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Susanna Lee, Detectives in the Shadows: A Hard-boiled History

Susanna Lee, Detectives in the Shadows: A Hard-boiled History BOOK REVIEWS Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020. $27.00, 978-1-42143-709-5. Reviewed by Ffion Davies Susanna Lee’s Detectives in the Shadows (2020) offers a comprehensive history of the iconography of the hard-boiled detective. From its inception in Daly’s Three Gun Terry (1923) to its more contemporary manifestations in Netflix’s Jessica Jones (2015), Lee assesses how the character archetype reflects and reacts to changes in American individualism and identity over the course of the twentieth century. She writes that the ‘hard-boiled detective is sort of an honorary shadow figure in US history’ (1) and sets about placing the figure within its historical and political milieu. It is worth noting at the outset that those who approach this text in the expectation of a theoretical examination of the hard-boiled detective may find themselves left wanting, and, as a result, overlook the valuable literary history provided by Lee. For Lee, the hard-boiled detective is best conceptualised within the framework of the American fantasy of ‘rugged individualism’ (16) – a phrase pulled from Herbert Hoover’s 1928 presidential campaign and the anchoring theme throughout the course of the book. She posits that even in its earliest manifestations, the hard-boiled detective was a locus for the projection http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Crime Fiction Studies Edinburgh University Press

Susanna Lee, Detectives in the Shadows: A Hard-boiled History

Davies, Ffion
Crime Fiction Studies , Volume 2 (1): 3 – Mar 1, 2021
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Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Copyright
Copyright © Edinburgh University Press
ISSN
2517-7982
eISSN
2517-7990
DOI
10.3366/cfs.2021.0037
Publisher site
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Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020. $27.00, 978-1-42143-709-5. Reviewed by Ffion Davies Susanna Lee’s Detectives in the Shadows (2020) offers a comprehensive history of the iconography of the hard-boiled detective. From its inception in Daly’s Three Gun Terry (1923) to its more contemporary manifestations in Netflix’s Jessica Jones (2015), Lee assesses how the character archetype reflects and reacts to changes in American individualism and identity over the course of the twentieth century. She writes that the ‘hard-boiled detective is sort of an honorary shadow figure in US history’ (1) and sets about placing the figure within its historical and political milieu. It is worth noting at the outset that those who approach this text in the expectation of a theoretical examination of the hard-boiled detective may find themselves left wanting, and, as a result, overlook the valuable literary history provided by Lee. For Lee, the hard-boiled detective is best conceptualised within the framework of the American fantasy of ‘rugged individualism’ (16) – a phrase pulled from Herbert Hoover’s 1928 presidential campaign and the anchoring theme throughout the course of the book. She posits that even in its earliest manifestations, the hard-boiled detective was a locus for the projection

Journal

Crime Fiction Studies – Edinburgh University Press

Published: Mar 1, 2021

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