Duncan Pride

Created by Andrew Frazer
Pseudonym of Stephen Marlowe/Milton Lesser
Other pseudonyms include Adam Chase, Andrew Frazer, Jason Ridgway, C.H. Thames, S.M. Teneshaw, Gerald Vance, Alexander Blade, Darius John Granger, Adam Chase, Stephen Wilder, Ellery Queen
(1928–2008)

An All-American quarterback at Long Island’s Wynant College, DUNCAN PRIDE was all set to go pro, the first round draft pick of the L.A. Rams. And then, on the eve of his NFL debut, Marty Moon’s West Coast mob suggested he shave a few points. He refused, and Duncan Pride got this legs broken in three places as a result–hardly conducive to a professional football career.

So big, brawny Duncan becomes a Los Angeles private eye, appearing in a couple of pretty decent Avon PBOs, Find Eileen Hardin-Alive! (1959) and The Fall of Marty Moon (1960), written by Milton Lesser but appearing under the pen name of Andrew Frazer.

Find Eileen Hardin-Alive! is some kind of long lost gem, occasionally reminiscent of Klute, as Duncan travels back East to help out an old flame whose teenage stepdaughter has apparently turned up in New York working as a call girl. But of course, there’s more to it (there always is). Duncan’s former girlfriend has married his old coach, and Duncan’s efforts to bring her stepdaughter home soon has him confronting gangsters, pimps, junkies and his own past. And if that’s not enough for you, the second novel has Duncan going up against the man who ordered his legs broken.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lesser, of course, was better known as Stephen Marlowe, a name he adopted (possibly as a tip of the hat to Chandler) for his P.I. books featuring D.C.-based shamus Chet Drum. In fact, Lesser eventually made Stephen Marlowe his actual legal name.

NOVELS

• Find Eileen Hardin-Alive! (1959) | Buy this book
• The Fall of Marty Moon (1960) | Buy this book

FURTHER INVESTIGATION

• Vintage Hardboiled Reads
  August West’s take on Find Eileen Hardin-Alive!

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.