Created by Jim McCann and Joe Eisma Released on National Coming Out Day in March 2026 was The Other/Half, a rom-com/mystery mini-series featuring rough-and-tumble NYC private eye and backstreets rambler (he needs a shave and wears a rumpled trench coat) HENRY ARCHER and his husband Ethan Herbst, a suave, sophisticated man-about-town socialite currently on the … Continue reading Henry Archer (The Other/Half)
Author: kevinburtonsmith
Lost Montrealer Kevin Burton Smith has been involved in publishing in one form or another ever since he was four and asked his mother to staple together some of his drawings. Since then he’s worked as a paperboy, an editor, a columnist, an illustrator, an editor, a graphic designer, a critic, a cartoonist, a bookseller, a layout artist and a short story writer. He’s the founder and editor of The Thrilling Detective Web Site, the popular and long-running online encyclopedia of all things private eye, the web monkey for The Private Eye Writers of America and a contributing editor to Mystery Scene Magazine and Deadly Pleasures. He is currently living in California and working on a non-fiction book about married detective couples with his wife, mystery author D.L. Browne (aka Diana Killian, Josh Lanyon).
Mary Roberts (Whispering City/La forteresse)
Created by Michael Lennox and George Zuckerman Newshawk MARY ROBERTS works the Québec City crime beat in the Duplessis-era Whispering City, an obscure but surprisingly strong noir from 1947. The fatal car crash of a long-retired actress intrigues intrepid reporter Roberts, sporting a rather nifty tam, and she decides to investigate further. She soon discovers … Continue reading Mary Roberts (Whispering City/La forteresse)
Napoleon B. Smith
Created by Leslie Allen Pseudonyms of Horace Brown (1908-96) In the digest-sized 1946 paperback Murder in the Rough, private eye NAPOLEON B. SMITH is out on the links, ending a round when a particularly bad hook (or slice or whatever you call it) lands his ball in the roughs that the local players have tagged … Continue reading Napoleon B. Smith
JJ Flask
Created by Chris R. Notarile Sing along if you know the words... In the eponymous black & white 2021 film short, JJ FLASK is "an old fashioned, hard-boiled P.I. in a modern day setting" trying to scrape out a living working "the mean streets of Los Angeles during its twilight hours." The film, we're told, … Continue reading JJ Flask
Mike Hammershlammer
Created by Melvin Slane Pseudonym of Al Feldstein & Jack Davis "The papers say I'm a kill-crazy shamus. Well, maybe I am..." For many of us of a certain age, our first exposure to spoofs, lampoons, parodies and satires — whatever you want to call 'em — of pop culture came in the pages of … Continue reading Mike Hammershlammer
My Scrapbook: Luke Cage, Page One
My ScrapbookLuke Cage, Page One The above splash page, presented in all its pre-press, pasted-up, camera-ready glory, is from the very first issue of Luke Cage, Hero for Hire (June 1972), garnered a lot of attention when it came up for auction at Heritage Collectibles. Not just because it's one righteous, bad ass piece of … Continue reading My Scrapbook: Luke Cage, Page One
Cooper Hart
Created by Stephen Randle "I could quite literally throw a stone from my front steps and hit the Lower City below, and I had done it a few times just to prove it was possible." In what they're tagging a "gritty YA urban fantasy novel" set following a "climate apocalypse," Canada's Hamilton, Ontario is sinking … Continue reading Cooper Hart
My Scrapbook: This or That? (A Lincoln Lawyer Dilemma)
My ScrapbookThis or That? I'm just asking... FURTHER INVESTIGATION Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer)Our take... My ScrapbookA Cornucopia of Tear Sheets, Illustrations, Photos, Scribbles & Other Crap That I Think is Cool. Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
Ray Martin (The Bodyguard)
Created by Richard Reinsmith Pseudonyms include Richard Rein Smith, Damon Castle, Ann Taylor, Dan Elliott Journeyman writer Richard Reinsmith caught the Men’s Adventure wave with the eight-book Bodyguard series, published by bottom feeder paperback publisher Tower (and starting with book three, Leisure Books). Its hero/narrator was gray-haired RAY MARTIN, a highly regarded bodyguard working out … Continue reading Ray Martin (The Bodyguard)
Jim Stubb
Created by Gene Wolfe (1931-2019) Another wacky genre mix-and-match. And Free Live Free (1985) isn't even really a detective story, even if down-and-out private eye JIM STUBB is one of the four main characters. It's 1983, and elderly eccentric Ben Free offers free room and board to anyone who will come and live with him, … Continue reading Jim Stubb