Created by Dennis Lynds (1924-2005) Dennis Lynds' one-armed misfit New York City private peeper "SLOT MACHINE" KELLY was more than just another defective detective--he was the dry run for the author's later, far more successful one-armed misfit New York City private peeper Dan Fortune, which he wrote under his Michael Collins pseudonym. "Slot" showed up in a … Continue reading “Slot Machine” Kelly
Tag: Defective Detectives
Dan Fortune
Created by Michael Collins Pseudonym of Dennis Lynds "We are a species that preys on itself. We live on our own kind, hunt each other. That's what I wanted to tell the girl who faced me across the desk in the office part of my one-room loft, but I didn't. I told her what the … Continue reading Dan Fortune
John Smith (Blassingame)
Created by Wyatt Blassingame Pseudonyms include Van Cort & William B. Rainey (1909-85) Have ears, will travel? I'm not sure if this was a corrective to the defective detectives craze or not, but Wyatt Blassingame's JOHN SMITH was definitely on the mend. Once upon a time, he'd been blind, but having been robbed of his sight, he … Continue reading John Smith (Blassingame)
Matt Mercer
Created by Day Keene Pseudonym of Gunnar Hjerstedt Other pseudonyms include Lewis Dixon, William Richards, Daniel White, John Corbett & Donald King (1904-1969) "Matt Mercer had come back from the South Pacific, leaving his arm behind on some Jap-infested island until, six-thousand miles away from that hell-hole, he found that the Little Yellow sons had returned--to claim … Continue reading Matt Mercer
Johnny Hawke (Johnny One-Eye)
Created by David Stuart Davies (1946--) The war evidently didn't belong just to Foyle... When he made his debut in "One for the Monet," a 2000 short story, World War II had just broken out, and action-craving young copper JOHNNY HAWKE quits the London police department to enlist in the British Army, intending to give his … Continue reading Johnny Hawke (Johnny One-Eye)
Carver
Created by John Lutz (1939 --) Talk about your walking wounded... Carrying the twin burdens of cynicism and pain, Del Moray, Florida private eye FRED CARVER toughs it out with every step he takes, thanks to a hold-up man's bullet that ended his police career and left him with a permanently stiff left leg, forcing … Continue reading Carver
Mark Saber
Created by -- It was a long and winding road for television's MARK SABER, who started off life as a British cop working for a big city American police force on both American radio and television, and ended his career as a one-armed private eye in London in a British television production that was shipped … Continue reading Mark Saber
Sam Kelson
Created by Michael Wiley Chicago private eye SAM KELSON cannot tell a lie. Or keep his fucking mouth shut. He took a bullet to the head while working as an undercover cop, and he's been like that ever since, unable to tell a falsehood or keep it zipped. If you've ever wondered what would happen if … Continue reading Sam Kelson
Longsarge
Created by The Usual Gang of Idiots I'm not exactly sure who wrote this (I'm assuming the usual gang of idiots), but this MAD Magazine spoof of 1970s detective shows (and TV Guide itself) is pretty much spot-on. A long-haired, motorcycle-riding, deaf Trappist monk private eye? Why not? After all, this was the era of … Continue reading Longsarge
Gulliver Dowd
Created by Reed Farrel Coleman (1956--) A handsome face on a twisted deformed body is New York private eye GULLIVER DOWD's lot in life. He's so short he fills up "only the bottom half a mirror," his arms and legs are too short for his squat body, his hands too big for his arms, his … Continue reading Gulliver Dowd