Pseudonyms include A.A. Fair, Grant Holiday, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J. Kenney, Charles M. Green, Kyle Corning, Les Tillray and Robert Parr (1889-1970) Although critics sneered and many felt that he was not a very good writer (Rex Stout, for example, once claimed that the Perry Mason books weren't even novels), by the time of his death ERLE … Continue reading Erle Stanley Gardner
Year: 2018
Charlie Bradshaw
Created by Stephen Dobyns (1941-2026) "I'm the kind of guy that doesn't trust beauty. Like it's a distraction. You stand there staring at the posies, thinking how pretty they are and then whap, something smacks you from behind. When my wife was dying, the doctors gave her morphine to take her mind off her troubles: … Continue reading Charlie Bradshaw
Wyatt
Created by Lou Berney “Her eyes were a strange metallic green, like the sky in Oklahoma when suddenly the wind died and you knew a tornado was near.” So far, Lou Berney's Vegas P.I. WYATT has -- unfortunately -- made only one appearance, in The Long and Faraway Gone (2015). But it's a good one, winning … Continue reading Wyatt
Jane Avery
Created by Cynthia St. Aubin Habitual liar JANE AVERY isn't a private eye. She's a lawyer. Or at least she's hoping to be. No, Jane's no shamus. But her mother is. In fact, her mother, Alexis Avery, may be "the most imaginatively duplicitous private eye in Denver." Where do you think Jane learned to lie … Continue reading Jane Avery
Fritz Brown
Created by James Ellroy (1948--) Self-proclaimed crime fiction enfant terrible James Ellroy's one and only private eye novel to date features morally-ambiguous, Beethoven-loving ex-cop turned low-rent slacker private detective FRITZ BROWN. Fritz admits he wasn't Los Angeles' finest police officer, copping that he was "an uneasy, malcontented one at first, until the booze came along … Continue reading Fritz Brown
Garrett
Created by Glen Cook A well-received series about a man called GARRETT, the top--and only--private eye in TunFaire. It's not easy making a living as a private dick in a town full of ogres, dwarfs, gnomes, sorcerors, centaurs, nymphs and elves, never mind having Captain Block of the Watch always on your case, but dammit, … Continue reading Garrett
Harry Bosch
Created by Michael Connelly "Everybody counts, or nobody counts" -- Harry's mantra "No, not Harry Bosch," he said quietly... "It's always just what he wants. He's always been a private investigator, even when he carried a badge." -- an FBI agent (Lost Light) EDITOR'S NOTE: After eight novels with a badge, Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch finally became … Continue reading Harry Bosch
Willis Gidney
Created by Thomas Kaufman It took me quite a while to warm to WILLIS GIDNEY, the “half-assed” young, streetwise DC private eye/scam artist hero of Drink the Tea (2010), an occasionally frustrating but ultimately promising debut, the winner of the 2011 St. Martin’s Press/Private Eye Writers of America Best First Novel Contest. Initially, I wasn’t … Continue reading Willis Gidney
The Name Game: Series Title Gimmicks
Colours Both the Pat and Jean Abbott series by Frances Crane, and the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald use colours in their titles, although Frances thought of it first, scooping John by over twenty years. Examples: The Turquoise Shop, The Golden Box and The Yellow Violet by Crane, and The Deep Blue Goodbye, … Continue reading The Name Game: Series Title Gimmicks
Joe King Oliver
Created by Walter Mosley (1952--) From the opening blast of it's dedication ("For Malcolm, Medgar, and Martin"), Mosley makes it clear which side of the "Black Lives Matter" debate he's on, but as always the complexities and ironies of his take on American society raise the ambitious and bracing potential series debut Down the River … Continue reading Joe King Oliver