R. i. P. James Crumley (12. Oktober 1939 – 17. September 2008)
Via The Rap Sheet erreichte mich die Meldung von dem Tod des Hardboiled-PI-Autors. Zuletzt erschien in Deutschland sein Milo-Milodragovitch-Roman „Land der Lügen“ (The final country, 2001). Crumleys literarischer Output ist überschaubar (sieben PI-Krimis in dreißig Jahren), aber dafür verehrten ihn (wie jetzt auch die Nachrufe im Internet zeigen) viele Krimiautoren als begnadeten Stilisten.
Nachrufe und Würdigungen gibt es von The Missoulian (Crumleys Lokalzeitung mit der ersten Meldung), Duane Swierzcynski(„We saw Crumley approaching the hotel bar, and part of me so very badly wanted to say hello, buy him a drink, tell him how much his work meant to me. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. He was JAMES CRUMLEY for God’s sake, and who was I to bother him?„), Sarah Weinman, David Montgomery, James W. Hall ( „A wonderful writer, a great friend, and one-of-a-kind character who made Hunter Thompson seem tame and puritanical.“), Sean Doolittle(“ the hard-nosed, soft-sided, two-fisted, open-armed author/cult icon whose novels are routinely cited by many of today’s top writers in and out of crime fiction circles“), Dave White („The man meant a lot to me, though I only met him once.„), Robert Ferrigno („David Thompson, had called a week earlier and asked if I minded if they made it a joint appearance, me and Crumley. I told him I felt like Tiny Tim being asked to do a concert appearance with Pavoroti.“), Lee Goldberg („He wrote some of my favorite private eye novels.“) und Ed Gorman („I’ve read most of his novels at least three times. I agree with Otto Penzler that he was the finest hardboiled writer of the last three decades. His literary skills were enormous and all his own. When the dust settles on our time I expect it will be Crumley future readers and writers will acknowledge as the master.„).
Kriminalakte 