PUSS IN BOOTS (3 march 2004)
In some countries, crime novels are considered a rather frivolous kind of literature. In the Netherlands, for instance, many intellectuals don't read this genre, or only during holidays.
Of course, there are crime writers whose stories are little more than superficial tales mainly designed to generate cash and cheap thrills.
In the Anglosaxon world it is mainly the literary bigots who despise all crime fiction. But the majority of readers are less prejudiced and enjoy crime like just another literary genre. After all, weren't two great names in Anglosaxon literature - Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle - amongst the founders of the genre?
In the Anglosaxon world, awards like the Diamond Dagger are respected as much as the Oscars in the film industry.
A great name in crime fiction is Ed McBain. His real name is Evan Hunter. But nomenclature doesn't stop there for him; he is of Italian descent and seems to have been born under the name of Salvatore Lombino.
Evan Hunter
Under the name of Ed McBain, he has written more than fifty books about the 87th Precinct. Millions of readers must have enjoyed his humorous descriptions of detectives like Steve Carella and Meyer Meyer.
Another series created by McBain plays in Florida and features Matthew Hope, a lawyer.
I thought I had read all the books by McBain, but recently I found a second-hand copy of Puss In Boots, a Matthew Hope story.
The blurb on the cover said "Not to be missed", and on the last page I found a handwritten note by the first owner of the book: "Not to be missed, indeed". Needless to say I was eager to find out if I would agree with this opinion.
In the book a woman is severely mutilated and killed by her husband because she played in a pornographic movie without his knowledge or consent. This theme may seem far-fetched. Most of us will be shocked by the religious reasoning the husband justifies his deeds with. But haven't we heard of religious reasons for acts of violence these days?
But please don't think the book is all gloom and sombreness. Apart from making a first-rate thriller, McBain managed to write a book that shows life in all its colours, which includes hilarious descriptions, for instance when he describes the way ordinary mortals look at movie people:
Warren had the feeling that if a director asked some lady to take her baby out of its buggy and smash his head on the sidewalk for the the cameras, she'd wet her pants and said, "Oh, yes, sir, thank you, sir, in a minute, sir, just let me comb his hair."
Must've been something about making a movie that gave the people involved the feeling that they were rearranging the universe.
And McBain knew what he was talking about. After all, he was the one who wrote the film-script of Hitchcock's film The Birds
