Created by Roger Torrey
Pseudonyms include Sam Drake, Samuel Drake, John Ryan, R.D. Torrey
(1901-46)
Prolific pulpster Roger D. Torrey cranked out almost 300 stories for the crime and detective pulps, most of them featuring relatively generic private eyes: big, tough-talking gumshoes, and MIKE “MICKEY” HANIGAN was one of them, quick to dish out either the rough stuff or the wisecracks, depending upon the occasion. Most of these eyes were one-and-dones, appearing only once, but occasionally he kept the same character around —Mickey actually showed up in an astounding (for Torrey, anyway) eleven (Count ’em, ELEVEN!!!) stories, all in Detective Fiction Weekly, beginning with “Case for a Killer” in the July 17, 1937 issue.
Ex-cop Hanigan was a West Coast private peeper who worked with cabbie IRVING KOWALSI, his sometime-partner and full-time “chauffeur.” Irving generally referred to Mickey as “Chief,” and occasionally worried about his boss’ ethics, which were of a “peculiar sort.”
SHORT STORIES
- “Case for a Killer” (July 17, 1937, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “The Meter Says Murder” (December 11, 1937, Detective Fiction Weekly)
Kowalski is referred to as Borowski in this story. - “You Only Hang Once” (April 23 1938, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “Labor Trouble” (September 17 1938, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “A Hunch for Hanigan” (November 12 1938, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “Suicide Story” (April 15 1939 , Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “Country Kill” (May 27 1939, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “A Bodyguard for Beano” (August 26 1939, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “No Money Payoff” (December 16 1939, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “Murder Tips the Scales” (February 24 1940, Detective Fiction Weekly)
- “Frame for a Killer” (November 1 1941, Detective Fiction Weekly)
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- City of Angels, City of Dicks
Los Angeles Eyes - The Eyes of Roger Torrey
A Preliminary List
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks to Kevin Reddy for the lead.
