I was going to say Banacek too
Very cool
Movie
The Conversation Chinatown tie
Books
I read little fiction
“I read little fiction”
Get some Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Or get any of the Black Mask anthologies. You’ll wonder how you managed to miss out.
Hammett put an end to foppish detective stories with the deacon whacking someone in the tea room, and he gave murder back to people who are really good at it. We owe hard boiled detective fiction and its spawn film noir to Hammett. If I’ve missed any story that he wrote it’s not for lack of trying.
Chandler is a great writer and his stories really deserve to be read. You miss out if you just watch movies based on his stories. I’ve picked up some unabridged audible books by Hammett and Chandler, and the Black Mask anthologies that include other writers of that era. Good stuff.
Lately I’ve picked up some Tony Hillerman books. His books feature Navajo tribal police detectives. He’s not a great writer like Hammett and Chandler, but I’m fascinated by the Navajo and Hopi culture that he builds his stories around.
Another interesting writer of detective fiction is the great GK Chesterton, which ought to surprise a lot of people who know him as an essayist and apologist. These are his Father Brown stories- the TV series Columbo was based on or inspired by Chesterton’s detective... although Father Brown was an English Catholic priest circa 1900 rather than a disheveled Italian American LAPD cop. What’s the same is the technique used.
I bought all the Banacek’s and love to watch them. Still a pretty good show today. That 1941 Packard he drove was a dream car.