Enter the new guy: Cotton Hawes. New detectives in the precinct fits with McBain's stated plan for the series, but it is also indicative of serious wobbling on the part of his publishers. They agreed with McBain's concept that the precinct would experience changes in personnel as in a real police precinct - but when he killed Carella, they forced him to resurrect him. Then he married him off - and discovered that to his publisher that was the same as killing him, only more permanent. As a happily married man, he could not possibly be a hero.
Hawes' first act in the precinct is to almost get Carella killed, but not quite. My suspicion is while McBain introduced the super-macho hero, he believed that his readership will prefer the married Carella. Perhaps he will reveal the truth in future intros to this rerelease of the books.
No comments:
Post a Comment