Johnny April
Created by Mike Roscoe (John Roscoe and Michael Ruso)

Kansas City private eye JOHNNY APRIL is, according to at least one character, "a nasty, viscious and dirty bastard." Suffice it to say that Johnny's one hard-talkin', fast-shootin', dirty-fightin' guy. The five novels in the series are tough, fast-paced little gems well worth seeking out. Anthony Boucher called April "the only genuine private eye I know."

Roscoe was actually the pen name of a couple of Kansas City ops named John Roscoe and Mike Russo, who worked for the Hargrave Detective Agency. There's a photo of them on the back cover of my Signet edition of Death is a Round Black Ball, two hard looking dudes in hats, sporting killer smiles.

NOVELS

• Death is a Round Black Ball (1952)
• Riddle Me This (1952)
• Slice of Hell (1954)
• One Tear for My Grave (1955)
• The Midnight Eye (1958)

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.