(1901-1984) George Harmon Coxe was a journalist, prolific pulp writer, and novelist; an early star of hard boiled crime fiction, and one of Cap Shaw's beloved Black Mask Boys. In a long and prolific career, Coxe put his name to over sixty novels, the last being published in 1975, and hundreds of short stories. His … Continue reading George Harmon Coxe
Category: Radio
Joseph Rouletabille (aka Joseph Josephin)
Created by Gaston Leroux (1868-1927) JOSEPH ROULETABILLE was a crime-solving, baby-faced cub reporter for the Parisian paper L'époque who regularly outsmarted the police; solving seemingly impossible crimes. His 1907 debut, Le Mystère de la Chambre Jaune by Gaston (Phantom of the Opera) Leroux is considered one of the very first locked room mysteries; a classic … Continue reading Joseph Rouletabille (aka Joseph Josephin)
Mitch Pistolwhip (Pistolwhip)
Created by Matt Kindt & Jason Hall "Mitch, if you're going to be a good detective, you've got to be aware of your surroundings at all times. It's really about observation. . . paying attention to detail, always alert. That means keeping your eyes and ears open. . . especially to the little things." -- … Continue reading Mitch Pistolwhip (Pistolwhip)
Paladin (Have Gun, Will Travel)
Created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow "A knight without armor in a savage land." -- from the theme song Perhaps the only genre more popular than private eyes in television's early years was the western, so it's probably not that surprising that someone soon came up with the idea of combining the two. In … Continue reading Paladin (Have Gun, Will Travel)
The Lone Wolf (Michael Lanyard)
Created by Louis Joseph Vance (1879-1933) Louis Joseph Vance's MICHAEL LANYARD, better known as THE LONE WOLF, didn't start out as a private eye, but as a criminal. However, like Jack Boyle's Boston Blackie, thanks to his numerous reboots, reincarnations and re-imaginings in radio, film and television, The Lone Wolf is now remembered by many, … Continue reading The Lone Wolf (Michael Lanyard)
Blake Edwards’ Private Eyes
And Other Miscreants... Like his contemporary Roy Huggins, Blake Edwards must have had a real jones for the Shamus Game. Along with his genuine successes (everything from Richard Diamond and Peter Gunn to 10, S.O.B. and the Pink Panther movies), Edwards wrote, directed and/or produced several radio shows, films (both for television and the big … Continue reading Blake Edwards’ Private Eyes
Nick Danger (The Firesign Theatre)
Created by The Firesign Theatre "Well, now, the gum's on the other shoe." -- Nick Danger, on a sudden plot shift, in The Case of the Missing Yolks .Even more than the literature, the classic radio eyes of the forties and fifties thrived on first person. And they did it in present tense, as in … Continue reading Nick Danger (The Firesign Theatre)
Saturday-Night Theatre
Radio Anthology Series (1943-96, BBC 4) Saturday-Night Theatre was a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 4 that ran feature-length, standalone dramatizations on Saturday nights for over 50 years, dishing up plenty of crowd-pleasing thrillers, comedies and mysteries, with the usual Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes offerings. The plays—usually 90 minutes long--included stage plays, book … Continue reading Saturday-Night Theatre
Secret Agent X-9
Created by Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) and Alex Raymond (1909-56) Despite being a collaboration between possibly the greatest private eye writer of all time, and one of the all-time great comic strip artists, the action/adventure strip Secret Agent X-9 was always something of a disappointment. The strip was originally conceived by King Features to compete with … Continue reading Secret Agent X-9
Horace Rumpole
Created by John Mortimer (1923-2009 ) Down those mean streets and meaner chambers a man must waddle... Lord knows, he's not a private eye--but I wish he were. Like Philip Marlowe, HORACE RUMPOLE is "a relatively poor man... a common man or he could not go among common people. He has a sense of character, … Continue reading Horace Rumpole