What Is Pulp Crime?

I can tell you what my definition of pulp crime is. It might work for you. You might object to bits of my definition, and I might object to bits of yours. As with most genres, this is universally true: I’ll know what it is when I see it. But this is just as true: you and I might disagree about a particular story or writer fitting our innate definition. Never mind. It’s all part of the fun.

My American pulp crime writers would include: Raymond Chandler first of all, then Dashiell Hammett. Robert B. Parker, Erle Stanley Gardner (also writing as A. A Fair), and from there we can expand it out to Pulp by Bukowski, anything on TV by David Lynch, some Stephen King… we’re wandering a broad highway now, but you get the picture. One of the key aspects to notice is that these are all American creators.

When you get to Britain, the ground is softer. John Buchan? Ian Fleming? Yes and yes, sometimes. Notice how the British version is often not your average gumshoe. Richard Hannay, the creation of Buchan, is a very senior military figure for most of his life. James Bond is a senior member of MI6. They are not gumshoe heroes like Spencer or Philip Marlowe. The British heroes (George Smiley — certainly not “pulp” but he does have seniority on his side) tend to be high ranking officer types. The exception is Len Deighton’s heroes, but they are very much professional secret service men too. The British example does not value the independent private dick, living off his wits.

I just remembered James Crumley from the American school. Fabulous. Elmore Leonard. Carl Hiaasen?

The British example might also include the country house murder mystery. Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes. That kind of thing. The Moonstone. They are a way for the writer to show how much cleverer they are than you. I love the British examples, but I prefer the American ones. In my one-man 2021 revival of the noir pulp crime novel, it is the American template I am following.

Another way, a less useful way, to define pulp is to say simply that it is written and read fast. It is not earth-shattering in its insight, necessarily, but it sure as hell is entertaining. It is sheer entertainment on every page. That is the yardstick. Am I entertaining you? Can I entertain you, to lure you from one page to the next? Can I take you away from your daily troubles? If yes, then I have succeeded. If yes, it is probably pulp.

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