Created by Gary Earl Ross Huh? Being Canadian, I always thought "Nickel City" was a nickname for Sudbury. The hard rock town in northern Ontario that Murray McLauchlan sang about, the place whose most significant monument is, in fact, a giant Canadian nickel, symbolizing the area's nickel mining history. A rough town, a tough town. … Continue reading Gideon Rimes
Tag: Buffalo
Fran Kirk
Created by Ruthe Furie (1930-) FRAN KIRK was once a battered wife, but she survived both a nasty divorce and the death of her ex to bec0me a private eye in Cheektowaga, New York (near Buffalo) in this well-regarded series of novels by Ruthe Furie. The debut, 1995's If Looks Could Kill, finds Fran living … Continue reading Fran Kirk
Nicholas Bishop
Created by Stephen G. Eoannou Stephen G. Eoannou's mystery, After Hours (2025), featuring World War Two-era private eye NICHOLAS BISHOP is a bit of a Frankenstein monster; a patchwork tale comprised of multiple parts gathered from all over the place. Instantly familiar, but quite fun if you enjoy those parts. Bishop is a drunk, but … Continue reading Nicholas Bishop
A New York State of Mind
Empire State Eyes Charlie Bradshaw by Stephen Dobyns (Saratoga) Joe Kurtz by Dan Simmons (Buffalo) Don Strachey by Richard Stevenson (Albany) Laney Bird by Emilya Naymark (Sylvan) Nicholas Bishop by Stephen G. Eoannou (Buffalo) Dick Moonlight by Vincent Zandri (Albany) Jeff Resnick by L.L. Bartlettby (Buffalo) Fran Kirk by Ruthie Furie (Cheektowaga/Buffalo) Tim Smith by … Continue reading A New York State of Mind
Betty Ahern
Created by Liz Milliron "I wish life was more like a movie." -- opening lines of The Enemy We Don't Know Be careful what you wish for. In The Enemy We Don't Know (2020), billed as "A Homefront Mystery," it's November, 1942, and the world (even the United States) is at war, and Buffalo, NY … Continue reading Betty Ahern
Barney Calhoun
Created by Richard Deming Pseudonyms include Max Franklin, Emily Moor, Ellery Queen (1915-1983) "Don't fret about my ethics, Joe... show me an angle and I'll shoot it." BARNEY CALHOUN is six-foot-two and 210 pounds of ex-cop turned P.I. out of Buffalo, New York, who's tired of eating hamburger. When a wad of cash is waved … Continue reading Barney Calhoun
Tom Donovan
Created by David Coleman TOM DONOVAN used to be a cop, working on the historic East Side of Buffalo, NY, until the night he was involved in the deaths of an unarmed man and a Federal agent. The first book in the series, Rust Belt Redemption (2013), picks up two years later when Donovan is … Continue reading Tom Donovan
Joe Kurtz
Created by Dan Simmons "On the day he was shot in the head, things were going strangely well for Joe Kurtz." -- Hard as Nails Got hard? Buffalo, New York ex-con private eye JOE KURTZ is the protagonist of a trilogy of acid-etched noirish thrillers by writer Dan Simmons that, despite their bleak worldview, never … Continue reading Joe Kurtz