100 GREAT DETECTIVES
SUMMARY: Anthology of essays in which crime authors critique other crime writers' greatest fictional characters. Edited by Maxim Jakubowski, who also supplies an introduction. This collection won the Anthony Award for Best Critical Work.
Contains Kim Newman's appreciation of Dudley Smith, who Newman declares "the éminence grise who will come to haunt all Ellroy's subsequent works." Newman interviewed Ellroy for the essay, and Ellroy supplies his explanation for Smith's absence from "The Black Dahlia," the only volume of the L.A. Quartet in which Smith has no role. Ellroy now judges his omission of Smith from "Dahlia" as a "mistake. The whole quartet would have been more homogeneous if Dudley Smith had been in 'The Black Dahlia.'" Newman, who is noted for his film criticism and a series of vampire novels (including "Anno Dracula"), concludes his essay with Ellroy's own estimation of Dudley Smith: "I love him. Never underestimate Dudley Smith. He's smarter than everybody else."
POINTS: The collection was first published in hardback by Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc. in 1991. A paperback edition was also released by Carroll & Graf.
