The Funniest Eyes No, really. Call it "Humour in a Severed Jugular Vein," if you must, but people have been poking fun at the P.I. genre -- and the whole mystery genre, for that matter -- almost as soon as it appeared. But there were a few brave souls over the years who dared to … Continue reading Are You Trying to Be Funny?
Category: Detective
Rod Riley (The Girl Hunt Ballet)
Created by Betty Comden and Adolph Green It's not the same old song-and-dance, my friend... ROD RILEY's something of a parody figure like Guy Noir, and he exists in only one extended dance sequence, but take it from me--he's wonderful. The number, which appears in the 1953 film musical The Band Wagon (probably best known … Continue reading Rod Riley (The Girl Hunt Ballet)
Guy Noir (The Prairie Home Companion)
Created by Garrison B. Keillor "It was Valentine's Day in Minnesota. It was cold and dark and bitter and that was just the people." "A dark night in a city that knows how to keep its secrets. . . . But on the 12th Floor of the Acme Building, one man is still trying to … Continue reading Guy Noir (The Prairie Home Companion)
Lena Padget
Created by Lynn S. Hightower Here's one feisty Kentucky woman who shines her own kinda light. But watch out for the baseball bat. When we first meet her, in 1993's Satan's Lambs, Lexington, Kentucky private eye LENA PADGET is trying to deal with the imminent release, on parole, of her brother-in-law from prison, where he's … Continue reading Lena Padget
Teddy Maksumnic
Created by Jens Lapidus VIP-rummet (The VIP Room; 2014) kicked off a brand new and equally ambitious trilogy by celebrated Swedish author, Jens Lapidus, creator of the acclaimed Stockholm Noir trilogy (2014). The novel introduced Serbian immigrant, former criminal and ex-con (eight years for his part in a kidnapping he apparently had nothing to do with) … Continue reading Teddy Maksumnic
Aloysius Archer
Created by David Baldacci It's 1949, and rough-and-tumble WWII vet ALOYSIUS ARCHER is a hard-luck drifter and a total shit magnet, freshly sprung from Carderock Prison, when he hits the road in One Good Deed (2019), a sly, noirish change of pace from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Baldacci. His parole conditions are pretty … Continue reading Aloysius Archer
Jane Whitefield
Created by Thomas Perry "I'm a guide . . . I show people how to go from places where somebody is trying to kill them to other places where nobody is." JANE WHITEFIELD doesn't think of herself as a private eye. She prefers to think of herself as a "guide." But what she really is is … Continue reading Jane Whitefield
Nick Chambers (Fog City Nocturne)
Created by the Bay Area Writer's Group "Nick Chambers, the detective you turn to when you can't afford anyone else." Now here's something you don't see everyday: a private eye created and written about by a collective. The gumshoe in this case is NICK CHAMBERS and the collective is the Bay Area Writer's Group. Nick … Continue reading Nick Chambers (Fog City Nocturne)
Randall Lee
Created by Charles Colyott "Things are oriental, Detective. People are Asian. As you say, I am neither. Just another Gwailo, like yourself." -- Randall explains it (again) on Changes RANDALL LEE isn't your typical addition to these pages. Hell, when we first meet him in Changes (2010), he's not really a private eye at all--even … Continue reading Randall Lee
Oscar “Duke” Ramsey (The Duke)
Created by Stephen J. Cannell The Duke was yet another Stephen J. Cannell-produced P.I. show that flopped. In the pilot, Up Against the Odds (April 5, 1979), we meet 38-year old Chicago prizefighter OSCAR "DUKE" RAMSEY (played by Robert "The Wild, Wild West, Hawaiian Eye" Conrad), who decides--with some help from his long-time manager Benny--that … Continue reading Oscar “Duke” Ramsey (The Duke)