The man who invented the modern cop novel

https://quillette.com/2023/04/23/the-man-who-invented-the-cop-novel/

by background • 3 years ago

73 33 3 years ago

This says 1971, Martin Beck was earlier. I'd argue Maigret counts as well. The author mentions Chandler but I would never have considered those "police procedurals".

CharleFKane• 3 years ago

I enjoy the Wambaugh I’ve read, but I had some issues with this article.

Version_five is right about Martin Beck. (I wouldn’t count Maigret or Chandler as “police procedurals”.)

Also on the list and predating Wambaugh: Ed McBain’s “87th Precinct” novels. First one published in 1956, last one in 2005.

version_five3• 3 years ago

I've not read McBain, I'll have to take a look.

I'm on the fence about Maigret. There is definitely an element of what I consider police procedural in there, though I agree they wouldn't be exemplars for the genre.

What's the one where there is a killer, I think he ends up being some kind of "architect designer" and they get a female cop to lure him out somehow. That's almost the same story as Roseanna. On the other hand, in some of the books he just sits in a bar all day.

jjtheblunt• 3 years ago

Do Sherlock Holmes stories not count?

ojbyrne2• 3 years ago

It should probably say “modern American cop novel.”

m4632• 3 years ago

I agree. Sort of like how Clint Eastwood redefined Westerns from the cleancut western hero to a more morally ambiguous unshaven guy with a different sort of charisma.

OJFord2• 3 years ago

Doesn't the word 'cop' do that already? It does for me anyway.

Wistar• 3 years ago

Although I have searched to find any mention of Wambaugh’s correspondence with his first publisher, I have failed to find any mention of what was called the “World’s shortest letter,” or something like that.

From memory I recall reading an account of Wambaugh having been invited to submit his first manuscript to a publisher and, after not hearing anything back, he sent a letter to them that consisted entirely of a single question mark typed on a sheet of paper. A few days later, he received a response that consisted of a single exclamation point.

bombcar• 3 years ago

I've seen that story a number of times, attributed to various people.

https://www.countrylife.co.uk/country-life/wars-weddings-boi...

This has been attributed to both Victor Hugo and Oscar Wilde. In both cases, the writers are said to have telegrammed their respective publishers to ask about sales of their latest published works.
In both cases, the telegram simply asked ‘?’. The publisher is said to have replied with an equally frugal ‘!’.

tomcam• 3 years ago

The Choirboys is funny in ways you just can’t imagine seeing in a book these days. It’s a masterpiece, with a Shakespearean mix of comedy, tragedy, and hella good prose. The language is not remotely as sensitive as we expect these days: it’s not racist but everyone is more… frank than we are accustomed to. I’m in my 60s and it was already retrograde in Southern California when it was published. The cops in it sound like New Yorkers, not Angelenos.

WWWWH• 3 years ago

Any chemists around should read his 'Delta Star' set in the CalTech Chemistry Department. Apparently he was buddies with Harry Grey and spent some time around the school. Grey, the only non-fictional character in the book, spoke highly of his work ethic (something like 'he turned up to all of the classes, which is more than most of our students do').

causi2• 3 years ago

You know it's funny; I've seen probably four or five HN submissions about "cop novels" over the years but for all my time spent in book stores and on the internet I have never seen one in person or heard someone talk about one outside of HN.

coldtea2• 3 years ago

You haven't seen anybody talk about one of the most popular genres of fiction?

RugnirViking2• 3 years ago

I've literally never heard of it either? I feel like your claim can't possibly be true

causi2• 3 years ago

Not unless you count Jean-Luc Picard liking Dixon Hill holodramas.

hillsboroughman• 3 years ago

The modern cop novel was a formula popularized in England by Edgar Wallace already in the 1915-20 timeframe. His novels show great command of police procedure incl crime scene analysis, lab work, post mortem, ballistics, finger printing etc.. He is said to have written some 170 novels, not all of them were police thrillers. Later in life, he went to Hollywood and wrote screenplays.

I guess his earlier work is not very well-known in the US.

Just my 2c

jgalt212• 3 years ago

The Bernie Gunther series (mostly set in pre-WW2 Berlin) are great cop novels.

https://berniegunther.com/

borroka2• 3 years ago

Philip Kerr was an extraordinary writer, very inventive and with a distinctive prose. One caveat: over the course of the BG series he became, in my opinion, a little too verbose, too good with words for the narrative need. But an excellent, excellent series that I intend to read again.

PK also wrote an investigative trilogy set in the world of soccer, which is hugely entertaining. An outstanding author -- who sadly passed away way when too young -- who is not popular enough.

The man who invented the modern cop novel

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