Pat McCarthy & Margie Chalmers

Created by Roger Torrey
Pseudonyms: Sam Drake, Samuel Drake, John Ryan, R.D. Torrey
(1901-46)

Hot-headed, irritable and hard to get along with, PAT McCARTHY, he of the “long, sad Irish face” and the thick black beard, is a private detective who’s bounced around from detective agency to detective agency (Chicago! St. Louis!).  He’s settled down, however, and is now running his own outfit, with the help of sidekick Margie Chalmers, an ex-cop.

Only problem? McCarthy isn’t particularly  keen on cops, and doesn’t trust them, having been one himself for a few years in New York City, where a sergeant took the credit for a bust he had made.

Another problem? The way Pat and Margie “met cute” in “Jail Bait,” which introduced the pair in the October 1936 issue of  Black Mask. She introduces herself by trying to kill him (she didn’t).

But… definitely trust issues there.

In true pulp fashion, however, they eventually form an alliance to try to find the real killer, and subsequently appeared together in a dozen or so more stories, all in Black Mask.

SHORT STORIES

• “Jail Bait” (October 1936, Black Mask)
• “The Irish Have It” (December 1936, Black Mask)
• “Murder’s Never Funny” (February 1937, Black Mask)
• “Rat Runaround” (May 1937, Black Mask)
• “Hay Ride” (September 1937, Black Mask)
• “Sanitarium for Sale” (February 1938, Black Mask)
• “Murder Link” (May 1938, Black Mask)
• “Death Plays Tag” (August 1938, Black Mask)
• “Gardenia Kill” (October 1938, Black Mask)
• “Concealed Weapon” (December 1938, Black Mask)
• “Hay Time” (August 1939, Black Mask)
• “Kill That Witness” (October 1939, Black Mask)
• “Death Calls the Hand” (January 1940, Black Mask)
• “Murder for Your Money” (February 1940, Black Mask)

FURTHER INVESTIGATION

• The Eyes of Roger Torrey
  A Preliminary List

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.