Richard S. Prather, Shell Scott

I noted on another blog (can't remember which one) that Prather's Shell Scott novels feature right-wing politics. Possibly so--but I think that he may be less right-wing than one might think.

I'll admit that Scott is, by contemporary standards, a sexist pig. And in the novel that I'm currently reading (the first, Case of the Vanishing Beauty) he threatens from time to time to punch women. Another novel (The Scrambled Yeggs) opens with Scott spanking a woman--and not in any mutually erotic manner.

Still, there's a bit of the progressive somewhere in Scott. He was a contrarian: driver of a convertible Cadillac, wearer of loud clothes (especially loud ties). His women were willing, but they also tended to be more substantial than one might expect. And, despite the occasional spanking or threat, Scott actually treated them fairly well--although his ability to remain monogamous was deeply impaired.

I'm working my way back through the Scott mysteries and will offer further thoughts. But, for now, I think that the conservative element is not all that great.

And, of course, the novels are just rippingly funny. I'm reminded of Waugh: he was really quite the conservative, but his best works were so funny that it's hard even for a liberal such as me to hold his conservatism against him.