Joe Puma

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Created by William Campbell Gault
Pseudonyms include Roney Scott, Will Duke, Bill Gault, David Crewe & Ray P. Shotwell
(1910-1995)

Presenting the fuck-up as P.I.

Not that he started that way, of course.

But while straight arrow Brock “The Rock” Callahan remains William Campbell Gault‘s most famous creation, JOE PUMA definitely deserves some attention, too.

Not as handsome, educated, well-mannered or downright decent as WASPish Golden Boy Brock.  Joe is of Italian stock, and is bigger, and meaner than Brock, and definitely a few notches down the social scale.

And the morality scale as well.

While Brock’s clients tended to be film stars, heiresses, and corporate big shots, Joe’s regularly messes with everything from whorehouse madames and professional wrestlers to small-time thugs, bit players, and gangsters. Brock’s pretty much a one-woman man, in thrall to his beloved Jan, and works Beverly Hills. Puma is an unrepentant womanizer, and works the sleazier parts of Hollywood and Los Angeles.

The local cops know Puma’s crooked, but he’s one slick sonuvabitch —they can’t prove a thing. It’s pretty clear, though, that Puma is only out for himself. Particularly in the earliest short stories, and his novel-length debut, Shakedown (1953), in which Joe is looking into a murder that revolves around some of his own nefarious doings.

Davy Crockett over at The Almanack suspects Shakedown was intended to be a standalone novel, and I reckon he’s right, because when Puma returned in several more short stories, mostly published in Manhunt, and several more novels, starting with End of a Call Girl (1958), were all published under Gault’s own name. In these, Puma’s functioning more like a traditional (and slightly less corrupt) private eye, even if his client base hasn’t particularly improved. Five more novels followed, wrapping up the series in 1961 with The Hundred Dollar Girl.

Except…

After a twenty-year absence, Puma returned, making  a final appearance in 1984’s The CANA Diversion, which finds Joe’s old pal Brock now wealthy, married and retired to Montevista, an affluent suburb of San Valdesto (essentially Santa Barbara). Joe’s still cutting corners (a local cop refers to him as “a real shady operator”), but really down on his luck and in a real jam, so Boy Scout Brock throws his old pal a bone, hoping to lend a helping hand. To no avail.

The book won a Shamus.

In the 20210s, both Mysterious Press/Open Road and Prologue Books re-released many of Gault’s books both in paperback and digitally.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Besides Brock, William Campbell Gault was also responsible for several other one-shot PI’s, who appeared in various short stories, in the pulps and elsewhere, including Honolulu’s Sandy McKane , ex-boxer Mickey Dolan, and  Armenian gumshoe Pierre Apoyan. Gault won the 1953 Edgar Award for Best First Novel for the standalone mystery Don’t Cry for Me, and the Shamus Award for Best P.I. Paperback Original in 1983 for Brock Callahan novel The Cana Diversion, and  The Eye in 1984 for Lifetime Achievement, both by The Private Eye Writers of America. In 1991, he was also presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at that year’s Bouchercon.

UNDER OATH

  • “(Shakedown is) a classic noir tale of a P. I. so corrupt that at times we can’t even tell whose side he’s on. Highly recommended.”
    — gadection

NOVELS

SHORT STORIES

  • “There’s Got to Be an Angle” (April 1952, Dime Detective)
  • “The Unholy Three” (May 1956, Manhunt; 2003, Marksman and Other Stories)
  • “Deadly Beloved” (October 1956, Manhunt; also 2002, Most Wanted; 2003, Marksman and Other Stories)
  • “Death of a Big Wheel (April 1957, Manhunt; 2003, Marksman and Other Stories)
  • “Don’t Crowd Your Luck (May 1957, EQMM; 2003, Marksman and Other Stories)
  • “No Client of Mine (July 1957, Mercury Mystery Magazine; 2003, Marksman and Other Stories)
  • “Take Care of Yourself (1957, Murder; 1987, The Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction)
  • “Don’t Crowd Your Luck (May 1957, EQMM)
  • “Stolen Star (November 1957, Manhunt; 1990, Detective Story Magazine #9; 2003, Marksman and Other Stories).

COLLECTIONS

  • Marksman and Other Stories (2003; edited by Bill Pronzini) | Buy this book
    Includes 12 stories, including six featuring Joe Puma
  • Noir Masters: Joe Puma, P.I. (2010) | Kindle it!
    Five stories featuring Joe Puma.

BEER

  • Einlicher

FURTHER INVESTIGATION

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks to Dale Stoyer for the nifty scan, and Frank Loose for the heads-up.

Published

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