Created by Adam Knight
Pseudonym of Lawrence Lariar
Other pseudonyms include Michael Lawrence, Michael Stark
(1908-81)
STEVE CONACHER is a little guy for a private richard–but a tough one, who appeared in eight hard-boiled novels back in the fifties, most of which had him embarking on Hammer-like missions of vengeance.
The blurb for the paperback edition of Murder for Madame (1951) reads:
- “When he sets out to investigate the murder of one of his best friends (who also happens to run a plush house of ill-repute) he tangles with some of the loosest women and rottenest men in New York.”
And Stone Cold Blonde (1951) entices readers with this little nugget:
- “Mary Ray was the queen of New York’s call girls. But Mary had an enemy who dealt in murder and Steve Conacher vowed to trackdown the killer before others died. But he had to slug his way through plenty of slime-and illicit temptation-before he nailed the murderer.”
Although he was New York-based, the diminutive gumshoe did find time to travel, venturing as far as Paris in Girl Running and Puerto Rico in The Sunburned Corpse.
In his Trouble is Their Business, John Conquest tagged the series as “racist and homophobic,” and there’s no doubt that Conacher’s no great shakes as a detective–he’s constantly being beat up, his clients (and occasionally, a lover) are often killed right under his nose, and his favorite M.O. of asking questions seems to be threatening suspects and witnesses. The covers, particularly the Signet editions, are pretty good and some of the titles pretty catchy, but the titles, the illustrations and even the back cover plot synopses rarely have much to do with what’s between the covers.
Like, there is no sunburned corpse in The Sunburned Corpse.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam Knight, whose real name was Lawrence Lariar, was a journeyman detective writer who, under assorted pen names gave us private eyes Johnny Amsterdam and Sugar Shannon, as well as a couple of books featuring is real name of Lawrence Lariar, several several other mystery novels, including two about Homer Bull, an overweight comic strip writer and amateur sleuth, and his Watson-type assistant, Ham McAndrews, who also happens to be his cartoonist.
NOVELS
- Murder for Madame (1951) | Buy this book
- Stone Cold Blonde (1951) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- Knife at My Back (1952) | Buy this book
- The Sunburned Corpse (1952) | Buy this book
- Kiss and Kill (1953) | Buy this book
- I’ll Kill You Next! (1954) | Buy this book
- Girl Running (1956) | Buy this book
- Triple Slay (1959) | Buy this book
Respectfully submitted by David Pekasky, with some additional info and commentary by Kevin Burton Smith.
