Created by Merle Constiner(1902-79) "Fortunes Devined from the Soles of Your Feet... Learn the Secrets of Love, Hate, Riches."— one of The Dean's many business cards Only in the pulps! One of the more entertaining sleuths of the detective pulps of the forties was DEAN WARDLOW ROCK (better known as "THE DEAN"), a quite likable … Continue reading The Dean (aka “Dean Wardlow Rock”)
Tag: Dime Detective
Oke Oakley and Secrets. Inc.
Created by Frederick C. Davis Pseudonyms include Clark Aiken, Garry Grant & Stephen Ransome (1902-77) Just in case anyone thought Joe Gores was the first to relate the adventures of a large, fictional detective agency with his justifiably acclaimed Dan Kearney & Associates series, they ought to check out pulpster Frederick C. Davis' tales of … Continue reading Oke Oakley and Secrets. Inc.
Needle Mike (aka Ken McNally)
Created by William E. Barrett (1900-1986) I wonder if  Jeff Johnson, creator of P.I/tatoo artist Darby Holland, knows about NEEDLE MIKE, William E. Barrett's crime-solving tattoo artist from the pulps? Posing as a seedy, disreputable alcoholic owner (complete with gold tooth and bum leg) of a grimy tattoo parlor on South Broadway in the equally … Continue reading Needle Mike (aka Ken McNally)
Mister Maddox
Created by T.T. Flynn Pseudonym of Thomas Theodore Flynn (1902-78) "When Joe Maddox tells you it's all right, it's all right. You can lay money on it." MISTER JOE MADDOX, almost always referred to as "Mister Maddox," earned the nickname "The Bland Buddha of the Bangtail Circuit," Â for hanging around racetracks all over the States … Continue reading Mister Maddox
Johnny Cass (aka “Johnny Carr”)
Created by Roger Torrey Pseudonyms include Sam Drake, Samuel Drake, John Ryan, R.D. Torrey (1901-46) One of the earliest of what would soon become a long string of hard-boiled private eyes created by pulpster Torrey, JOHNNY CARRÂ (sometimes called "Johnny Cass") was your typically tough, cynical shamus, quick to dish out either the rough stuff or … Continue reading Johnny Cass (aka “Johnny Carr”)
Mariano Mercado
Created by D.L. Champion (1903-68) The only thing that bothers Mexico City private eye MARIANO MERCADO more than germs is... MURDER! Billing himself as a detectivo particular, Mercado appeared in eight novelettes in Dime Detective, between 1944 and 1948. The stories were narrated by Latham who seems to be the North American assistant of Mercado. … Continue reading Mariano Mercado
John K. Butler
(1908-64) Author JOHN K. BUTLER is best-known, at least in our little neck of the woods, for the numerous stories he pounded out for such pulps as Black Mask, Detective Fiction Weekly, Double Detective and especially Dime Detective. A native Californian, Butler was born in Auburn, up near San Francisco. In the latetwenties he migrated to … Continue reading John K. Butler
“Corpus Delicti” Mort
Created by Julius W. Long (1907-1955) Defense attorney and notorious barfly CLARENCE DARROW MORT, better known by his nickname "CORPUS DELECTI," liked to drink and hang out in dive bars and dubious nightclubs--and what's wrong with that? He was a regular in the pages of Dime Detective in the mid-forties, staggering from case to case, slightly … Continue reading “Corpus Delicti” Mort
Leander & Horatio Jones (The Jones Brothers)
Created by Maxwell Hawkins (1895-1962) LEANDER JONES and HORATIO JONES were twins (identical as the two "proverbial peas"), the sole operatives of Manhattan's Jones and Jones Detective Agency (with offices in the Flatiron Building, no less), who didn't just stumble into cases that involved murder--it was their speciality. Not that they needed the work--"their private inherited … Continue reading Leander & Horatio Jones (The Jones Brothers)
“Bookie” Barnes
Created by Robert Reeves (1912-45) Reminescent at times of Frank Gruber and Norbert Davis, Robert Reeves is best known for creating private eye Cellini Smith, but he also created another memorable (if short-lived) hard-boiled hero: trucker and "highway detective" "BOOKIE" BARNES, who appeared in just three short stories (the first in Black Mask, and the … Continue reading “Bookie” Barnes