James Crumley
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James Arthur Crumley (October 12, 1939 – September 17, 2008)Local author James Crumley dies at 68 url=http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/09/18/news/local/news02.txt date=2008-09-17 accessdate=2008–09=18Fox, Margali

''
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'' (September 19, 2008)
was an American author of violent
hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...
crime novels Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a profession ...
and several volumes of short stories and essays, as well as published and unpublished screenplays. He has been described as "one of modern crime writing's best practitioners", who was "a patron saint of the post-Vietnam private eye novel" and a cross between
Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...
and
Hunter S. Thompson Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author, regarded as a pioneer of New Journalism along with Gay Talese, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, Joan Didion, and Tom Wolfe. He rose to prom ...
. His book ''The Last Good Kiss'' has been described as "the most influential crime novel of the last 50 years." Crumley's first published novel, 1969's ''One to Count Cadence'', which was set in the
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
and
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
, began as the thesis for his master's degree in creative writing from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1966. His novels ''The Last Good Kiss'', ''The Mexican Tree Duck'' and ''The Right Madness'' feature the character C.W. Sughrue, an alcoholic ex-army officer turned
private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a wikt:private eye, private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. ...
. ''The Wrong Case'', ''Dancing Bear'' and ''The Final Country'' feature another P.I., Milo Milodragovitch. In the novel ''Bordersnakes'', Crumley brought both characters together. Crumley said of his two private detectives: "Milo's first impulse is to help you; Sughrue's is to shoot you in the foot." Crumley had a cult following, and his work is said to have inspired a generation of crime writers in both the U.S. and the U.K, including
Michael Connelly Michael Joseph Connelly (born July 21, 1956) is an American author of Detective fiction, detective novels and other crime fiction, notably those featuring Los Angeles Police Department, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch, Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch and cr ...
,
George Pelecanos George P. Pelecanos (born February 18, 1957) is an American author, producer and television writer. Many of his 20 books are in the genre of detective fiction and set primarily in his hometown of Washington, D.C. On television, he frequently co ...
,
Dennis Lehane Dennis Lehane (born August 4, 1965) is an American author and screenwriter. He has published more than a dozen novels; the first several were a series of mysteries featuring recurring characters, including '' A Drink Before the War''. Four of hi ...
and
Craig McDonald Craig McDonald is an American novelist, journalist, communications specialist, and the author of the Hector Lassiter series, the Zana O'Savin Series, the novel ''El Gavilan'', and two collections of interviews with fiction writers, ''Art in the ...
, as well as writers from other genres such as
Neal Stephenson Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and baroque. Stephenson's work explores mathemati ...
, but he never achieved mainstream success. "Don't know why that is," Crumley said in an interview in 2001, "Other writers like me a lot. But up until about 10 to 12 years ago, I made more money in France and Japan than in America. I guess I just don't fit in anyplace in the genre book marketplace."


Life

Crumley, who was born in
Three Rivers, Texas Three Rivers is a city in Live Oak County, Texas, Live Oak County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,474 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Mrs. Annie T. Hamilton of Cuero, Texas, Cuero owned a tract of land in the ...
, grew up in south Texas, where his father was an oil-field supervisor and his mother was a waitress. According to Crumley, his father was a gentle man, but his mother was a forceful and violent woman. She insisted that Crumley attend church, but did not do so herself because she could not afford clothes decent enough for church.Holland, Dick. "The Last Good Detective Writer" ''The Texas Observer'' (November 14, 2008) Crumley was a grade-A student and a football player, an offensive lineman, in high school. He attended the
Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...
on a
Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...
ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...
scholarship for about a year before leaving to serve in the
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
from 1958 to 1961; during his service, he was assigned to the
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
. He then resumed his higher education at the Texas College of Arts and Industries on a football scholarship, where he received his
B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...
in
history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
in 1964. He earned an M.F.A. degree in fiction at the
Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 89 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2 ...
in 1966. His master's thesis was published as ''One to Count Cadence'' in 1969. In 1968, he signed the "
Writers and Editors War Tax Protest Tax resistance, the practice of refusing to pay taxes that are considered unjust, has probably existed ever since rulers began imposing taxes on their subjects. It has been suggested that tax resistance played a significant role in the collapse o ...
" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
. Crumley had not read any detective fiction until prompted to by Montana poet
Richard Hugo Richard Hugo (December 21, 1923 – October 22, 1982), born Richard Franklin Hogan, was an American poet. Although some critics regard Hugo as primarily a regionalist, his work resonates broadly across place and time. A portion of Hugo's work ref ...
, who recommended the work of Raymond Chandler for the quality of his sentences. Crumley finally picked up a copy of one of Chandler's books in
Guadalajara, Mexico Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...
. Impressed by the oeuvres of Chandler and
Ross Macdonald Ross Macdonald was the main pseudonym used by the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar (; December 13, 1915 – July 11, 1983). He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in Southern California and featur ...
, Crumley began writing his first detective novel, ''The Wrong Case'', which was published in 1975. From the mid-1980s until his death, Crumley lived in
Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluence with the Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers in western Montana and at the convergence of five ...
, where he served on the English faculty of the
University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana, United States. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. Fall 2024 saw total enrollment hit 10,811, marki ...
and found inspiration for his novels at Charlie B's bar. A regular there, he had many longstanding friends who have been portrayed as characters in his books. Following an earlier stint at the University of Montana (1966-1969), he held visiting professorships at a number of other universities, including the
University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...
(1969-1970),
Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University Syst ...
(1971-1974),
Reed College Reed College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland, Portland, Oregon, E ...
(1976-1977),
Carnegie-Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a Private university, private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became t ...
(1979-1980) and the
University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public university, public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the Univers ...
(1981-1984). From 1974 to 1976, he worked as a freelance writer. Crumley died at St. Patrick HospitalSullivan, Patrici
"James Crumley; Inspired Generation of Crime Writers"
''
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'' (September 19, 2008)
in Missoula on September 17, 2008, of complications from
kidney In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...
and
pulmonary disease Respiratory diseases, or lung diseases, are pathological conditions affecting the organs and tissues that make gas exchange difficult in air-breathing animals. They include conditions of the respiratory tract including the trachea, bronchi, bron ...
s after many years of health problems.McLellan, Denni
"James Crumley dies at 68; author of gritty but poetic crime novels"
''
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'' (September 20, 2008)
According to longtime friend and fellow writer
Thomas McGuane Thomas Francis McGuane III (born December 11, 1939) is an American writer. His work includes ten novels, short fiction and screenplays, as well as three collections of essays devoted to his life in the outdoors. He is a member of the American A ...
, "He did
cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...
six days a week. Ate five times a day. Drank a bottle of
whiskey Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from Fermentation in food processing, fermented grain mashing, mash. Various grains (which may be Malting, malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, Maize, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky ...
every day. He said, 'This is how I like to live. If I live 10 years less, so what?'" He was survived by his fifth wife of 16 years, Martha Elizabeth, a poetMcCumber, Davi
"Writer Jim Crumley: A remembrance"
''
Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. Th ...
'' (September 20, 2008)
and artist. He had five children (including three from his second marriage and two from his fourth), eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Crumley's death prompted an "outpouring of affection" from the citizens of Missoula. Crumley's favorite seat in his favorite bar was put aside to honor him.


Response

None of the books that Crumley wrote ever became bestsellers, but he had a
cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...
devoted to his writing and received frequent critical acclaim. David Dempsey in the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' called Crumley's debut novel, ''One to Count Cadence'', set during the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
, "...a compelling study of the gratuitous violence in men. ... It is a story of bars, brawls, and brothels—and I don't know of any writer who has done it better." In 1993,
Marilyn Stasio Marilyn Stasio is a New York City author, writer and literary critic. She has been the "Crime Columnist" for ''The New York Times Book Review'' since about 1988,rumley'sdon't come blazing down the interstate that often. Neither do writers like Mr. Crumley. Treasure them before they burn themselves out—and take the flame with them." Stasio, Marilynbr>"On the Road to Nowhere"
''
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'' (October 31, 1993)
Christopher Lehmann-Haupt described Crumley's work as being about "a violently chaotic world that can be seen as a legacy of Vietnam, of which his characters are nightmare-haunted veterans," while Ron Powers called it:
the Big Sky Country eimaginedas a kind of hard-boiled Lake Wobegon with bloodstains, a hellscape where all the women are tall ... the men sport pugnacious foreheads, brutal jaws and Indian braids, and all the children are away at camp.
According to Patrick Anderson of ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', "You don't read Crumley for plot. You read him for his outlaw attitude, his rough poetry and his scenes, paragraphs, sentences, moments. You read him for the lawyer with 'a smile as innocent as the first martini'". Critic
Maxim Jakubowski Maxim Jakubowski (born 1944) is an English writer of crime fiction, erotica, and science fiction, and also a rock music critic. Jakubowski was born in 1944 in England to Russian-British and Polish parents, but raised in France. Jakubowski has a ...
, who was a friend of Crumley, writing after Crumley's death, referred to Crumley's last two books, ''The Final Country'' and ''A Right Madness,'' as:
...bittersweet adventures in which rumleycould evoke the skies over Texas and Montana and the landscapes of America like a veritable angel slumming amid the ferocious gunfire, the betrayals his characters always suffered and the trademark bruised romanticism that only he could conjure up without it sounding maudlin.Jakubowski, Maxi
"Goodbye to Jim Crumley"
''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' Book Blog (September 23, 2008)
A number of writers view ''The Last Good Kiss'' as Crumley's best work. Its opening line is sometimes cited as the best in the genre:
''When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon.''


Awards and honors

In 1985, ''The Wrong Case'' won a Falcon Award from the
Maltese Falcon Society The Maltese Falcon Society is an organization for admirers of Dashiell Hammett, his 1930 novel '' The Maltese Falcon,'' and hardboiled mystery books and writers in general. Founded in San Francisco in 1981, the organization is no longer active in th ...
of Japan for the best "
hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...
" novel published in that country. ''The Mexican Tree Duck'' won the 1994
Dashiell Hammett Award The Hammett Prize is awarded annually by the International Association of Crime Writers, North American Branch (IACW/NA) to a Canadian or US citizen or permanent resident for a book in English in the field of crime writing. Established in 1991, ...
, given by the North American Branch of the International Association of Crime Writers for the best literary crime novel, and his last novel, ''A Right Madness'' was a finalist for the 2005 ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. In 2007, the magazine ''Men's Journal'' named ''The Last Good Kiss'' as number 12 on its list of "Top 15 Thrillers of All Time", and in ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'',
George Pelecanos George P. Pelecanos (born February 18, 1957) is an American author, producer and television writer. Many of his 20 books are in the genre of detective fiction and set primarily in his hometown of Washington, D.C. On television, he frequently co ...
, crime author and co-producer of the
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
series ''
The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...
'', rated Crumley's ''The Last Good Kiss'' as number 3 in his list of the "Five Most Important Crime Novels". However, despite claims made on a number of websites, Crumley does not seem to have been either a winner or a nominee for a
Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is a professional organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the E ...
Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...
for ''The Last Good Kiss'' or any other novel. The detective "Crumley" in
Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury ( ; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, Horror fiction, horr ...
's trilogy of mystery novels ('' Death Is a Lonely Business'', ''
A Graveyard for Lunatics ''A Graveyard for Lunatics: Another tale of two cities'' is a mystery novel by American writer Ray Bradbury, published in 1990. It is the second in a series of three mystery novels that Bradbury wrote featuring a fictionalized version of the au ...
'', and ''
Let's All Kill Constance ''Let's All Kill Constance'' is a mystery novel by American writer Ray Bradbury, published in 2002. Narrated by an unnamed Los Angeles writer and set in 1960, it chronicles an unexpected visit from aging Hollywood actress Constance Rattigan wh ...
'') is named in tribute to him.


Film

For about a decade, Crumley worked intermittently in Hollywood, writing original scripts that were never produced, or acting as a
script doctor A script doctor is a writer or playwright hired by a film, television, or theatre production company to rewrite an existing script or improve specific aspects of it, including structure, characterization, dialogue, pacing, themes, and other elemen ...
. In that time he co-wrote with Rob Sullivan the screenplay for the Western film ''The Far Side of Jericho'', which debuted at the
Santa Fe Film Festival The Santa Fe Film Festival is a non-profit organization which presents important world cinema that represents aesthetic, critical, and entertainment standards highlighting New Mexican film. The organization partners with educational groups, school ...
on December 10, 2006 and was released on DVD in the United States on August 21, 2007. He worked on a number of drafts of the screenplay for the film adaptation of the
comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
''
Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of the British weekly anthology Comic book, comic ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'' (1977). He is the magazi ...
'' (1995), though none of his ideas were used in the final film. His commissioned but unproduced screenplay for the film ''The Pigeon Shoot'' was published in a limited edition. Additionally, Crumley provided the commentary for the 2002
English-language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
French film The cinema of France comprises the film industry and its film productions, whether made within the nation of France or by French film production companies abroad. It is the oldest and largest precursor of national cinemas in Europe, with prima ...
''L'esprit de la route'' by Matthieu Serveau. Regarding his impression of the film industry, Crumley said: "If you back up into a room in Hollywood with your britches down and something odd happens to you, it’s not their fault!""Always Lookin' For A Book, Lookin' For A Title: An Interview with James Crumley"
''Contrappasso Magazine'' (Issue 1, August 2012)


Works

*''One to Count Cadence'' (1969) – novel, Vietnam *''The Wrong Case'' (1975) – novel, Milo Milodragovitch series *''The Last Good Kiss'' (1978) – novel, C.W. Sughrue series *''Dancing Bear'' (1983) – novel, Milo series *''Pigeon Shoot'' (1987) – unproduced screenplay, limited edition *''Whores'' (1988) – short stories *''Muddy Fork and Other Things'' (1991) – short fiction and essays *''The Mexican Tree Duck'' (1993) – novel, Sughrue series, winner 1994 Dashiell Hammett Award *''Bordersnakes'' (1996) – novel, Sughrue and Milo series *''The Putt at the End of the World'' (2000) – collaborative novel *''The Final Country'' (2001) – novel, Milo series *''The Right Madness'' (2005) – novel, Sughrue series


Quotes

It's done. This may not be my final country. I can still taste the bear in the back of my throat, bitter with the blood of the innocent, and somewhere in my old heart I can still remember the taste of love. Perhaps this is just a resting place. A warm place to drink cold beer. But wherever my final country is, my ashes will go back to Montana when I die. Maybe I've stopped looking for love. Maybe not. Maybe I will go to Paris. Who knows? But I'll sure as hell never go back to Texas again.
''The Final Country'' (2001)
When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon.
''The Last Good Kiss'' (1978)
Son, never trust a man who doesn't drink because he's probably a self-righteous sort, a man who thinks he knows right from wrong all the time. Some of them are good men, but in the name of goodness, they cause most of the suffering in the world. They're the judges, the meddlers. And, son, never trust a man who drinks but refuses to get drunk. They're usually afraid of something deep down inside, either that they're a coward or a fool or mean and violent. You can't trust a man who's afraid of himself. But sometimes, son, you can trust a man who occasionally kneels before a toilet. The chances are that he is learning something about humility and his natural human foolishness, about how to survive himself. It's damned hard for a man to take himself too seriously when he's heaving his guts into a dirty toilet bowl.
''The Wrong Case'' (1975)


References

;Notes ;Further reading *"James Crumley". ''Dictionary of Literary Biography. Volume 226: American Hard-Boiled Crime Writers''. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. *"James Crumley". ''Contemporary Authors''. Volume 121. Detroit: Gale Group, 2004.


Archival sources

*

are housed at the Wittliff Collections, Texas State University in San Marcos.


External links



at the
Texas State University-San Marcos Texas State University (TXST) is a public research university with its main campus in San Marcos, Texas, United States, and another campus in Round Rock. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to be one of the largest univer ...
* Obituaries and remembrances
''L.A. Times'' obit





''The Economist'' obit



Maxim Jakubowski remembrance
''
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Dick Holland remembrance
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