Los Angeles Eyes
“I used to like this town. A long time ago.”
— Philip Marlowe in The Little Sister (1949)
“L.A. isn’t the end; it’s the beginning…”
— Elvis Cole by Robert Crais
Southern California, and Los Angeles in particular, is ground zero for private eyes.
From Raoul Whitfield and Raymond Chandler to Robert Crais, John Shannon and Walter Mosley (and a zillion in between), private eyes have made the City of Angels their home.
There are Hollywood eyes, surfer eyes, down-and-out eyes, rich-as-fuck eyes, noir eyes, goofy eyes, female eyes, Black eyes, Hispanic eyes, queer eyes and everything thing else under the California sun. And I’ve no doubt missed hundreds of them.
In fact, given the number of P.I.s going down these mean streets, most of them allegedly on the side of the angels and almost all of them armed, you have to wonder just how mean those streets could actually be.
Fortunately, Robert Crais can remind us. Check out his opening remarks from the 2003 edition of Left Coast Crime…
- Philip Marlowe by Raymond Chandler
- Jake Gittes by Robert Towne
- Lew Archer by Ross Macdonald (Santa Theresa)
- Otis Beagle & Joe Peel by Frank Gruber
- Jim Rockford by Roy Huggins & Stephen J. Cannell (The Rockford Files)
- David Brandstetter by Joseph Hansen
- Brock Callahan by William Campbell Gault
- Johnny Cass (aka “Johnny Carr”) by Roger Torrey
- Edmond Clive by Leigh Brackett
- Elvis Cole by Robert Crais
- Bertha Cool & Donald Lam by A.A. Fair
- Jack Liffey by John Shannon
- Ben Jardinn by Raoul Whitfield
- Ivan Monk by Gary Phillips
- Harry Moseby by Alan Sharp (Night Moves)
- Joe Hallenbeck by Shane Black and Greg Hicks (The Last Boy Scout)
- Meg Gillis by C.J. Songer
- Joe Puma by William Campbell Gault
- Mike Faraday by Basil Cooper
- Aaron Gunner by Gar Anthony Haywood
- Gene Burk by John Kaye
- Remington Steele by Michael Gleason and Robert Butler
- Darrow Nash by Charles John Harper
- Brian Kane by Jack Bludis
- Harry Bosch by Michael Connelly
- Sam Hunter by L.A. Morse
- Doc Sportello by Thomas Pynchon (Inherent Vice)
- Simon Lash & Eddie Slocum by Frank Gruber
- Dash Fuller by Nick Kolakowski
- David Addison & Maddie Hayes by Glenn Caron Gordon (Moonlighting)
- Vincent Rubio by Eric Garcia
- Easy Rawlins by Walter Mosley
- George Killeen by Roger Torrey
- Spade Hearns by James Ellroy
- Jake Asch by Arthur Lyons
- Joe Copp by Don Pendleton
- Moses Wine by Roger Simon
- Buddy Faro by Mark Frost (Buddy Faro)
- Ricardo “Ricky” Tellez by Henry Barajas & Rachel Merrill (Death to Pachuco)
- Vince Slader by Ovid Demaris
- Rex McBride by Cleve F. Adams
- Saxon by Les Roberts
- Harry Lockhart & Gay Perry by Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang)
- Regan Reilly by Carol Higgins Clark
- Barton Keyes by James M. Cain (Double Indemnity)
- Fergus O’Breen by Anthony Boucher
- Perry Mason by Erle Stanley Gardner
- Joe Mannix by William Link and Richard Levinson
- Bill Lennox by W.T. Ballard
- Eddie Valiant by Gary K. Wolf (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?)
- V. Daniel by David M. Pierce
- Dan Turner by Robert Leslie Bellem
- Jerry Banning by Eustace L. Adams
- Isaiah Quintabe by Joe Ice
- Parker Kane by Peter M. Lenkov
- Tony Key by Steve Fisher
- Freddy Otash by James Elroy
- Charlie’s Angels by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts (Charlie’s Angels)
- Eddie Mannix by Ethan and Joel Cohen (Hail, Caesar!)
- Ray Donovan by Ann Biderman
- Mae Pruett by Jordan Harper
- Angel by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt (Angel)
- Jackson Healy & Holland March by Shane Black & and Anthony Bagarozzi (The Nice Guys)
- Veronica Mars by Rob Thomas
- Nefra Adams by Gary Phillips
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- Hollywood Dicks
Tinseltown Troupers - Hollywood Fixers
Tinseltown Troubleshooters - San Diego Eyes
America’s Finest City’s Finest Eyes
Preliminary list respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Yes, I’ve missed some! Clue me in! Postcard by samwellcollins, available at Redbubble.
