Lucy Trimble (aka Lucy Brenner)

Created by Eric Wright (1929-2015) LUCY TRIMBLE's a forty-something, part-time librarian and owner of a bed-and-breakfast, living out the last days of a crumbling marriage, in the sleepy Ontario town of Longborough, somewhere 150 miles or so east of Toronto. So how does she end up running a Toronto detective agency? Seems she’s the sole … Continue reading Lucy Trimble (aka Lucy Brenner)

Nick Travers

Created by Ace Atkins (1970--) Maybe no one can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell, but Ace Atkins certainly gives it a shot. Former New Orleans Saint NICK TRAVERS blew his pro football career when he punched out his coach out (LIVE! ON NATIONAL TELEVISION!).  Not the greatest career move... So now he's a … Continue reading Nick Travers

Ludovic Travers

Created by Christopher Bush Pseudonyms include Noel Barclay and Michael Home (1885-1973) "And that’s not all. Somers is dead too … He poisoned himself … in the lounge!” —from Murder in Fenwold LUDOVIC TRAVERS, a tall, skinny, bespectacled and introspective economist and amateur sleuth, eventually turns pro when he becomes the owner of the Broad … Continue reading Ludovic Travers

Charles Galahad

Created by Leslie Edgley Pseudonyms include Arthur Barker, Lawrence E. Pivak, Robert Bloomfield, Michael Gillian & Brook Hastings (1912-2002) CHARLES GALAHAD, the head honcho of a very successful Los Angeles detective agency, is on the outs with his activist son, but he discovers that's just the start of his problems. First his son has the … Continue reading Charles Galahad

“Big Jim” Foote

Created by Tom Bredehoft This private eye is a little different—he ain't human! Nope, “BIG JIM” FOOTE is the genre’s first Sasquatch Shamus, a fact not immediately recognized by the good citizens of Morgantown, West Virginia. They simply don’t suspect that the friendly local P.I with the rather large feet is “one of them,” living … Continue reading “Big Jim” Foote

Walter Brackett

Created by Derek Marlowe (1938-1996) WALTER BRACKETT is a British eye, a lonely ex-pat middle-aged widower not getting any younger, down on his luck and a long, long way from home in Derek Marlowe's 1974 standalone classic, Somebody's Sister. Melancholy? You’re soaking in it. If Chandler seems too upbeat for you, and Hammett just a … Continue reading Walter Brackett

Sam Quinton

Created by Kevin R. Doyle “If you’d been ready for it, I would have hit you a whole lot harder and you’d still be down.” Well, it takes all kinds. SAM QUINTON is a former professional wrestler of all things, turned part-time private investigator and full-time owner of The Blaster gym in Providence, Missouri, trading … Continue reading Sam Quinton

Jane “Effing” Smith

Created by James Patterson & Mike Lupica James Patterson, of course, is the best selling author in the solar system, unleashing a tsunami of books on an almost weekly basis, with the help of an impressive rogue’s gallery of co-authors, while Mike Lupica has filled a bookshelf or so himself with his YA sports books … Continue reading Jane “Effing” Smith

Pat Colombo

Created by Pat Colombo Pseudonym of G. Edward Mulgrue Other pseudonyms include Peter Cairns One of the great standalones? That’s what a few folks have been saying about Throw Back the Little Ones, an obscure little (158 pages) paperback original, published by Avon in 1963. It follows PATRICK COLOMBO, an American private eye who travels to Rome and ends up … Continue reading Pat Colombo

Cayetano Brulé

Created by Roberto Ampuero Havana-born CAYETANO BRULÉ and his family emigrated to Florida just before Castro took over, and he grew up on the streets of Miami, where he became an American citizen and was promptly drafted. He ducked Vietnam, though, and did his military service in Frankfurt. In 1971 when he was in his … Continue reading Cayetano Brulé