I first saw the movie To Have and to Have Not when I was in my early twenties. Who could not become enthralled with sexy Humphrey Bogart and sultry Lauren Bacall? When Bacall looks over at Bogart and asks him this suggestive question, he is hooked, on stage and off. The movie was loosely based on Ernest Hemmingway’s novel of the same name, but the noir flavor of the film drew me into other Bogart/Bacall movies such as The Big Sleep (novel by Raymond Chandler), and Dark Passage (novel by David Goodis). Then I discovered the Nick and Nora Thin Man movies (novel by Dashiell Hammett), and another Boggy film based on Hammett’s novel The Maltese Falcon. This time he’s playing the private eye Sam Spade. Suddenly, watching these wisecracking tough guys and seductive femme fatales on screen wasn’t enough, so I headed to the library and discovered a new world of noir mysteries.
I not only sailed through Chandler, Hammett, and Goodis, I discovered Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe, Ross Macdonald’s Lew Archer, and John D. MacDonald Travis McGee.
When I began writing my mysteries, there was no doubt, they’d have a noir flavor, but my protagonist is female. She's a sassy redhead named Sydney Lockhart and she creates more problems than she solves.
Check out the Rolling Mystery Blog Tour for other authors' takes on this topic.
Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Watcha Gonna Do? http://chickdickmysteries.com/2011/08/23/bad-boys-bad-boys-watcha-gonna-do/
Favorite Male Mystery Hero http://ryderislington.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/favorite-male-mystery-hero/
