Is McNulty a revamped 21st century Marlowe?

A couple of weeks ago I finished reading The Big Sleep. It was my second attempt at the novel and the second Raymond Chandler book that I’ve read. Chandler had created the quintessential hardboiled PI with Phillip Marlowe. His detective is idiosyncratic living by his own code unlike anybody else around him. This code allows for variations of gray in some areas and definitive black and white lines in others. He talks flippantly when shouldn’t and is tight lipped when candidness would be in his best interest. Marlowe pushes the boundaries of law in order to aid his client (whether they request it or not) often putting himself at great risk. A bottle of rye seems to be his closest companion as he gumshoes out into the street as a martyr, working for clients who seem unworthy of his services. Though self depreciating, I believe that deep inside Marlowe thinks he is the smartest (if not moral) man in Los Angeles.

Jimmy McNulty from HBO’s and David Simon’s The Wire seems to be cut from the same cloth. Sure there are some obvious differences starting with the gloomy location of drug infested Baltimore (though both have a love-hate relationship with their city) and the fact that McNulty has been married and rarely turns down easy sex. (Marlowe is a chaste knight always rebuffing the women who throw themselves at him.) However the similarities are overwhelming. Almost everything I mentioned in the above paragraph can be applied to McNulty’s police work. He will alienate anybody he is close to in order to follow through on a case. Burning bridges is a simple necessity in order to move forward. Though McNulty works for a team, he often acts like Marlowe, going his own way regardless of whether he is in violation of direct orders.

What do you think?

D.P. Lyle, MD – Forensics for Dummies

I’m a little short for time, so here are some notes that I took from a session on forensics at the 2006 San Francisco Writer’s Conference. D.P. Lyle, MD gave a great presentation and I highly recommend his website and books. http://www.dplylemd.com/ I have an outline of his presentation below.

Dr. D.P. Lyle – Forensics for Dummies

1. When knocked out
a. it is usually a couple of minutes down
i. a concussion
b. usually come back woozy for a second
i. then in pain
ii. angry
c. rarely incapacitates
2. Guns
a. Impossible to kill somebody
i. Even with multiple wounds
ii. Unless heart, spine or head hit
b. Usually makes victim angrier, more violent
3. No untraceable poison known
a. Toxicology test will find it
i. But usually not administered
ii. Autopsies are rare, but if something amiss
1. Then a quick test
2. more complex if results turn up
4. Most common forms of death
a. Natural
b. Suicide
c. Accidental
d. Other
i. Murder here, but rare
ii. All might look the same to a coroner
iii. Must a have a reason to look further
5. If coroner can’t explain why person died
a. Then routine drug screen
i. Alcohol, narcotics, sedatives, aspirin, cocaine, marijuana
b. If drug shows then tweak for specific chemicals
c. If poison outside of drug screen
i. Family, insurance or police must open investigation
6. Recommends to kill go to plant store instead of drug store
a. Book – Deadly Poisons for Deadly…. (Jesse…)
7. CSI Affect – not true in real life
a. True scientists
i. Old equipment, no guns
ii. Work with samples
iii. That’s all
b. Police cannot touch a body except to confirm death
i. body owned by coroner
ii. Police own the crime scene
iii. Several people with specific job at crime scene
1. Up to 30
8. Don’t trust mother nature
a. The bodies will come up
9. Blood Simple is a great movie to watch
a. Dead people don’t bleed!!!
10. Novel types
a. Thrillers have increased tension as reader knows something the protagonist doesn’t
b. Mysteries unveils everything with the protagonist

Questions
1. Shock: competence and coherence with blood loss
a. Depends if blood clots
i. Will unless organ (liver, others) hit
b. If blood pressure drops (like flat tire)
i. Will get confused, disoriented, sleepy
ii. Rate of blood loss
1. too much and brain shuts down
2. Can you leave bruises on a corpse?
a. Only with a heavy instrument and force
b. Bruises occur by broken capillaries
i. Flowing blood is bunched up
c. Thumb used to strangle
i. Very deep impression
d. Can tell strategies of murder
i. Rope vs. chain vs. hands
3. How quick to get DNA samples
a. Can get it in 24 hrs with sample kit
i. But must be sent to another lab for verification
b. What a coroner writes affects everything in a trial
c. Some states have 5 yr. back ups
4. Decay rates depends on environments
a. Swamps (quickly) vs. cold mountains (years)
5. Men use guns, women use poisons
a. Direct anger vs. distance from crime
6. Covering up crime
a. Gloves, booties, hats
i. Prints and DNA
b. bleach to clean up blood
i. but blood is a liquid that will seep into cracks and crevasse
7. Crime scene
a. Scene of crime
b. Points of Entry
c. Points of Exit

Walter Mosley and James Ellroy: 1950’s Racism on Each Side of the Track

Hands down, I am a fan of James Ellroy’s chaotic, frenzied fiction. It is at times ridiculously over the top and gratuitous in terms of action (read hyper-violent), use of language, plot and overall story telling. Often his stories take place in a less than golden 1950s Los Angeles and usually the protagonists are officers of the LAPD. Nobody on the force wears a white hat. Though villains possess unadulterated evil, the heroes and their cohorts all sport varying shades of gray that fluctuates throughout a novel. A common characteristic is that the police use (and misuse) their power to coerce confessions from those they deem guilty or vulnerable. With the possession of a badge, many of Ellroy’s cops feel invulnerable to the world outside of superior officers and a few Hollywood socialites and politicos. Above all they have contempt for minorities, frequently throwing out racists epitaphs and coming down hard on any they may cross.

Walter Mosley, writer of the Easy Rawlins series (as well as Socrates Fellows and Paris Minton), looks at the African American hard boiled detective trying to navigate his way through Los Angeles. Cops are feared by the black community. To come forward with information on crime, Easy or Paris (both living in 1950s South Central) could find themselves easily sitting in jail beaten and bloody. For them, it is in their best interest to avoid the law and take matters into their own hands.

Mosley and Ellroy back each other up from different perspectives on the brutal and racist police culture of the 1950s. I should also note that both authors have occasionally created a respectful law officer or two as well, adding layers of gray to their novels. As for Los Angeles, the city is enormous covering around 470 square miles and in 1950 LA contained almost 2 million residents with many diverse backgrounds. Currently there are 9,600 LAPD officers and I can only assume that there were far less in the 1950s. Were officers acting out, fearful at feeling outnumbered and overstretched? Possibly, but that would be one of many issues including power, ignorance of others, unchecked aggression, an overall group think culture, etc., but this would be another blog.

I think that LAPD has come along way from the heavy-fisted fifties even before the Rodney King incident and definitely afterwards. Integration, community outreach, staff psychologists and other programs have helped. I highly recommend Miles Corwin’s “The Killing Season.” It is a non-fiction account of homicide detectives in South Central during the mid-nineties. The department is understaffed, underfunded, and the work hours are unending. Mr. Corwin also takes time to look at the effects of crime of the families of victims.

The Oscars and the Power of C4

Congratulations: Coens, Cormac and Cody

Although the telecast of the Oscars had one of the lowest viewer turnouts in the history of the Academy Awards, I enjoyed watching the results. Granted the musical sequences were painful, outside of Swell Season’s performance, and the aren’t-we-so-great Hollywood propaganda was a bit tiresome. However, my favorites in my favorite categories (writing, directing and picture) all won.

I’ve been a die hard fan of the Coen Brothers since Raising Arizona in the late 80’s. (Someday I will try to write an essay on why Arizona is pure genius and a great American film). They were able to translate a Cormac McCarthy novel with all of the writer’s raw sparseness on celluloid. They conveyed his unrelenting brutality in which pure evil overpowers all, and humans, caught in this tragedy, do their best (though often making fatal mistakes) to battle against this unstoppable force. BTW I see strong parallel between Raising Arizona and No Country for Old Men, in terms of setting off evil, battling against fate, etc.

Also a shout out goes to Diablo Cody, writer of Juno. Her funny, lightening speed dialog, a strong and compelling central actress, and realistic and growing characters set in Illinois made this a definite Oscar-worthy script. My investment in her win was also personal as I was one person removed from her by her manager (and a producer of Juno) Mason Novick. I talked to him last year about a comedy script that I sent him: Fatman. He said that he laughed throughout the script, which is a rare commodity for comic screenplay. Unfortunately, he didn’t believe he could produce it. He asked me to send him a list of ideas, which I did and never heard back. I’m afraid that with his success it might even be tougher to get a follow up phone call. Arggggh. Close, but I am without a cigar. Regardless, congratulations to Mason for picking up Diablo and presenting her talents to the world.