Fergus O’Breen

Criminal

Created by Anthony Boucher
Pseudonym of William A. P. White
Other pseudonyms include Theo Durrant, Herman W. Mudgett & H. H. Holmes
(1911-68)

It’s hard to believe that a guy with a monicker like FERGUS O’BREEN is Irish, but IT’S TRUE!!!

I know. I’m as shocked as you are.

He’s also one of the most deliberately eccentric private eyes to ever pop up in the Shamus Game. He’s a wild, red-haired mick who runs the one-man O’Breen Detective Agency in Los Angeles and has more quirks than you can shake a stick at. He’s deathly allergic to cats, and sneezes seven times (not six, not eight) in their presence. He’s a gourmet chef, a huge football fan, extremely well-read, and has a serious jones for the music of Beethoven and loud, brightly-coloured clothing in obnoxiously garish combinations. He’s also partial to reciting dirty limericks and pacing, which often drives suspects right around the bend. He’s drives a bright yellow roadster and is inordinately fond of whiskey, but he’s no hard-boiled he-man. He relies, instead, on his brains to crack cases, and admits he’s “unorthodox as hell,” an “introspective extrovert with manic-depressive tendencies.”

Uh-huh.

It’s probably a good thing that his big sister, Maureen O’Breen, head of publicity over at Metropolis Pictures, keeps an eye on the young private eye.

The novels themselves are stuffed to the gills with red herrings, but the clues are there, daring readers to sort it all out. They are also, needless to say, delightfully off-beat. Then, Boucher began writing  short stories, which are, according to Mike W. Barr, “… great fun. Boucher, for some reason, began setting the character up in supernatural and sci-fi situations, maybe the first time a purely naturalistic sleuth hopped over to horror/s-f. Mighty strange.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

O’Breen’s creator, Anthony Boucher, was an editor and critic, a name to be reckoned with in both the mystery and fantasy/science-fiction fields, often over-shadowing his own excellent fictional efforts in both genres. In fact, he was several names to be reckoned with, including “H.H. Holmes,” and “Herman W. Mudgett”, names he allegedly lifted from mass-murderers. He co-founded and edited The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, reviewed mysteries for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, The New York Herald Tribune and The New York Times, wrote scripts for the Sherlock Holmes and Gregory Hood radio shows, and edited countless anthologies in both genres. Not surprisingly, perhaps, he was also one of the first to write sci-fi/mystery cross-overs– many of Fergus’ cases actually involve fantastic or science-fictional problems.Still, he stuck around the mystery genre long enough to give us not just Fergus O’Breen, but also amateur sleuth Sister Ursula, and alcoholic ex-cop Nick Noble.

TRIVIA

  • “Although it’s often listed as one of his cases, O’Breen does not appear in The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars (1940; aka “Blood on Baker Street“). His sister, Maureen O’Breen, though, is on stage throughout.”
    –– Mike W. Barr (creator of The Maze Agency)

UNDER OATH

  • “An intricate puzzle cleverly constructed and neatly solved…”
    — The New York Times

NOVELS

SHORT STORIES

  • “The Compleat Werewolf” (April 1942, Unknown)
  • “Elsewhen” (January 1943, Astounding)
  • “The Pink Caterpillar” (February 1945, Adventure)
  • “The Chronokinesis of Jonathan Hull” (June 1946, Astounding)
  • “Gandolphus (December 1956, F&SF)
  • “The Last Hand” (September 1958, EQMM)
  • “The Ultimate Clue” (1960, EQMM)
    “A barely two-page, sports themed dying clue puzzle with one of the coolest semi-meta twists ever,” says Martin Ross.
  • “The Clue of the Knave of Diamonds” (May 1963, EQMM)
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. A special thanks to Martin Ross and Mike Barr for setting me straight. (Someone had to),

Published

Leave a Reply