Created by Merle Constiner(1902-79) "Fortunes Devined from the Soles of Your Feet... Learn the Secrets of Love, Hate, Riches."— one of The Dean's many business cards Only in the pulps! One of the more entertaining sleuths of the detective pulps of the forties was DEAN WARDLOW ROCK (better known as "THE DEAN"), a quite likable … Continue reading The Dean (aka “Dean Wardlow Rock”)
Category: Short Stories
Kaiser Lupowitz
Created by Woody Allen Pseudonym of Allen Stewart Konigsberg (1935--) I was sitting in my office, cleaning the debris out of my thirty-eight and wondering where my next case was coming from... KAISER LUPOWITZ is the gumshoe in a couple of Woody Allen's apparently affectionate parodies/tributes of/to the hardboiled private eye tale. Yes, that Woody … Continue reading Kaiser Lupowitz
Oke Oakley and Secrets. Inc.
Created by Frederick C. Davis Pseudonyms include Clark Aiken, Garry Grant & Stephen Ransome (1902-77) Just in case anyone thought Joe Gores was the first to relate the adventures of a large, fictional detective agency with his justifiably acclaimed Dan Kearney & Associates series, they ought to check out pulpster Frederick C. Davis' tales of … Continue reading Oke Oakley and Secrets. Inc.
Malachi Manatee
Created by William R. Cox Pseudonyms include William J. O’Sullivan, Joel Reeve, David Crewe, John M. Easterly, William Hartley, Lance Kermit, John Parkhill, Mat Rand, Ray P. Shotwell, Roger G. Spellman, Daniel Winters & Willard d’Arcy (1901-1988) MALACHI MANATEE came back from the war with a brand new plan. Wounded in action fighting the Japanese … Continue reading Malachi Manatee
Seekay
Created by Paul ErnstPseudonyms included Frederick Carr, Ernest Jason Fredericks, Kenneth Robeson, Robert Wallace, Chris Brand, George Alden Edson, George Edson, Emerson Graves, Paul Frederick Stern(1899-1985) "I am going to turn on the light now. Do not be alarmed at my face." Arguably the first of the "defective detectives," Paul Ernst's SEEKAY was a tall, … Continue reading Seekay
Needle Mike (aka Ken McNally)
Created by William E. Barrett (1900-1986) I wonder if Jeff Johnson, creator of P.I/tatoo artist Darby Holland, knows about NEEDLE MIKE, William E. Barrett's crime-solving tattoo artist from the pulps? Posing as a seedy, disreputable alcoholic owner (complete with gold tooth and bum leg) of a grimy tattoo parlor on South Broadway in the equally … Continue reading Needle Mike (aka Ken McNally)
Joe Venice
Created by Jiro Kimura JOE VENICE is a New York City private eye with an office across the street from City Hall where, I guess, he can keep an eye on the mayor. Just an ordinary "Joe," except that his mother was Japanese. He was born at an American military base in Sakai, just outside … Continue reading Joe Venice
Henry von Stray
Created by John McAleer (1923-2003) Continued by Andrew McAleer HENRY von STRAY is a London-based private detective created by Edgar-winner and Rex Stout John McAleer, according to his son Andrew McAleer. Apparently, nobody had any idea the character even existed, until a handwritten copy of the only known von Stray story, "The Case of the … Continue reading Henry von Stray
Casper Barnett
Created by John Weagly "... the Heart O’ Chicago motel... was the perfect spot for a not-quite romantic rendezvous or if you wanted a seedy place to try heroin for the first time."— Casper sets a mood in “Ferocious Infidelity” CASPER BARNETT is a P. I. in Chicago whose stories, the author admits, he likes to … Continue reading Casper Barnett
“The Wrong Man to Cross”(Part Two)
.By Duane Swierczynski A John MacNeil Novella Winter 2006 Chuck Underhill put the time of the break-in between 2 and 4 p.m. Jonesy told him she left just before 2, and didn't return home until after a dinner of Chinese food at Kum Lin's with her mother. By that time, Chuck was already there, and he'd … Continue reading “The Wrong Man to Cross”(Part Two)