Created by Iman Vellani (2002--) It's 1979, and Hollywood-obsessed Leila, a 19-year-old Pakistani-Canadian college student, is a long way from home. She's in Tinsel Town, hoping to hook up with with her estranged uncle — her "Chachu," the brother of her late father. I have no idea what his real name is — Leila simply … Continue reading Chachu
Tag: Canadian Author
Ginny Dugan
Created by Olesya Lyuzna It's the Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Age, and even if Prohibition kicked in back in 1920, New York City is still bopping. Nightclubs, gambling joints, showgirls, speakeasies... And wandering through it all are private eyes GINNY DUGAN and her partner, Jack Crawford. Jack is hunky but troubled, and gal-about-town Ginny, formerly … Continue reading Ginny Dugan
The Suicide Murders by Howard Engel
Review by Aubrey Hamilton (December 2022) CANADIAN AUTHOR Howard Engel (1931-2019) wrote 14 books about Benny Cooperman, an unconventional private investigator in the small Canadian town of Grantham, Ontario (loosely modeled after St. Catharines, Ontario). Nine of them were published between 1980 and 1996 during the late 20th century flood of PI novels. Three more were … Continue reading The Suicide Murders by Howard Engel
Ben Ames
Created by Gayleen Froese Burned out and disillusioned criminologist and former cop turned Calgary-based private eye BEN AMES chases cheatersof all types (but mostly marital and insurance) all over Kananaskis County in the foothills and front ranges of the Canadian Rockies. "People will surprise you," Ben says to one of his clients in the series … Continue reading Ben Ames
Napoleon B. Smith
Created by Leslie Allen Pseudonyms of Horace Brown (1908-96) In the digest-sized 1946 paperback Murder in the Rough, private eye NAPOLEON B. SMITH is out on the links, ending a round when a particularly bad hook (or slice or whatever you call it) lands his ball in the roughs that the local players have tagged … Continue reading Napoleon B. Smith
Steve Black
Created by Tedd Steele Other pseudonyms include Ted Stelle, T.A. Steele, Theodore Steele, David Benedict, Jack Benedict, David Forrest, Gerald Laing, Jack Romaine (1922-??) Mothers, don't let your sons grow up to be private dicks. The hours are awful and so few require their services. Consider Artists Models and Murder (1956) a cautionary tale. It's … Continue reading Steve Black
Chris Prior
Created by Pat Dobie (1963--) A tough, cynical lesbian private eye, down on her luck, CHRIS PRIOR lives over a Vancouver escort agency, in love with its owner. And then she gets roped into looking into a murder that somehow connects the murder of one of the agency's young escorts and a chess-playing professor, and … Continue reading Chris Prior
Patrick Bird
Created by Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson Young private detective PATRICK BIRD wanders the rapidly changing streets of Toronto in the mid-sixties, back when it was only Canada's second largest city and sneeringly referred to as "Toronto the Good" (at least in sleazy, breezy Montréal). But the times they are a-changin', and Toronto is evolving, growing, and slowly … Continue reading Patrick Bird
Jane Sunday
Created by Rick Dewhurst Pastor and author Rick Dewhurst descends from the pulpit once more to give us a new private eye: Hummer-driving wiseass JANE SUNDAY Her Sunday Detective Agency in Vancouver, British Columbia is strictly a one-woman show, occupying a small cluttered office. Jane's currenty "between" secretaries, and things aren't going exactly to plan. … Continue reading Jane Sunday
Joe LaFlam
Created by Rick Dewhurst "Since I'm going to die, do you mind if I lead you to the Lord?" -- Joe faces off against a gunman According to author Rick Dewhurst, his private eye JOE LaFLAM and I have something in common. But here, let's let Joe tell it: "I was born in Vancouver, Canada, but … Continue reading Joe LaFlam