I finished THE INTERLOPER and it was just great. In fact, if I'm not too tired after my plane trip tomorrow, I'm going to go see Antoine Wilson read from the aforementioned novel at Book Soup. So now I'm reading a book called QUEENPIN. This is a real discovery! Hardboiled fiction written from a woman's POV... it's the real thing, not just a pastiche of hardboiled fiction, though it only came out this year. The author, Megan Abbott, has immersed herself in and committed herself to the style. QUEENPIN could have been written in, I don't know, 1958. I mean, it's a restrictive choice that works amazingly well. Stravinsky said something on the subject that I'm very tired of quoting (or misquoting). I'm so predictable! Okay, I'm only a few chapters in, but I don't expect any huge stylistic shift - to quote another noir, it's "straight down the line." I have a good feeling about this one. Oh, it's a lot of fun, with pitch-perfect lingo of my favorite kind.
