Pulp Fiction
Detective classics 
You may not be a fan, but you’re probably aware of the original pulp fiction detective stories of the 1930s and 40s and their influence on current detective novels. I’m still working my way through a collection of stories by Raymond Chandler, Mickey Spillane, Dashiell Hammett and Rex Stout. They introduced us to the characters of Philip Marlow, Mike Hammer, and Nero Wolfe, often seen in movies starring Humphrey Bogart.
I recently found a modern version of the pulp fiction style by David Baldacci in A Gambling Man, the second intriguing story in Baldacci’s Archer Series about a former WWII veteran working as a private detective. Baldacci’s series is modeled on the early detective stories while making Archer and the women characters more appealing to modern readers.
Those novels and short stories are all good background reading for my own attempt at the pulp fiction style with The Kid from California series about the gangsters running casinos in Las Vegas in the 1960s. Young Patrick Malloy is grappling with the challenges of working for the Mob without getting killed or going to jail while also doing occasional bodyguard duties for Frank Sinatra.
I’m currently working on short story #3 in the series, Looking for Answers. None are published yet, but they have been submitted for consideration by several crime fiction anthologies and Mystery magazines like Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock’s.
In other news:
My short story, Family First, was published in September by Mystery and Suspense Magazine. (You can read the digital edition for free at: Mystery & Suspense Magazine – Fall Issue. Family First is on page 28.)
Enjoy your reading and writing,
Del
Del Chatterson
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