Chandler's Pearls

Never been to the space channel website, but with their shows online, they are REALLY pushing this stupid "Fact or Fiction" show. It's basically Ghosthunters crossed with Mythbusters. So better than Ghosthunters.

Just watched the musical episode of "Todd and the Book of Pure Evil". Musical sequences make life worth living. True fact. (Also, as I'm contractually obligated to mention, I always say that. It's a saying of mine. Ask my brother, he'll confirm it.)

Reading through Chandler's short story collection "The Simple Art of Murder" hasn't always been the most fun. A disproportionate number of the stories have featured hotel "house dicks" (detectives) as the protagonist, which is a little lame for me. I guess I've only read the four stories so far, but still, two out of four protagonists. Wait... that's half!

This one story, however, had me quite electrified: "Pearls are a Nuisance" It's the only mystery that hasn't revolved around murder (which raises the question about why it was included in the collection "The Simple Art of Murder"), it's the only story where the protagonist truly feels unique compared to the other heroes, and the writing matched the tone of this character. It was quite a shift from the normal style, but I loved it.

The main character is a wordy intellectual, very wealthy, with a greater than normal penchant for whiskey- okay, so in that regard not too far off from the standard American detective. His verbosity is constantly commented on by the more straight talking, hard edged characters, but this guy, instead of playing it up like he's better than they are just cops to the fact that he can't help how he talks, that even he finds it strange. That perspective is refreshing as well.

He's not afraid to get his hands dirty with some fisticuffs (though he would lament any damage to his suit), but his partner/anagonist is so sturdily built that it's ridiculous how ineffective this guy is.

That's the other thing: this story was funny!

I was surprised how close it came to the detective characters I want to create, the tough guy trench coat wearing, wrangle a hornets nest and get the job done guy, and the prim and proper weaver of the intellectual tapestry that could figure it all out from an easy chair and a newspaper.

But working together! The ORIGINAL odd couple! (okay, not "original" odd couple... I should really look up who the original odd couple was... it was a show, right?)

Fortunately for me, the duo in this story turned out to be friendly enemies by the end, so at least I have that going for me, difference wise. But it really is a lot of fun, so check out "Pearls are a Nuisance".

Oh, but if you do read it and get to the part about how the main character didn't give out his private line, but got a call on it, make sure to check whether or not he gave Henry that number, or else this doesn't make sense. I didn't feel like checking it myself, but that's just because I was lazy.