--maybe it's the language.

[carole gill]

Probably. I know what you mean though. Ever read any of Ruth Rendell (NOT Inspector Wexfor) although they're good. No, her other books. The new novels--where she writes all this dark psychological stuff. INTERESTING characters, boy. I was on a ruth rendell kick, these kinds of books for months! then switched when I started wrting seriously. At that point I plunged into hardboiled American stuff.

[Cyndi Martin]

I haven't read her before but I should. I think I would enjoy Inspector Wexfor.

[chelbel]

Mark Billingham.

[carole gill]

thanks i'll have to check him out. just reserved the book he wrote, BURIED. thanks again, lookng forward to reading it.

[carole gill]

you know i hear that lately. i'm ashamed to say i haven't read her, but i will. thanks for that douglas! do you tgink she was better than agatha c.?

[carole gill]

i can't believe i never read her. but to be fair to myself, it wasn't because i was unaware of British writers. i was, until so recently, a horror novel addict. as a matter of fact i always thought james herbert the superior writer to stephen king. anyway, thanks for that.