Yesterday's heroes?

As some of you may know, my passion for crime novels was forged in my teens when I was introduced to the American hard-boiled detectives. The writing of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Ross MacDonald evoked a world of tough but honest men, the dialogue was filled with sharp barbs and the descriptions were poetic, at times brutal and at others laugh-out-loud funny. It was the underbelly of the golden age of Hollywood written with style and humour.

As time has passed my love of these books has not diminished but I do wonder if they are still relevant to 21st Century audiences. The violence that so shocked original readers of these novels has been replaced with the graphic descriptions of murder scenes in books by authors like Chris Carter and Tess Gerritsen. Modern crime writing is much more visceral, more direct and I wonder if contemporary readers would see these books I love so much as being rather tame and pedestrian.

The cosy crime of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and their modern counterparts have their fans and are still riding high in the sales charts. Sherlock Holmes is as popular as ever as he is re-invented and repackaged in print and on TV but have my favourites been reduced to bit-part players, yesterday's heroes. Are Marlowe and Archer now like the striker who has lost his touch in front of goal or the pitcher whose arm has gone? I hope that is not the case, I hope they are still entertaining and inspiring readers and that they remain relevant. I believe that’s what their fabulous writers deserve but I'm not sure it is true.

Is there anybody out there who has read any of these books recently and would like to offer their thoughts?