Created by Richard Sale
Pseudonyms include Bernard Elas, Seymour Richards, John St. John
(1911-93)
“I was never afraid of any man, and I always figured that if a guy was going to get rough with you, the best thing to do was to get rough with him first.”
— “Long Shot”
As reporter Daffy Dill of The New York Chronicle described him in one of their joint adventues, “He was a pretty big fellow, kind of homely, his face filled with freckles, his hair shiny as bright copper…. He had a strong jaw and clean eyes… There was an air about him that meant Business with a capital B.”
A private eye working for an insurance company, “Candid” finally goes into business for himself, investigating crime and selling photos to newspapers, occasionally teaming up with Daffy but more often starring in his own stories in Detective Fiction Weekly.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prolific pulpster, novelist, screenwriter and director Sale, a former reporter himself, became one of the main contributors to the Red Star chain, which included Detective Fiction Weekly, Argosy and Double Detective.
SHORT STORIES
- “Long Shot” (January 9, 1937, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “Neat but Not Gaudy” (January 30, 1937, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “Murder on the Film” (April 3, 1937, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “One Herring — Very Red” (May 1, 1937, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “FLASH!” (May 29, 1937, Detective Fiction Weekly; with Daffy Dill)
- “The Camera Kills” (July 31, 1937, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “You Can’t Print That!” (August 21, 1937, Detective Fiction Weekly; with Daffy Dill)
- “Gaff!” (October 30, 1937, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “The Big Top Murders” (November 13, 1937, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “Back Stag” (January 15, 1938, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “Banshee” (April 9 1938, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “Make Way for a Dagger” (August 27, 1938, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “Pictures in the Dark” (December 10, 1938, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “Torio Had a Friend” (March 25, 1939, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “Death of a Glamor Girl” (April 8, 1939, Detective Fiction Weekly; with Daffy Dill)
- “FLASH!” (May 29, 1937, Detective Fiction Weekly; with Daffy Dill)
- “You Can’t Print That!” (August 21, 1937, Detective Fiction Weekly; with Daffy Dill)
- “The Mother Goose Murders” (May 27, 1939, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “Tip Your Hat” (August 26, 1939, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “Someday I’ll Get You” (November 18, 1939, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “Delayed Action” (June 14, 1941, Detective Fiction Weekly)
COLLECTIONS
- Murder on the Film: The Complete Cases of Candid Jones, Vol. 1 (2025) | Buy this book
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- Stop the Presses!
Newsroom Eyes
Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
