My Back Pages (Index)

Thrilling Detective Trivia

“I make lists,” she said, stating the obvious. “I always did.”
— Last Night in Montreal

Sam Spade’s hat size? Marlowe’s socks? A list of Left-Handed Lithuanian Lesbian Eyes?
You might find out here… 

THE HALL OF FAME

THE P.I. POLL

AUTHORS & CREATORS

THEY ALSO SERVED

MY SCRAPBOOK

• A Cornucopia of Tear Sheets, Illustrations, Photos, Scribbles & Other Crap That I Think is Way Cool

MY BOOKSHELF

• A Salute to Some of the Books I Love (or Lust After)

MURDER IN THE LIBRARY

• A Staggering List of Books, Magazines, Reference Sources and the Like. (What? You thought I made this all up?)

THE PAPER CHASE

• Libraries and Other Sources for Scholarly Research

WIT & WISDOM

• What the hell is a private eye, anyway? In a nutshell…
• What the hell is a private eye, anyway? Further thoughts on the subject
• And what the hell do you mean by “Hard-boiled,” for that matter?
• And while we’re at it, what the hell is “Noir”?
• “The Simple Art of Murder”  The Gospel, According to Raymond Chandler
• Lighten Up, Ray! Directives from Chairman Chandler
• I Hear Voices Quotations from the Work of Raymond Chandler
• When You’re Quoted, You’ll Take It and Like It! Private Dicks Say the Darnedest Things…
• Hello, I Must Be Going Great Moments of Unconciousness
• Thoughts on the Future of the Genre
• On Writing Authors Say the Darnedest Things…
• Mistress Christa’s Ten Rules to Write Noir DO NOT DISOBEY!
• Props & Peeves! Private Eye Stories from A Real-Life P.I.
• Oooops! The Most Common Mistakes in Private Eye Fiction
• Never Happen The Real Deal on TV Cops by Charlie Shafer
• Work Lessons Everything I Know About the Job, I Learned From P.I. Novels
• Life Lessons Everything I Know, I Learned From P.I. Novels
• Rafferty’s Rules
• There’s an old Polish proverb that says… The Proverbs of Banacek
• Please allow him to introduce himself… Time To Meet Harry Kenmare–In His Own Words!
• Frank Ryan’s 10 Golden Rules For Successful Armed Robbery Courtesy of Elmore Leonard
• Father Knox’s Decalogue The Ten Rules of (Golden Age) Detective Fiction
• S.S. Van Dine’s Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories More Golden Age Hooey
• Frank Gruber’s Sure-Fire 11-Point Formula
• Lester Dent’s  Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot
• It’s my prerogative…

HISTORY

• The Timeline
• True Detectives Famous–or Infamous–Real-Life Eyes
• Early Eyes Early Historical & Literary Influences
• Who’s on First? The First Hard-Boiled Private Eye Story
• The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes Private Detectives & Other Miscreants
• The Top 100 Hard-Boiled Characters of the Twentieth Century
• Robert Randisi’s Survey of Your Favorite P.I.s From rec.arts.mystery (1997)
• 100 Eyes of The Mystery Scene Era (so far…) (2007)
• Dick Lochte’s Top 20 Private Eye Novels (2010; revised 2017)
• The 14 Best Private Eye Novels of All Time (2012)
• Twenty-One Private Eye Classics From The Reader’s Guide to the Private Eye Novel
• Private-Eye Detective Novels: A Starter Pack Sarah Weinman knows how to pick ’em.
• Eight Great Noir Thrillers by Sara Gran Blame it on her Dad!
• The Hardboiled Era (1929-58) A Checklist from Geoffrey O’Brien’s Hardboiled America
• The Hard-Boiled Dick A Personal Checklist By James Sandoe
• Banned! The Naughty List
• The Mushroom Jungle The Private Eye Denizens of the Mushroom Jungle
• “Oh, Mama, I got the post-modern metafictional blues again…” Who reads this stuff?
• The Best P.I. Novels of This Millennium? A Preliminary List

SOMETHING FUNNY ABOUT THE EYES

• Are You Trying to Be Funny? The Funniest Eyes
• Let ‘er Rip!!! Some of My Favourite Spoofs & Parodies
• In the Tradition of Hammett, Chandler, Macdonald… and Snoopy?
• MAD About You Dept: What, me shamus? Parodies and satires of TV Eyes in MAD Magazine
• Salted Peanuts Department If Mickey Spillane Wrote NANCY…
• Arlo, Janis & Spenser  Plugs for Hire Department
• Cinematic Pie in the Eye The Best Private Eye Spoofs on Film
• See Ya in the Funny Pages P.I. Spoofs & Callouts in Cartoons and Comic Strips
• It’s Hammer Time! Send-ups & Put-Downs of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer
• Last Night I Shot a P.I. in My Pajamas… Groucho Marx, P.I.?

THE PULPS & THE SHORT STORIES

• The Crime & Detective Pulps Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
• The Best Crime & Detective Pulps An Honour Roll
• Beyond the Pulps The Slicks, the Digests and the Mystery Magazines
• The Great Pulp Eyes
• My Favourite Short Story Series Eyes A Short List of “New” Series
• Rogues’ Gallery Erle Stanley Gardner’s Series Characters
• Good Ol’ Holyoke, Mass. The Place Where the Pulps Came From
• Some Great Short Story Series Featuring Private Eyes, from the Pulps and Beyond
• The Real Black Mask Boys Captured on film!
• The Fictioneers Role Call
• Published in Black Mask Some Significant Contributors & Other Writers of Interest
• Writers Who Were Published in Dime Detective
• Crime & Detective Fiction in The American Magazine
• Crime & Detective Fiction in The Saturday Evening Post
• “A Penny a Word” by Anonymous, from The American Mercury (March 1936)
• “Pays good rates on acceptance” The 1937 Writer’s Market Listing For Black Mask
• Do’s and Don’ts for Detective Writers Dealing With Sex by the Editors of Spicy Detective
• Richard A. Moore’s Memories of Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine
• The New Black Mask A Review and Tribute by Mark Coggins
• Private Eyes by the Number P.I.s in Men’s Adventure Books
• The Weirdest Pulp Eyes
• The Pulps and Beyond Defective Detectives
• The Twenty Best Pulp Anthologies
• The Best Anthologies of Hard-Boiled, Noir & Pulp Reprints
• The Best Anthologies of Original P.I. Stories
• Other Mystery Anthologies Worth Looking For
• The Akashic Noir Series It’s a Noir World, After All
• The Mystery Writers of America Anthologies
• Best Detective Stories of the Year
• One-Short Wonders The Private Eye, Briefly: A Short Suspects List, Compiled by Martin Ross
• Pulps of Interest: Private Eye Illustrated

BOOKS & PUBLISHING

“All that book talk, that’s a lot of ma-hah-hah!”
— Duke Pastrami (Dan Duryea) in Ball of Fire

• Twenty-Five Best Private Eye Novels of All-Time From The Fine Art of Murder
• Joe’s Twenty-Five Fave Detective Novels By Joe Lofgreen of Joe’s Detective Pages
• Twenty-One Private Eye Classics From The Reader’s Guide to the Private Eye Novel
• Robert Randisi’s 1997 PI Survey Results
• The 14 Best Private Eye Novels of All Time (2012)
• Some of the Great Detectives Eyes Included in Maxim Jakubowski’s 100 Great Detectives
• Twelve Percent P.I. Novels among H.R.F. Keating’s Crime & Mystery-The 100 Best Books
• Eyes Cream Geoff Bradley’s Favourite 1st Person Private Eye Novels
• Best-Selling Eyes P.I. Novels Among U.S. Bestsellers 1895-1975
• The Great Series
• One and Done Private Eyes Who Only Appeared in One Novel
• Stand Alone P.I. Novels (Poll Results)
• Three is the Magic Number Some Notable P.I. Trilogies
• Banned! The Naughty List
• The Big Reads The Longest Private Eye Books
• The Big Stretch The Longest Series
• Blasts from the Past Some Great Publishers of Hard-boiled & Detective Fiction
• A Turn of the Fawcett Some Gold Medal Eyes
• Twenty-Twenty Twenty Private Eye Novels from Hard Case Crime’s First Twenty Years
• Some Current Publishers of Short Mystery Fiction
• Harlequin’s Secret Shame Sometimes they liked it rough…
• Dedicated to the One I Love… And Some of My Other Favourite Book Dedications
• Paperback Heroes Some Great PBO Eyes
• The Jack Reacher Industrial Complex So this big guy walks into a bar…
• Paperback to hardcover
• Fall from grace-Hardcover to paperback
• Great cover art
• Great covers-Cheese division
• Not-so-great covers
• Dare to Judge This Book Some Great Pulp & Paperback Cover Artists
• Dare to Judge This Book Some Great Pulp & Paperback Cover Artists
• Dare to Judge This Book Some More Great Pulp & Paperback Cover Artists
• Some Great Dell Mapback Private Eye Covers
• Bitch, bitch, bitch… Raymond Chandler complains about his book’s cover
• Series Title Gimmicks
• Don’t I Know You from Somewhere? Great (or at least memorable) Openings
• So Long, It’s Been Good To Know Ya! Great (or at least memorable) Conclusions
• Gracenotes, Intentional or Otherwise Some Great Series Conclusions
• Everyone Into The Pool Books By Multiple Authors
• Reader, Take Heed! Most Over-used Blurbs
• Kiddie Pulp Get ’em While They’re Young
• Kiddie Pulp, Part II Portrait of the Detective as a Young Sleuth
• It’s All in the Game: P.I. TV Tie-ins
• It’s All in the Game: P.I. Movie Tie-ins
• The Cheese Stands Alone Alternative P.I. Classics (Poll Results)
• The Mushroom Jungle The Private Eye Denizens of the Mushroom Jungle
• The Rara-Avis Top 100 Hard-Boiled Characters of the Twentieth Century 
• The Rara-Avis Blown Away List of Hard-Boiled Writers (1999)
• The Hardboiled Era (1929-58) A Checklist from Hardboiled America
• Mysterious Profiles Biographical Quickies from Mysterious Press/Open Road
• The Best P.I.s of the 90’s (April 1998 Poll Results)

WRITERS & WRITING

• Schmucks with Underwoods Authors & Creators
• Ron Goulart’s Informal Reading List From The Hardboiled Dicks
• Father Knox’s Decalogue The Ten Rules of (Golden Age) Detective Fiction
• S.S. Van Dine’s Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories More Golden Age Hooey
• Frank Gruber’s Sure-Fire 11-Point Formula
• The Lester Dent Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot
• Decoding Agatha Christie How to Spot the Killer in One of Her Novels
• Gone Too Soon They Coulda Been Contenders
• The Rara-Avis Blown Away List of Hard-Boiled Writers (1999)
• On Writing Authors Say the Darnedest Things…
• Telling Lies for Fun and Profit Lawrence Block Writes (and Writes) About Writing
• Rest in Pieces The Fictionalized Lives of Private Eye Writers
• True Detectives Non-fiction by Real-Life Eyes
• True Detectives Real-Life Eyes Who’ve Written P.I. Novels
• The Five Most Realistic PIs In Fiction According to Elizabeth Breck
• True Detective “The Memoirs of a Private Detective” by Dashiel Hammett
• Raymond Chandler’s Ten Commandments For the Detective Novel
• True Love, Neither Tranished nor Afraid A Confession from Raymond Chandler
• Lighten Up, Ray! Quotations from Chairman Chandler
• “A Penny a Word” by Anonymous, from The American Mercury (March 1936)
• Do’s & Don’ts for Detective Writers Dealing With Sex From Spicy Detective
• Mistress Christa’s Ten Rules to Write Noir
• Thundering Clichés By the editors of The Thrilling Detective Web Site
• Never Happen The Real Deal on TV Cops by Charlie Shafer
• The Backstabbers Writers on Other Writers
• The Pirates of Plagiarism
• Pen Names
• Who Was Nicholas Carter? And who wrote all those Nick Carter stories?
• Who Was Brett Halliday? Hmmm…sounds like a case for Mike Shayne
• Most P.I.s Created by One Person
• Most Prolific
• Everyone Into The Pool Books By Multiple Authors & Other Private Eye Team-Ups
• What Went Where How Chandler Cannibalized His Own Work
• Short Story Writers
• Most Short Stories
• Best Short Stories
• You’re a Mean Man with a Typewriter, Sister  The Hard-boiled Lady Writers of the Pulps
• Texas Winds The Eyes of James M. Reasoner Are Upon You
• Dashiell Hammett’s Introduction to The Maltese Falcon From the 1934 Modern Library edition.
• Mickey Spillane’s Fan Letter to Carroll John Daly
• The Children of Travis McGee The Literary Descendants of Our Man Trav…
• In the Shadow of the Wolfe Variations on a Theme, Originally Composed by Rex Stout
• If Mickey Spillane Wrote NANCY…
• Death is Not the End Private Eyes Who Just Won’t Stay Dead (Even If Their Creators Are)
• Ghost Writers: Have Pen, Will Travel I Ain’t Afraid of No Ghosts
• They Wrote What? Famous Writers Who Have Dipped Their Toes in the P.I. Pool
• A Turn for the Verse Poets Who Wrote Private Eye Fiction
• “Apologia Pro Vita Sua” by Rex Stout
• Strange Sisters, Indeed Male P.I. Writers Who Wrote Lesbian Pulp Fiction
• Burning the Midnight Oil Together P.I. Writers Who Are Couples
• Anthony Boucher’s Proposed Code For Mystery ReviewersAs proposed to the MWA
• The Ten Commandments of Book Reviewing
• Here There Be Spoilers!!! STOP!!! Turn Back! Please!
• The Paper Chase Libraries and Other Sources for Scholarly Research

FILMS

• The Big Screen: Celluoid Eyes A Timeline
• Thoughts on Private Eye Films
• Fifteen Best Private Eye Movies As chosen by Max Allan Collins
• The 20 Best Film Noirs With Private Eyes in Them
• Brad Lang’s Ten Favorite Detective, Hard-boiled & Noir Films A little slice of Hardboiled Heaven.
• Dick Lochte’s Top 20 Private Eye Movies (2010)
• The Blue Murder List Twenty Other Great P.I. Flicks
• This Turkey For Hire The Worst P.I. Films
• So It’s Come to This… The Film Geeks’ Top Ten P.I. Films. James & Gustavo have spoken.
• What Is Noir?
• The Great Noir Films
• Just Passing Through Memorable Eyes in Non-P.I. Flicks
• Those ’70s Shows The Decade the Private Eye Film Came of Age
• The Great Series
• The Biggest Sleeps
• The Great Lost B’s
• The Best Original Screenplays
• The Best Adaptations
• ACTING! The Best Film Eyes Great Performances
• What Were They Thinking? Miscast TV and Film Eyes
• The Casting Couch How About…
• The Casting Ouch! Unlikely P.I.s (No, Really!)
• Big Scores Classic Scores from PI Flicks
• David Thomson’s Suspects
• Can you dig it? Blaxploitation Eyes
• Chandler on Film
• Films Chandler Worked On
• Part of the Nastiness Now Actors Who Played Philip Marlowe
• Auteur! Auteur! The Great P.I. Directors
• The Best Scenes
• Don’t I Know You from Somewhere? Great (or at least memorable) Openings
• So Long, It’s Been Good To Know Ya! Great (or at least memorable) Closings
• Gunsels, Dames, etc… The Great Supporting Characters
• Gee, Let’s Keep Doing This Until We Get It Right Remakes
• On the Trail of The Black Bird… The Whereabouts of the “Real” Maltese Falcon
• A Look at the Works Writers Who Worked on the “Hammett” Screenplay
• Cinematic Pie in the Eye The Best Private Eye Spoofs
• The “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid” Cheatsheet The Supporting Cast and Films Used in the Making of the Film
• Dressed to Kill Crime, Detective & Noir Films That Edith Head Designed Costumes For
• Once More to the Well Film & Television’s Most Valuable Players
• The Cheaper the Crook The Crime Films of Elisha Cook Jr.
• Written, directed and starring… One-Man P.I. Shows
• Boffo Box Office! The Hits
• The Flops
• Great Lines from Private Eye Flicks
• Great Lines Hammett Division
• Oscar Winners
• The Neo-Noirs Noir in the Nineties (non-PI division)
• It’s All in the Game P.I. Movie Tie-ins
• Disney for Hire: Mickey Mouse, P.I. & Other Private Eyes of the Disney Universe
• Coming Distractions Film/TV Editor Chris Baldemor is On the Case
• Pass the Popcorn YouTube Treasures. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow…

RADIO

• The Favourite Dicks of Old-Time Radio
• The Great Radio Eyes
• Brought to You By…
• The Longest Running
• The Greatest Intros
• From Other Sources…
• Radio Links
• “The Chargogagogmanchogagogchabunamungamog Caper”
• The Adventures of Harry Nile Talkin’ with Jim French & Phil Harper
• Murder in the Library: Radio

TELEVISION: WATCHING THE DETECTIVES

• One of the Fifty Things TV Guide‘s Matt Roush Loves About TV #41: Private Eyes
• Thrilling Detective’s Best and Worst of the TV Eyes (Poll Results)
• The Top Ten Private Eye Shows from The Best of Crime & Detective TV
• Dick Lochte’s Top 20 TV Private Eyes (2010; revised 2017)
• TV Eyes: The Series Including mini-series, and TV-movie series
• TV Eyes: Made-for-the-Tube Movies, Pilots & Straight to DVD Releases
• The TV Timeline TV Series in Chronological Order
• The TV GUIDE Gallery They’ve Got You Covered
• Peter Gunn: The Television First That Dare Not Speak Its Name Oh, Mother!
• St. Peter & The Others The Ten Coolest TV Eyes
• The Clone Wars 77 Sunset Strip and Its Rip-Offs
• The Great TV Eyes
• The Early Shows
• Shows Adapted from Radio
• The Longest Running
• Brilliant But Cancelled 14 Private Eye Shows That Coulda Been Contenders
• Not Brilliant AND Cancelled Mercy Killings?
• Not Quite Ready for Primetime  Pilots That Didn’t Fly & Spin-offs That Didn’t Spin
• Take Me to the Pilot Development Hell Department (2005-06)
• Public Broadcast, Private Eyes Private Detectives from PBS’ Mystery! & Masterpiece Theatre
• Mysterious facts you wouldn’t know if it weren’t for TV…
• The Casting Ouch Unlikely P.I.s
• What Were They Thinking? Miscast TV and Film Eyes
• Big Scores on a Little Box Classic Scores from PI TV Shows
• P.I. Theme Songs that Hit the Charts
• The A Team Stephen J. Cannell & Roy Huggins
• Private Eye Shows Stephen J. Cannell Was Involved In
• This is Jim Rockford… Some memorable messages left on Rockford’s answering machine
• What Hath Rockford Wrought? The Other Eyes of The Rockford Files
• There’s an old Polish proverb that says… The Proverbs of Banacek
• Veronica (Mars) Speaks A selection of quotes from the snarky one.
• Once More to the Well Film & Television’s Most Valuable P.I. Players
• Crossover Hangover TV Eyes Who Dropped By on Other Shows
• MAD About YOU Department: What, me Shamus? P.I. Parodies & satires in MAD Magazine
• The Best Pilots
• The Best TV Movies
• It’s All in the Game: P.I. TV Tie-ins
• Emmy Winners
• Urich for Hire The Private Eye Shows of Robert Urich
• Hidden Tracks Private Eye TV Shows… with Real! Live! Rockers!
• Coming Distractions Film/TV Editor Chris Baldemor is On the Case
• Pass the Popcorn YouTube Treasures. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow…
• Watching the (Private) Detectives Rolling Stone Picks 10 Classics

Other Media, Other Diversions

ART FOR ART’S SAKE

• Art for Art’s Sake Artists Inspired by Noir
• Dare to Judge This Book Some Great Pulp & Paperback Cover Artists
• Dare to Judge This Book Some Great Pulp & Paperback Cover Artists
• Dare to Judge This Book Some More Great Pulp & Paperback Cover Artists
• Some Great Dell Mapback Private Eye Covers

SUDDENLY THE AIR WAS FULL OF MUSIC

• Suddenly the Air Was Full of Music The Private Eye Mix Tape
• Suddenly the Air Was Full of Music The Hard-Boiled Record Collection
• Suddenly the Air Was Full of Music Albums & Soundtracks to Put you in Some kinda Mood
• Big Scores Classic Scores from PI Flicks
• Big Scores on a Little Box Classic Scores from PI TV Shows
• It’s Only Words Lyrics to Some Songs About Private Eyes.
• How Does It Feel? References to Crime and Detective Fiction and Films Found in Bob Dylan’s Work
• How Does It Feel? Revisited Private eye novels whose titles are lifted from Bob Dylan’s work
• Drive-Bys Private Eyes in Hip-Hop
• John Zorn’s Liner Notes from Spillane It Was Easy
• Crime Fiction… with GUITARS! Steve Wynn’s Riding Shotgun
• Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice Playlist As Chosen By the Master Himself
• Hidden Tracks Private Eye TV Shows… with Real! Live! Rockers!

HOW GRAPHIC DO YA WANNA GET?

• Eyes Featured in Comic Books, Strips and Graphic Novels
• Comic Books, Strips & Graphic Novels
• ZUT! European Comic Books, Strips, Graphic Novels, Albums & Bandes Désinées
• Detective Comics Private eyes who have shown up in DC Comics.
• To the Batcave! P.I. Writers who Have Contributed to the Canon
• Dark Horse Presents Gumshoes introduced in the comic anthology series.
• Eyes on the No-Prize Private Eyes of the Marvel Universe
• Drawn That Way Ten or So Lady Eyes from the Comics
• Feature Books Some of the Most Collectable P.I. Comics of All!
• See Ya in the Funny Papers!!! P.I. Spoofs & Callouts in Comics & Cartoons
• See Ya in the Funny Papers!!! (The P.I. Poll) Comic Book Eyes
• Arlo, Janis & Spenser  Plugs for Hire Department
• Let’s Get Animated: Cartoon Eyes
• Thrilling Detective Web Comics! The Magnificent Seven!

ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE

• Plays, Operas, Musicals and Other Theatrical Diversions
  

GAMES & TOYS

• The P.I. Toy Chest Treasures from the Past
• Assembly Required Some Cool P.I. Model Car Kits
• Oh, The Games People Play Then Some Classic Private Eye & Detective Board Games
• Oh, The Videogames People Played Then (Part Un) Some Early P.I. Videogames (1988-2002)
• Oh, The Videogames People Played Then (Part Deux) Some Early P.I. Videogames (2003 and beyond)
• Oh, The Games People Play Now Some Newer P.I. and Noir Games
• The Game’s A-foot! Puzzles and Other P.I. Games
• It Figures… Private Eye Figures & Figurines

FOOD & DRINK

• I Got Some Cooking to Do Cookbooks by Mystery Authors (and their detectives)

STAMPS

• Signed, Sealed and Delivered P.I. Postage Stamps. If you can’t lick ’em, join ’em…

FASHION

• Dressed to Kill Classic Crime & Noir Films That Edith Head Designed Costumes For
• Where Did All Those  T-Shirts Go?

THE WEB

• Mystery Links
  

GIFTS & COLLECTABLES

• Mystery Links: Collecting & Other Diversions Web Games, Mystery Parties, Stamps, Books, etc.
• Gimcracks, Geegaws and Other Dinguses Private Eye Collectibles
  

TRAVEL

• Wining, Dining and Sight-Seeing Places to Visit on the P.I. World Tour
• Wherever I Lay My Hat… Private Eye Watering Holes and Hangouts
• Conventions & Fan Events 

NON-FICTION: ESSAYS, REVIEW & OTHER STUFF

• Welcome to L.A. Opening Remarks by Robert Crais
• All Hail the New Pulp!: A Tribute To Blue Murder Essay by Kevin Burton Smith
• Nero Wolfe: A Social Commentary on the US Essay by Marcia Kiser
• The Mitch Tobin Series Overview by Bryan Schingle
• In His Shadow by Dave Zeltserman Review by Mario Taboada
• The Adventures of Cardigan Review by Mario Taboada
• Memories of Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine Reminisces By Richard A. Moore
• Spenser and Hawk: A Study of Good and Evil in the Fiction of Robert B. Parker Essay by Gerald So
• The Donald Strachey Series by Richard Stevenson Overview by D.L. Browne
• Lost Light by Michael Connelly Review by David White
• Hardbroiled, edited by Michael Bracken Review by James R. Winter
• The Last Place by Laura Lippman Review by James R. Winter
• The Narrows by Michael Connelly Review by Ron DeSourdis
• Blood is the Sky by Steve Hamilton Review by James R. Winter
• No Time To Mourn by Tim Wohlforth Review by Dale Stoyer
• Eve Missing by Ralph Pezzullo Review by Dale Stoyer
• Tonight I Said Goodbye by Michael Koryta Review by James R. Winter
• See the full list…

RANTS

• Don’t Call ’em a Bargain Those Dirt-Cheap Ebook Compilations

THE EYES

THE NAME GAME

• The Greatest P.I Names
• The Worst P.I. Names
• No-Name Eyes
• Alternative Nomenclature
• What’s in a Name? The Origins of Some Great Names of Eyes
• What’s in a Name? Nick-Named Eyes
• Because Dash Riprock Was Already Taken Manly Monickers
• The Big List
• Names and Titles in a Chandleresque Vein
• Joes to the Left of Me, Joes to the Right… A bunch of dicks named Joe.
• The Three Barney Glines of William Ard
• Past Their Expiry Date? Private Eyes That Won’t Stay Dead
• Boys and Their Toys
• The Private Integers Private Eyes You Can Count On…

HAVE WE GOT AN EYE FOR YOU!

• The Thrilling Detective April 1998 P.I. Poll Results
• Robert Randisi’s 1997 PI Survey Results
• The Top 100 Hard-Boiled Characters of the Twentieth Century Compiled by the Members of Rara-Avis (2002)
• Drinking Buddies Eyes I’d Most Like to Have a Beer With
• The Hard-boiledness Scale Ten Hard-boiled Dicks, Rated
• Something Funny About The Eyes The Funniest Eyes
• Winking Eyes The Parodies
• The Big Stuff Corpulent Eyes
• Sweating The Small Stuff The Shortest Eyes
• Tall Eyes
• Young Eyes
• Hand Me Down My Walking Cane Old Dicks
• Talkin’ ’bout De-Generation Dicks That Were Allowed to Get Old
• Hardboiled Eyes
• Softboiled Eyes
• Overboiled Eyes
• These Eyes Keep Themselves in Trouble Bad, Bad Eyes
• The Defective Detectives Handicapped Heroes
• Beautiful Dreamers Looney Tunes & Other Reality-Challenged Eyes
• Turn It Up To Eleven Gonzo Eyes
• No Business For a Lady Female Eyes (P.I. Poll Results)
• The Lady Detectives Pre-1900 Lady Eyes
• Dangerous Dames A Timeline of Some of the Major Female Eyes
• Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves Some Great Female Eyes
• Some Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Bimbo Eyes & Other Embarrassments
• The Best Female Sleuths from Pop Culture According to criminalelement.com
• Lovers in a Dangerous Time P.I. Romance Novels
• Property of Jesus Christian Eyes
• Even a Shamus Could Be a Shamus Some Nice Jewish Eyes
• Chicano Mexican-American Hispanic Latino Latinix Eyes
• Mormon Eyes
• Can You Dig It? The Original Black Eyes
• Can You Dig The New Breed? The New Black Eyes
• What Were Once Vices… Some notable Gay and Lesbian eyes
• Sapphic Sleuths Lesbian Eyes
• Under Electric Candlelight Transgender Eyes
• Rod Shaw’s How To Tell If You’re a Redneck P.I.
• Native American Eyes & Faithful Indian Companions The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
• Mick Dicks
• Baby, Baby, Baby, You’re Outta Time Retro (Historical) Eyes
• Down Some Other Mean Streets Sam Wiebe’s List of Out of Town (Private) Detective Novels
• Most Violent Eyes
• Well-armed Eyes
• One-armed Eyes
• Got Game? Ex-Jock Eyes
• My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys Cowboy Eyes
• Back on the Chain Gang Eyes Who’ve Served Time
• Deck the Mean Streets with Boughs of Holly Christmas Eyes
• Do You Hear What I Hear? Christmas Eyes on Old Time Radio

LIFESTYLES OF THE NEITHER TARNISHED NOR AFRAID

• Lone Wolves
• Goin’ Steady Long Time Couples
• Married to It! Hitched! Detecting Couples
• Ditched! D-I-V-O-R-C-E
• If I Were a Rich Man Millionaire Eyes
• By No Means Low-rent Eyes
• King of the Road No Fixed Address
• Travis McGee’s Little Black Book
• The Children of Travis McGee The Literary Descendants of Our Man Trav…
• X-Rated Dirty Eyes & Other Not-So-Private Dicks
• Sexless Eyes
• Obsessed Eyes Get a Life!
• Wherever I Lay My Hat… Private Eye Watering Holes and Hangouts
• On the Trail of The Black Bird… The Whereabouts of the “Real” Maltese Falcon
• Get Yer Motor Runnin’… Hot Wheels of Some Hot Eyes
• Two Wheels Good
• Gentlemen, Name Your Poison (I) Drinkers, Stinkers and Occasional Tipplers
• Gentlemen, Name Your Poison (II) Dabblers, Inhalers and Other Substance-Abusing Eyes
• Gentlemen, Name Your Poison Drinks Made Famous in Detective Flicks & TV Shows Hollywood
• The Beers of Spenser
• Private Eyes and Their Hobbies Now don’t tell me there’s nothing to do…
• A Guy’s Gotta Eat Gourmet Eyes
• Off To the Races Horsey Eyes
• Field and Stream Hunting and Fishing Eyes
• Chess-Playing Eyes
• Flip, Flop and Fly Pet-Owning Eyes
• Going to the Dogs The Great Mutts of Detective Fiction
• “Oh mama, I got dem cosmic anthropomorphic P.I. blues again…” Going to the dogs, the cats and worse.
• Surf City, Here We Come Catch the wave of surfing eyes…

IT’S A FAMILY AFFAIR

• Mom P.I.s & Other Family Values Gumshoes, with Children (Maternal Division)
• Dad P.I.s & Other Family Values Gumshoes, with Children (Paternal Division)
• It’s a  Family Affair… Family-Owned Detective Agencies
• Father’s Day Private Eyes and Their Dads
• Mother’s Day Private Eyes and Their Moms
• Brothers in Arms Fraternal Dicks
• Four Eyes Twin Private Detectives

THE WORKING LIFE

• An Eye by Any Other Name Would Still Smell As Sweet Official & Not-So-Official Occupations of Some Popular Eyes
• Amateur Hour Official Occupations of Some Popular Accidental Eyes (and Other Shit Magnets)
• You Better Get Some Insurance, Baby You’re in Good Hands With These Insurance Dicks
• Bounty Hunters “Not your average nine-to-five job”
• Stop the Presses! Newsroom Eyes
• Death Flags a Cab Taxi-Driving Eyes
• Spies/Eyes Trenchcoat Cousins
• Lawyer Eyes
• KIDNAPPED! A List of K&R Specialists
• Murder, My Suite House Dicks
• Pole Positions Stripper Detectives
• They Get Around Globetrotting Eyes
• Moonlighting Eyes
• Skip Tracers & Repo Men
• On the Con Scam Artists: A Suggested Reading List
• I Could Be Your Bodyguard (Hey!) Personal Security Specialists
• Sometimes You Kill Me Hitmen & Assassins
• Cyber Eyes Hacking Gumshoes
• Apples of the Eye It’s a Mac, Mac, Mac World
• Missing Persons
• All Together Now P.I. Ensembles
• How Can Youy Do It Alone? A dozen or so detective agencies to keep in mind.
• Some Great Detective Agencies, A-Z Alphabetically Yours…
• It’s a Family Affair… Family-Owned Detective Agencies
• Lone Wolves
• All Hawk’s Children Kick-Ass Sidekicks
• Great Gals Stand-up dames and the eyes lucky enough to have them
• You’re a Good Man, Sister Stand-up Secretaries & the eyes lucky enough to have them
• Great Offices
• Odd Couples; or Two Eyes are Better Than One Great Partnerships
• Company Men
• Well-Armed Dicks
• Un-Armed Eyes
• Dirty Eyes
• Hollywood Fixers Tinseltown Troubleshooters. & Other Miscreants
• Fixers
• Dirty Blue Crooked Cops and Other Great Villians
• Claire DeWitt’s Other Cases

CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER

• Baby, Baby, Baby, You’re Outta Time Retro (Historical) Eyes
• Down Those Mean Skies… The Case of the Private Detective in Science Fiction, Fantasy & Related Genres
• I Ain’t Afraid Of No Ghosts Fantasy and Occult Eyes
• … and Throw Away the Key! Locked Room and Impossible Crime P.I. Mysteries
• Hello, I Must Be Going… Great Moments of Unconsciousness
• The P.I. World Tour Wining, Dining and Sight-Seeing: Suggested Stops
• Politics Schmolitics I’m just tryna hold it steady….
• We’re Living In a Political World Eyes Left
• We’re Living In a Political World Eyes Right
• We’re Livin’ In a Political World : The Bookshelf Books About (American) Politics and Detective Fiction
• Eyes’ the Bye P.I.s Who Live Afloat
• 9/11 P.I. Stories & Novels That Deal With the Events of September 11, 2001
• Death Is Not the End Private Eyes Who Won’t Stay Dead Even If Their Creators Are
• Last Night I Shot a P.I. in My Pajamas… Groucho Marx, P.I.?

TRIVIER & TRIVIER

• The Big List
• Great P.I. Names
• One Name or Less
• Tips of the Fedora
• Thumbs of the Nose
• Great Cameos Hey! Isn’t that…?
• Everyone Into The Pool Books By Multiple Author & Other Private Eye Team-Ups

THE WORK

• Wandering Daughter Jobs & Other Great Missing Persons Cases
• Ah! So That Explains It P.I.s Solve Famous Mysteries
• And It’s One-Two-Three Strikes You’re Out Baseball P.I. Mysteries

CALLING OUT AROUND THE WORLD (THE P.I. DIRECTORY)

“Every city gets the detective it deserves.”
— Paco Taibo II

• The P.I. World Tour Wining, Dining and Sight-Seeing: S\uggested Stops
• The Akashic Noir Series It’s a Noir World, After All

ASIA

• The Eyes of Southeast Asia
• Indian Eyes Sub-continental ops
• Chinese Eyes Eyes of the Red Dragon
• Big in Japan Japanese Eyes
• Nyey, Nyet, Soviet Russian Eyes

EUROPE

• The European Plan Eyes from Over There, Over There
• Zut! Les Flics Privés French Eyes
• Spanish Eyes, Blue and Otherwise  Well, I Never Been to Spain…
• Nordic Eyes Swedish Dicks and Other Nordic Gumshoes

U.K.

• The Sun Never Sets on The British Eye Commonwealth Eyes
• Irish Eyes, Smiling and Otherwise P.I.’s of the Emerald Isle
• There’ll Always Be an England British Eyes
• The Streets of London Let them take you by the hand…
• Scotland the Brave Scottish Ayes
• Welsh Eyes I feel a bit sheepish, but this is all I could find…
  

NORTH AMERICA

CANADA

“You thought the national flag was about a leaf, didn’t you?
Look harder. It’s where someone got axed in the snow.”
— Margaret Atwood

• Vancouver and Beautiful British Columbia Eyes of the West Coast
• Murder in a Distinct Society (C’est ma ville aussi) Eyes from La belle province
• Ontari-ari-ari-o Eyes Eyes from Canada’s Second Largest Province
• The Maple Leaf Rag Other Canadian Eyes

MEANWHILE, BACK IN THE STATES…
By City

• Ah Boston, You’re My Home Beantown Eyes
• Their Kind of Town Chicago Eyes
• Cleveland Rocks!
• Don’t Forget the Motor City Detroit Eyes & Other Michigan Miscreants
• Kansas City, Here I Come
• City of Angels, City of Dicks Los Angeles Eyes
• Hollywood Dicks Tinsel Town Troupers
• Hollywood Fixers Tinseltown Troubleshooters. & Other Miscreants
• Santa Barbara (Santa Theresa)
• They Left Their Hearts… Some San Francisco Treats
• Memphis in the Meantime
• O’Neil’s Big Easy Favourites And Other Louisiana Eyes
• Capitol Crimes Washington, D.C.
• Charm City, I’m Sure Baltimore Eyes
• All in All, They’d Rather Be in Philadelphia
• That’s the Way the Missouri Breaks…
• Viva Las Vegas! Sin City sleuths

By State

• Alaska
• Arizona
• California
  • City of Angels, City of Dicks Los Angeles
  • Hollywood Dicks Tinsel Town Troupers
    
  • Santa Barbara (Santa Theresa)
  • San Diego Eyes America’s Finest City’s Finest Eyes
    
  • I Wish They All Could Be California GirlsMaybe it’s the water?
    
  • They Left Their Hearts… Some San Francisco Treats
  • At Least Palmdale… A Place to Call Home
• New England Eyes
  The Gumshoes of Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island,  and Vermont (but not Massachusetts)
• Rocky Mountain Eyes: Colorado, Montana, Wyoming & Idaho
• Freshly-SqueezedFlorida Eyes
• Georgia on My Mind
• Let’s Go to Hawaii
• Illinois Eye, As in Illinois
• Indianapolis
• Kentucky
• O’Neil’s Big Easy Favourites & Other Louisiana Eyes
• Hard-Boiled Maryland
• Gopher State Gumshoes Minnesota Eyes
• New Jersey
• A New York State of Mind Empire State Eyes
  • Start Spreading the News…  Big Apple Eyes
• Ohio Players How Many More?
• An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down Northwest Eyes
• Pennsylvania Six-Five Thousand The Eyes of the Keystone State
• Whistlin’ Dixie Southern-Fried Eyes, including Alabame, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Mississippi
• As Clear as Country Water… Nashville Cats & Other Tennessee Eyes
• Texas  The Eyes of Texas are Upon You
• Utah Eyes And All That Jazz
• Virginia Eyes Talk To Me Like You Do…
• Vermont Green Mountain Eyes
• Wisconsin

• Down in Mexico Mexican Eyes
• Really South of the Border South American & Latin American Eyes
• The Caribbean
• African Eyes Sleuths of the “Dark Continent”
• Polynesia
• Australia, New Zealand & Tasmania They Come from Lands Down Under

EYES ON THE PRIZE: AWARDS & ORGANIZATIONS

• Mystery Awards You may already be a winner…
• The Private Eye Writers of America & The Shamus Awards
• The Eye Winners of The PWA Lifetime Achievement Award
• The Hammer Winners of The PWA Hammer Award
• The St. Martin’s Press/Private Eye Writers of America Best First Mystery Novel Contest
• The Mystery Writers of America and The Edgar Awards
• The International Association of Crime Writers and The Dashiell Hammett Awards
• The American Crime Writers League
• Mystery Readers International and The Macavity Awards
• Bouchercon Anthony Award Winners in the Private Eye Genre
• The Crime Writers of Canada and The Arthur Ellis Awards
• The Crime Writers Association of Australia and The Ned Kelly Awards
• The Crime Writers Association (CWA) Awards
• The Short Mystery Fiction Society and The Derringer Awards
• The Barry Awards
• Deutsche Krimi Preis
• The On-Line Mystery Awards
• Emmy Winners
• Oscar P.I.

POLL RESULTS

• April 1998 | The Best P.I. of the 90’s
• May 1998 | The Best and Worst of the TV Eyes
• June 1998 | No Business For a Lady: Female Eyes
• Summer 1998 | The Cheese Stands Alone-Alternative P.I. Classics
• Fall 1998: See Ya in the Funny Papers!!! | Comic Book Eyes
• Stand Alone P.I. Novels (November 1998)
• The 1998 Cheap Thrill Awards | The Year in Review
• Spring Break 1999 | The Face the Face Challenge
• March-April 1999 | True Confessions
• May-June 1999 | Down Those Mean Skies…Sci-Fi P.I.’s
• Summer 1999 | Murder on the Airwaves: Radio Eyes–Then and Now
• Fall 1999 | Dashiell Hammett–What Do You Think?
• The 1999 Cheap Thrill Awards | The Year in Review
• Spring 2000 | Short Stories: Private Eye Action As You Like It!
• Summer/Fall 2000 | Go Ahead and Talk: Our First Ever Reader’s Survey
• The 2000 Cheap Thrill Awards | The Year in Review
• Spring 2001 | Odds & Sods: The P.I. Poll Grab Bag
• Summer 2001 | Let’s Go To the Movies!
• Autumn 2001 | Calling Out Around the World
• The 2001 Cheap Thrill Awards | The Year in Review
• The 2002 Cheap Thrill Awards | The Year in Review
• C’mon Guys, It’s Not THAT Hard! | The 2003 P.I. Trivia Contest
• The 2003 Cheap Thrill Awards | The Year in Review
• Spring 2004 | Eyes Right: The Thrilling Detective/CrimeSeen Movie/TV Poll
• The 2004 Cheap Thrill Awards | The Year in Review
• Take It and Like It! | The Hammett P.I. Poll
• The 2005 Cheap Thrill Awards | The Year in Review
• The 2006 Cheap Thrill Awards | The Year in Review
• The 2007 Cheap Thrill Awards | The Year in Review
• The Tenth Anniversary | Our Birthday Card
• The Chosen Thirteen | Our Readers’ Favourites (2011)
• The 14 Best Private Eye Novels of All Time (2012)
• The 2019 Cheap Thrill Awards (2019)

JUST STUFF

• These Were a Few of My Favourite Things (2018)
• These Were a Few of My Favourite Things (2022)