Is the hard-bitten PI the guy of my dreams?

I've never been much of a mystery fan, which I think it comes down to the fact that the line separating “mysterious” and “frustrating” is a fairly thin one. It's not that I don't appreciate suspense; it's just that I read primarily for entertainment and figuring out a really good mystery is WORK.

However, in the interest of broadening my literary horizons, I decided to get over my laziness and read a few mysteries. In spite of my general avoidance of books that need to be solved, I've always harbored a secret crush on one of the mainstays of mystery fiction: the hardboiled PI. To me, the PI is defined by tough independence, a casual disdain for authority and danger, and dazzling intelligence. He frequently performs the unlikely feat of making alcoholism and chain smoking seem inappropriately cool. He's got the best grit-and-smoke narrator's voice in the business. In short, he's got enough style to make a tough book worth reading.

In pursuit of real-fictional detectives to support my pre-conceived notions, I started with Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade in  “The Maltese Falcon.” I was surprisingly let down. I'm not sure what it is about Spade that I find distasteful, but somehow he simply comes off as mean. I suspect that this has a lot to do with the third-person narration of the book: without seeing into the PI's sharp mind, his professional detachment looks like rudeness, and thus lack appeal.

Feeling slightly nervous, I moved on to Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe with “Fer-de-Lance,” and I had a lot more fun. Strictly speaking, Wolfe and his trusty assistant Archie Goodwin don't quite fit the mold of gritty independent detectives. For starters, they're a team, which lessens the impact of their individuality. But Wolfe is so quirky and impossibly smart and Goodwin is such a charming good sport that I couldn't leave them out. They represent a sort of hard-boiled-lite: Wolfe is opaque and aloof, but Archie's narration brings enough personal insight to the arrangement that I find both characters to be much more readable than the determinedly objective Spade.

My last PI for today is Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, who turned out to be just the detective I was looking for. Aside from his wonderful complexity, (Sensitive tough guy! Competent underachiever!) Marlowe inhabits an intensely detailed and believable world, described with straightforward and engaging prose. Even with frequent use of casual vernacular and plenty of details that date the book, Chandler's writing still feels sharp and fresh.

I haven't completely changed my opinion of mysteries, but I've definitely found a corner of the genre to enjoy. If you haven't read any smooth detectives lately, consider picking up a classic.