The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 21

THE SUNDAY AGE 1 FEBRUARY 1998 ctcry books Everyone reads crime fiction and everyone has their favorite writers. But could you list the 10 best novels? 'The Sunday Age' asked 'Mean Streets' magazine editor Stucrt Ccupo to try. WTT :.) Sydney Greenstreet and Humphrey Bogart in the film version of 'The Maltese Falcon'. quartered if a Conan Doyle Shet-lock Holmes novel wasn't included in this list and there's little doubt that 'The Hound of the Basketvilles' is the finest of the Doyle's astonishingly prodigious output. While with most other writers in this list there's frequent debates about the finest work, with Conan Doyle it's generally accepted that things didn't get any better than 'The Hound' which was originally published in 1902.

But then there'll be those who argue for 1891's 'The Sign of Four' as the best of the just six novels featuring Holmes. The simple solution would be to select the short-story collection, 'The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes' but for sheer brilliantly created tension and atmo-. sphere, it's impossible to beat 'The Hound of the Basketvilles'. 'The Maltese Falcon' (1930) by Dashiel Hammett SOMETIMES the hardest thing to do when assessing a truly inspired novel is to forget the film version and is there anyone who hasn't seen 'The Maltese Falcon'? and concentrate on the writing. As with Raymond Chandler, Hammett actually wrote very little.

There were a bunch of short stories featuring Sam Spade and between 1929 and 1934 he hammered out the six famous novels featuring the Continental Op andor Sam Spade. Again, as with Chandler, debates rage furiously as to which is the better of the novels but for me "The Falcon' wins because of the lan- guage, the style, the characterisation and the moment when Spade tells Brigid O'Shaughnessy a story of a man who was almost killed by a beam falling off a half-completed 1 building. He didn't die but said he came to' the realisation that "he felt like somebody had taken the lid off life and let him look at the 'Whose (1923) by Dorothy Sayers IT'S impossible to ignore the influence of Dorothy L. Sayers in crime fiction history. Without Lord Peter Wimsey there may not have been su many detective and mystery novels written by women in the past decade or two.

Imagine if there'd been no Ruth Rendell and Inspector Wexford? 'Whose wins out of the Sayers work, mainly because it's the first of the Wimsey novels and has a lasting impact. It introduced a detective hero with style and panache and aside from being a book written in 1923, it stands up today as a masterful work of crime fiction. Sayers went on to write a lot but this one remains the defining novel in a long career. 'The Real Cool Killers' (1959) 'The Primitive' (1956) by Chester Himes CRIME fiction has traditionally -been perceived as a white folk's domain but over recent years there's been major rediscovery of the work of a number of black writers particularly the ordinary but incredibly popular work of both Iceberg Slim and Donald Goines. Then, of course, there's been the increasingly impressive body of work created by Walter Mosley (whose 'Black Betty' almost gained a guernsey here).

But it's Chester Himes who stands head and shoulders above the rest The creator of Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones who are tough, violent Harlem policemen. Himes (originally published by Gallimard in Paris) is in many ways as influential as Chandler and Hammett. 'The Real Cool Killers' is his masterpiece, but it's hard to avoid 'The Primitive', if only because it's the major influence on James Sallis, currently the best contemporary writer dealing with the black experience in New Orleans. might as well be million crime, mys- and detective Action in the naked city comes to select ing 10 defining tomes. Where does one start? 'Some writers Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are automatic inclusions but even then there's the problem of deciding on what is their best andor most influential work.

Some years ago the American bible of fictional criminality, 'The Armchair Detective', published a collection of lists. Part of the book -involved polling 26 well-known -crime writers on their favorite novels in the genre. Agatha Christie, not surprisingly, appeared frequently, rating 10 mentions over the course of the lists. But did everyone agree on her best book? Not a chance 'And Then There Were None', 'Five Little Pigs', 'The ABC Murders', and 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles' were all pominated once while 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd' and 'The Pale Horse' appeared three times. The same situation arises with the majority of really influential writers.

James Ellroy nutters will argue the virtues of 'The Black Dahlia' versus 'LA. Confidential' for hours, while trying to get. a consensus on the best of Ross MacDon-ald's Lew Archer or Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe novels is virtually impossible. Similarly, it's impossible for anyone to have read even a hundredth of. the crime fiction titles published over the.

last century and a bit. In my case I've read exhaustively in the area of contemporary Australian and American crime fiction, with an emphasis on the hard-boiled and private-eye schools of writing so it's inevitable that my choices will reflect that predilection. On the other hand, I don't think there's an Agatha Christie novel I didn't devour in my youth and my choice of a Christie title has a lot to. do with the fact that after reading hundreds of novels in her genre, that's one I can still remember. There is, as crime fiction expert Stephen Knight once pointed out, a point where you can start to believe that every crime fiction title was written by the same person, therefore it takes a truly outstanding book to be memorable after more than three decades.

That said, it's interesting to speculate on which of the contemporary crime writers will be read in 50 years' time and possibly having their work appearing in lists such as this. There's little doubt that Ellroy's contributions will rise even further in stature. Similarly it's more than likely that Ruth Rendell. P. D.

lames, James Lee Burke, Lawrence Block, and Sara Paretsky will be savored. Then again, they may all be superseded by newcomers. Having recently read Sarah Dunant's astonishing 'Transgressions', it may be writers of her ilk who'll be seen as defining figures in '90s crime fiction instead of the currently more established names. There are no Australian writers in my list simply because good as many of our writers are, there's not a title I consider rates alongside the defining books of the genre. Were my list to grow to 50 titles there's every likelihood that novels by Peter Corris.

Jon Geary, Charlotte Jay, J. R. Carroll, Marele Day, Dave Warner and Jennifer Rowe would be included. All are among the many Australian writers to produce superb work but, as they say, there can be only 10 nominations in the Naked City of crime fiction. 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd' (1926) by Agatha Christie FIRST published in 1926, 'Roger "1 i-eight I I tery I I novels I I when it Calling a Spade a spade: Peter Lorre, Ackroyd' was Christie's third novel featuring Hercule Poirot who, along with Miss Jane Mamie, is her best-known creation.

Let make no mistake Christie was not a great writer by any stretch of the imagination. But she was a genius when it came to plotting and the most important influence on the clue-puzzle style of crime writing. In virtually all of her books she masterfully 'created scenarios whereby the reader could at any given time assume that virtually any of the characters were guilty of some dastardly crime. Intriguing as most of her books are, nothing quite matches the ingeniousness of 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd' and its denouement. One of life's great sins is to let the uninitiated know whodunit before the final few pages.

Actually it's just kidding. 'Strangers on the Train' (1950) by Patricia Hlghsmlth YOU will notice that there's not too many women writers represented in this list. That, I must admit, has date James Lee Burke is one of the most evocative and lyrically beautiful American writers of the past two decades. Reading his prose, you can almost smell New Orleans and Southern Louisiana's bayou country. 'Heaven's Prisoners the second novel featuring retired New Orleans detective Dave Robicheaux, is a tough, violent and contemplative novel that causes the reader to wrestle between turning the pages as fast as possible and yet savoring every sentence.

It is truly one of the few contemporary American novels of criminality to expand an increasingly tired and predictable genre. 'White Jazz' by James Ellroy 'WHITE JAZZ' is easily the most daunting of Ellroy's books and not recommended for the uninitiated. That said, it is the most adventurous, groundbreaking and inspiring crime fiction novel of the contemporary era. The final volume in the so-called Donald (real name Kenneth Millar) is one of the most influential hard-boiled crime writers of all time, the lineage usually going James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and then MacDonald.

His principal contribution was the creation of Lew Archer, who was the protagonist in virtually everything he wrote. But trying to select a definitive title is the sort of issue that prompts heated arguments. Peter Corris, who was crucially influenced by MacDonald, opts for 'The Far Side of the Dollar', which he describes as "the best post-Chandlerian hard-boiled private-eye novel" whereas Kill City's Peter Lawrence opts for 'The Blue Hammer'. Me? I'm selecting 'The Chill', partly because it's James Ellroy's favorite and Ellroy is never wrong! 'Heaven's Prisoners' (1988) by James Lee Burke AT his best and 'Heaven's Prisoners' is his finest achievement to something to do with personal choice and also the fact that there have been, in my opinion many, many excellent female crime writers but precious few who have had a pivotal role in the genre's development. Women writing crime have really come to the fore during the past decade but much as I admire and enjoy writers like Sara Paretsky, Sue Grafton, Minette Walters, Patricia Cornwell, Ruth Rendell, et al it's hard to consider them pivotal figures.

Patricia Highsmith remains a notable exception and her first novel, 'Strangers on a Train', remains a classic, not only in terms of plotting and tension but, as another critic has commented, introducing her recurrent themes of, "coincidence, guilt, complicity, rationality, and The influence of this novel is still being felt. 'The Chill' (1964) by Ross MacDonald THERE'S no doubt that Ross Mac- Ten of the best: prime crime fiction The Far Side of the DoHar by Ross MacDonald 'Devices and Desires' by P.D James The Big Sleep' by Raymond Chandler The Tiger in the Smoke' by Margery Allingham 'Dead Folks' by Jon A. Jackson The Mermaid Singing' by Val McDermid The Blue Hammer' by Ross MacDonald The Neon Smile' by Dick Lockte The Deadly Percheron'ok by John Franklin Bardin 'My Dark Place' by James Ellroy 'A Pale Criminal' by Philip Kerr The Long Goodbye' by Raymond Chandler Peter Conto (Writer) "Whits Jazz' by James Ellroy (right) The Black Dahlia' by James Ellroy The Big Sleep' by Raymond Chandler The Long Goodbye' by JJICanoM (Writer) 'Black Cherry Blues' by James Lee Burke The Friends of Eddie Coyfe' by George V.Higgins 'Devices and Desires' by P.D James The Big Sleep' by Raymond Chandler (left) 'LA Confidential' by James Ellroy Kissing the Gunner Daughter by by Elmore Leonard I.A Quartet (which includes 'The Black Dahlia', 'The Big Nowhere' and Confidential'), 'White Jazz' is like a 500-page prose poem dealing with the underbelly of life in Los Angeles during the late 1950s. It's been suggested that it's the crime fiction equivalent of James Joyce's 'Ulysses' or what 'Howl' might have been if Allen Ginsberg was a crime At various points Ellroy comes dangerously close to losing control of the fierce beast he's created but pulls it all together in breathtaking fashion. "The Long Goodbye' (1953) by Raymond Chandler WITH the exception of the unfinished 'Poodle Springs' (later unsuccessfully completed by Robert B.

Parker) Chandler wrote just seven all of which featured Philip Marlowe. In most cases the plots are fairly impenetrable but that's not the point you read old Ray for the beauty of the language and his insights into a bygone era of Los Angeles. If I wasn't limited to novels I'd select the short story 'Red Wind' as his best work but in the novel stakes it must be the astonishing 'The Long Goodbye'. But as with many other writers, furious debates rage. Jean Bedford selects 'The Big Sleep', saying simply that "it goes without saying.

Chandler at his a sentiment echoed by Peter Corris who calls it "a classic hard-boiled novel for plot, atmosphere and But I plump for 'The Long Goodbye' as the one I most frequently re-read for its prose, its portrait of Los Angeles, its tenderness and mood. 'The Hound of the Basker- vllles'(1902) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle THERE'S nothing more certain than the fact I'd be drawn and Ceesasrtted teats erafb John Forbes put his stamp on poetry, weaving It around history, v. certlngly for so dominating a character, a gentle spirit, generous and easily moved. He had no gift or taste for literary rJoHtkkingi his dedication to art and thought was total. Unprrtendous md Raymond Chandler The-Maltese Falcon' by Dashiel Hammett The Far Side of the Dollar' by Ross MacDonald The Silence of the Lambs' by Thomas Harris 'A Summer Inversion' by Barbara Vine The Postman Always Rings Twice' by James M.Cain The Hound of the Basketvilles' by Arthur Conan Doyle (Writer) The Silence of the Lambs' by Thomas Ham's 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd' by Agatha Christie (left) 'Kissing the Gunner's Daughter by Ruth Rendell The Documents in the Case' by by Charles Willeford Mr Ripley1 by Patricia Highsmith by Michael Dibdin (Coowner, Kill City) 'The Thirty Nine Steps' by John Buchan 'New Hope for the Dead' by Charles Willeford Dorothy LSayers "The Daughter of Time' by Josephine Tey 'American Tabloid' by James Ellroy Snatched from our midst, for no rhyme or reason John Forbes could have been an academic if he wanted.

Instead, he was a highly respected poet. Owen Richcrdson pays tribute to a colleague and friend. TV Ruth Rendell 'City Primeval' 1950 and spent his childhood In Malaya and New Guinea, where his father spent time with the air force. In 1963 the family moved to Sutherland, south of Sydney. John studied at the University of Sydney: he had already decided to become a poet and chose those subjects he felt would be most useful to him, taking out a degree In English.

John could easily have been an academic but chose Instead to pursue the life of the mind on his own term, eking out a precarious living from grants, occasional teaching and residencies, and much of the 80s as a furniture re-movallst In, the late '80s he moved to Melbourne where he became the poetry editor of magazine. John could talk to anyone. He was someone with great curiosity and made friends more easily than just about anyone I've ever met. 'Miami Blues' The Talented 'Dead Lagoon' to a fault John's frankness could be pretty Infuriating at times, but there was never the slightest malice behind It he would go out of his way to help others. Nothing was too much trouble for him.

I met John In 1992 and we shared houses a couple of times In the last five years of his life. At times, It could be difficult living with such an extrovert, but It was a lot of fun too. I thought of him as one of my closest friends and I'd like to think he thought the same towards me. His poems wuT live, but his learn- big, humor and kindness are Irre-' placeable. Everyone who knew John Forbes weu, loved him very much.

He will leave a big hole the world. i There will be i memorial service for John Forbes at St Bridget's Church, North Fttenw, at $90pm -tomorrow, followed by a wake at Jt0 KTTIHE death at 47 of John Forbes has taken from the 1 1 Australian literary world one of Its most brilliant, accomplished and well-regarded poets. John came to prominence at an early age as part of the generation of '68, those writers who opened up Australian poetry to International currents of post-' modern poetics, and from then on had a central position despite his relatively small output. It Is a poetry of wit and Intellectual rigor In which a Pop Art sensibility strikes sparks off phJlosoph-. leal themes and where an overarching concern with form and Ideas never collapses In on itself but breathes everyday-ness, with politics and humor, colloquial language and colloquial iub)ect matter.

Literary genealogist often talked about his debt to the New York school of poets, John Ashbery and Frank O'Hara and Tad Berrlgan, but John took from those writers exactly what he needed to write the poems he wanted to write. The hlgh-spirltedness and playfulness of his work was Its most Immediate appeal, but John wanted poetry, not to be "about" Meat, but Itself to be a way of thinking about things. A lot of his poetry is concerned with how Australians can think about themselves; It la a poetry concerned with history! Fatal as the blue-ringed octopus-but for leu Idle the Royal Navy arrived, ecstatic for routfML. I mean didn't you know that a commodore hat a broad pennant tt gets a 13 gun talutet All you did was throw sticks and jibber. But I guess you've worked that one out, now that you've got a flag of your own.

So here's some ftps for the future (.. the past considered as force: be absolute and suave a know that what they gave you when they took your land Is just a foretaste of what you'll get now your religious Imagery looks subtle on fabric John was born In Melbourne In His Imposing presence and talkativeness filled the room: he was an Indefatigable converse-. tlonalist, a lover of gossip and jokes and anecdotes. At the same time, he was also, a little discon- I A u..