Created by Charles John Harper Pseudonym of Charlie Rethwisch Also known as C.J. Harper Imagine a world-weary P.I. working the mean streets of 1940s Los Angeles with a tiny, rundown office on the sixth floor of the Cahuenga Building on Hollywood Boulevard. And now imagine it's NOT Philip Marlowe. Nope, struggling private eye DARROW NASH's … Continue reading Darrow Nash
Tag: Detective
Don Cadee
Created by Spencer Dean Pseudonym of Prentice Winchell Other pseudonyms include Jay de Bekker, Giles Norcroft, Stewart Sterling, Robert Wallace (1895-1976) Okay, he's not really a private eye, but DON CADEE doesn't seem to know that. He's chief of security for Amblett's, a swankier-than-swank Fifth Avenue department store in New York City. He's tall, lean, … Continue reading Don Cadee
Tyrone Gable & Rinty “The Gaffer” McLaren
Created by Niklas Three It's 1999 and "hard-boiled" Windy City dicks TYRONE GABLE and RINTY "THE GAFFER" MCLAREN are the cash-strapped stars of the action-packed, wise-cracking Roll (2023), venturing deep into Dick Francis territory, travelling to Louisiana to track down a prized thoroughbred that has disappeared. It's all narrated by the surpisingly chatty Gable, a … Continue reading Tyrone Gable & Rinty “The Gaffer” McLaren
Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple & Auguste Poe
Created by James Patterson & Brian Sitts Coming from the House of Patterson, it almost seems awfully pre-fabricated. Three sleuths with major name recognition among mystery fans come together to form a New York City detective agency? Under the auspices of an author with a little name recognition himself? Full of short chapters and concurrent … Continue reading Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple & Auguste Poe
The Ensemble P.I Story
Truffaut's Stolen Kisses and Bogdanovich's They All Laughed The following is from Sam Wiebe's always interesting newsletter (available in free and paid versions), wherein he expounds on writing, crime fiction, film and whatever else catches his attention. Sam, of course, is the award-winning Canadian crime writer and the creator of Vancouver private eyes Dave Wakeland … Continue reading The Ensemble P.I Story
Riley Waddell
Created by Floyd Mahannah (1911-76) In The Golden Goose (1951; later retitled The Broken Body), private eye RILEY WADDELL has just about had it. Perpetually broke P.I. who's thinking of getting out of the shamus racket for good. But on the day he's planning to pull there plug, this dame walks in, waving a stack … Continue reading Riley Waddell
Jim Makin
Created by Floyd Mahannah (1911-76) A bleak, mean little slice of noir, Floyd Mahannah's "Prognosis Negative" first appeared in the March 1953 issue of Manhunt, and is well worth tracking down. Fortunately, it's also included more recently in the Mahannah collection, The Broken Angel/Backfire and Other Stories, put out by Stark House in 2018. JIM … Continue reading Jim Makin
Richard Stone
Created by Max Allan Collins P.I. renaissance man Max Allan Collins has also crossed over into other genres, including a couple of short novellasfeaturing 1840s Chicago private eye, RICHARD STONE, which combine dark fantasy elements with the P.I. story. Collins considers the first Stone novella 1996's "A Wreath for Marley" his gene-splice of The Maltese … Continue reading Richard Stone
My Scrapbook: The Three Stooges as Private Eyes?
My ScrapbookThe Three Stooges as Private Eyes?No, not really... Here's the cover for issue #1127 (August-October 1960) of Four Color, Dell's long-running and highly collectible series (1332 issues!), known for its photo covers and their film and television tie-ins. In their long, long run, Dell covered cartoons, kids shows, adult dramas, sci-fi, detective shows, westerns … Continue reading My Scrapbook: The Three Stooges as Private Eyes?
Droopy (Droopy, Master Detective)
Created by Tex Avery and Rich Hogan "Hello, all you happy people. Created by Tex Avery and Rich Hogan for MGM for cartoon shorts back in the forties, DROOPY was the slow-walking, slow-talking, seemingly indestructible and certainly unflappable bloodhound who somehow always seems to get his man (or woman) (or wolf). Since he first appeared, … Continue reading Droopy (Droopy, Master Detective)