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
Tag: Amateur Sleuth
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
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)
Quique Hache
Created by Sergio Gómez A series of Spanish language YA novels following the adventures (and misadventures) of fun-loving fifteen-year-old Chilean QUIQUE HACHE, who has a knack for solving crimes. In what I think is the second book in the series, Quique Hache, Detective (2005), Quique's just knocked off a correspondence course on becoming a private detective. … Continue reading Quique Hache
Gil Yates
Created by Alistair Boyle (Pseudonym) (1952--) GIL YATES is a real find: a private investigator from--get this!--California! What're the odds? But actually, Gil does carve a bit of a cockeyed niche for himself, as a sort of high-tech, big business, high-priced, Los Angeles contingency expert. But it's all a delicious blend of mid-life crisis and … Continue reading Gil Yates
Singer Batts
Created by Thomas B. Dewey Pseudonyms include Tom Brandt and Cord Wainer (1915-81) Whatever fame the great but unjustly ignored Thomas B. Dewey managed to claim was for his two fine private eye series, featuring the husband-and-wife team of Pete and Jeanne Schofield and hard-boiled Chicago gumshoe Mac respectively. But he created another very entertaining … Continue reading Singer Batts
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
Agatha Raisin
Created by M.C. Beaton Cozy alert! (The character's first name was a clue). M.C. Beaton's AGATHA RAISIN wasn't even a private investigator for a good piece of her career. When she first appeared, in Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death way back in 1992, she was just your typical amateur sleuth-- a successful, middle-aged … Continue reading Agatha Raisin
Colton Parker (Jim Sanderson)
Created by Jim Sanderson It's the 1980s, and there's boom money to be made--one way or another--in the hard-scrabble West Texas oil patches out near Odessa, but COLTON PARKER isn't exactly setting the world on fire. He's a chump-change criminal, trying to stay out of trouble, working as a bouncer for a local gambler, and … Continue reading Colton Parker (Jim Sanderson)
Professor Stanley Hopkins
Created by Paul J. Heald There's something about PROFESSOR STANLEY HOPKINS that harkens back to the glory days of the detective pulps of the thirties and forties, and all the gimmicky accidental sleuths that swarmed their pages. That's right--the so-called "Sociologist of Sleaze" is not a private eye. He's not even much of a sociology … Continue reading Professor Stanley Hopkins