Al Delaney
Created by Thomas B. Black (1910 --)

AL DELANEY is an op for the Redman Detective Agency in Chancellor city. When the boss, ol' Redman himself, bites the big one, Al (with the aid of a lovely lady eye by the name of Dolly Adams) keeps the agency going. Al's a fun-loving guy, but you wouldn't know it from the amount of murder and mayhem that seems to follow him wherever he goes in his four well-written and well-paced adventures.

"Familiar and competent pre-Spillane pyrotechnicality with an avoidance of incidental cliches," according to James Sandoe, noted critic of all things private eyeish. However, Sandoe didn't like the way Al constantly referred to women as "hairpins."

THE EVIDENCE

• "The little guy cried and that did it; I said I'd look for his wife."
  (Opening line of The Pinball Murders)

UNDER OATH

• "Excellent is the word for the new Al Delaney mystery. Every page is packed with action and a new clue."
  (Louisville Courier-Journal)

NOVELS

• The 3-13 Murders (1946) ..Buy this book
• The Whitebird Murders (1946) ..Buy this book
• The Pinball Murders (1947) ..Buy this book
• Four Dead Mice (1954; AKA The Million Dollar Murder) ..Buy this book