wall@suba.DEC (David F. Wall DTN 297-6882) (02/18/86)
I'm not sure these qualify exactly as hard-boileds or not, but they were good reads and I think the person who made the request will enjoy them: Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels. Don't let that clown Robert Urich on TV fool you. He ain't Spenser. The low but steady popularity of the TV series has apparently caused a corresponding rise in the popularity of the books, however, and all twelve of the Spenser novels are available, eleven of them in paperback. Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novels. These are billed as "police procedurals" meaning the detectives come equipped with badges, but they are enjoyable. Lawrence Block's novels about Matthew Scudder. Admittedly, I've only read Eight Million Ways To Die. In fact, I don't even know the titles of the others, but no doubt someone else will furnish them. David F. Wall, HPSCAD Digital Equipment Corporation, Marlboro, MA UUCP: decwrl!decvax!dec-rhea!dec-suba!wall