tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post7991228977988279883..comments2024-03-28T02:29:37.413-05:00Comments on Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine: FFB: The Taming of Carney Wilde -- Bart Spicer (Jay Barbette)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02350478005243505108noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-90908455725529595562017-04-07T21:43:53.110-05:002017-04-07T21:43:53.110-05:00This is a truly excellent series. Aside from the ...This is a truly excellent series. Aside from the unusual, and well-realized, Philadelphia setting, one thing that sets the Wilde series apart is that, unlike most hard-boiled PI's, Wilde's actually got some business acumen.<br /><br />When the series starts, Wilde's firmly following The Marlowe Paradigm. Wilde's a 30-ish, male, American, unmarried ex-cop (WW2 Army service as an MP investigator), who operates a one-man agency in a large US city, and who tells his stories in the first person. But he's not content to stay that way.<br /><br />By tht foueth entry in the series, RUN SHEEP RUN, Wilde's one-man show has taken on at least one employee, and the agency is now known as Carney Wilde, Inc. One book later, in THE LONG GREEN, his agency has two full-time operative, and another four on retainer. <br /><br />In the penultimate book, the subject of this blog, Carney's got twelve full-time employees, and a string of regular clients, including the chain of banks to which he provides protection.<br /><br />In the final entry, appropriately titled EXIT RUNNING, Wilde's married the heroine of TAMING, and employs 200 men in a business now known as Wilde Protective Systems, Inc. <br /><br />Until Max Allan Collins's Nate Heller novels, I don't think any other PI series showed the hero's one-ma operation growing into a large, successful business, and very few that depicted the formerly lone-wolf shamus becoming a happily married suburbanite.<br /><br />Kudos to Bart Spicer for bring it off. The Wilde series truly is one of the best unsung PI series. JIM DOHERTYnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-62674277387504443262017-04-07T20:07:43.647-05:002017-04-07T20:07:43.647-05:00"A few days ago I found myself sitting in a c..."A few days ago I found myself sitting in a chair with three cats sleeping on me."<br /><br />And one of them is always right on your bladder.Shayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16527241089629026268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-52288117447184623262017-04-07T19:46:01.014-05:002017-04-07T19:46:01.014-05:00What a great deal. Interviewing Whittington will ...What a great deal. Interviewing Whittington will be a great experience, I'm sure. I just picked up (assuming it's going to get here in the mail), one of the Whittingtons I've been looking for 40 years or so. One of the two Henry Whittier pen name books. I have the other one already.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02350478005243505108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-33862344799517063382017-04-07T18:01:50.227-05:002017-04-07T18:01:50.227-05:00George, I do, too. And Bill, I just wrote about t...George, I do, too. And Bill, I just wrote about this book yesterday as part of the past-deadline book I'm trying to get to Stark House hopefully before I head to Florida Monday morning. (I get to meet and interview Howard Whittington for an article I was asked to write for a European film director's website. Fun stuff.)Rick Ollermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02068917523381664001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-65324128639390017712017-04-07T14:00:44.729-05:002017-04-07T14:00:44.729-05:00Ouch! Somehow, amid my reading of this, the Arthur...Ouch! Somehow, amid my reading of this, the Arthur Itis in my shoulder started making itself known once again. Mathew Pausthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06157135006791553019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-40859948369778115792017-04-07T07:30:20.144-05:002017-04-07T07:30:20.144-05:00I wish STARK HOUSE would reprint these Bart Spicer...I wish STARK HOUSE would reprint these Bart Spicer novels.Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04546161337366365635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668066.post-23851130206867273582017-04-07T06:22:34.445-05:002017-04-07T06:22:34.445-05:00I used to have most of these but I can't remem...I used to have most of these but I can't remember ever reading one, and I rarely read old PI novels these days, though I have a bunch on the Kindle in case the urge should strike.<br />Jeff Meyersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00093411926030586355noreply@blogger.com