Created by Roger Torrey
Pseudonyms include Sam Drake, Samuel Drake, John Ryan, R.D. Torrey
(1901-46)
“Lengel had his finger in a lot of pies, and while a lot of people suspected it, nobody had yet proved he was helping bake them.”
— Dolan suspects a powerful but dodgy businessman
Grab a pencil and add MARTY DOLAN to the list of prolific pulpster Roger Torrey‘s seemingly endless supply of hard-boiled private eyes. Like so many of them, he only appears once; in Dolan’s case it’s in “The Suicide Murder” which was published in the March 1945 issue of Private Detective Stories.
And like most of Torrey’s eyes, Dolan’s an ex-cop (five years on the force, and “apologizing ever since”), tough, a little shifty, and perhaps a little too fond of the ladies.
Well, some ladies…
After a “blonde” in a bar tries to slap him in the face (“You pinched my brother, you louse.”), Dolan pulls the woman over his knees, and “paddled her half a dozen times on the paddling place.”
He’s hired by Mrs. Lengel, an ex-showgirl, a “hard little wench” and recent widow who wants Dolan to prove her late husband, the man with the afore-mentioned finger in a lot of pies, was murdered and not a suicide, so she can collect on the insurance.
SHORT STORIES
- “The Suicide Murder” (March 1945, Private Detective Stories)
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- The Eyes of Roger Torrey
A Preliminary List
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
