Created by Douglas Heyes Pseudonyms include Matthew Howard (1919-1993) “Looking back, I can see how quitting a corrupt police force to go straight as a private cop was like a two-dollar whore coming out of a cathouse to set up shop as a virgin” Douglas Heyes could have been a truly great P.I. novelist, but … Continue reading Ray Ripley
Tag: Historical 1930s
Gene Hammons
Created by Jon Talton GENE HAMMONS used to be a soldier, serving in World War I. And he used to be a homicide cop in Phoenix, Arizona. But when he went against the powers that be and tried to free a woman he felt had been wrongfully accused of murdering a local big shot, he … Continue reading Gene Hammons
Gene Castle
Created by Jim Christy (1945 --) GENE CASTLE is a private eye working the mean streets of Vancouver, British Columbia in the years leading up to World War II, when we first hook up with him in Shanghai Alley (1997), a slick, entertaining (and appropriately-presented) paperback original that takes place in that city's teeming Chinatown--at … Continue reading Gene Castle
“Just One of Those Things”
A Mary Kelly Story by D.L. Browne Fall 2001 The Chinese have a saying: "Dangerous enemies will meet again in narrow streets." The way I remember it, business was slow that November. Carl von Ossietzky won the Nobel Peace Prize and everyone was learning to Rumba. We were between World Wars and the Pinkertons over … Continue reading “Just One of Those Things”
Mary Kelly
Created by Diana Killian Pseudonym of D.L. Browne Other pseudonyms include Josh Lanyon, Colin Dunne, Louise Harris It had to happen. The female eye, So Cal division, finally went retro. In a promising short story debut which creator Diana Killian assured us was just the start, MARY KELLY is an op for the Brannigan Detective … Continue reading Mary Kelly
Dave Barrett (Manhunter)
Created by Sam H. Rolfe Taciturn DAVE BARRETT was an ex-WWI marine turned bounty hunter who goes up against a Bonnie-and-Clyde team of bank robbers who murdered his former girlfriend (and his dog!) in Manhunter, a 1974 TV movie. Dave was played by Ken Howard, later to star as television's The White Shadow. Killed his … Continue reading Dave Barrett (Manhunter)
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)
Harry MacNeil
Created by H. Paul Jeffers Pseudonyms include M. T. Jefferson & Harry Paul Lonsdale (1934--) HARRY MacNEIL is a New York P. I. who appeared in three books, all set in the Big Apple in the years leading up to World War II. Rubout at the Onyx (1981) is a private eye story, but by no … Continue reading Harry MacNeil
Miles Banyon (Banyon)
Created by Ed Adamson "The private eye of the thirties returns." -- tag on the paperback novelization MILES C. BANYON (played Robert Forster) was an ex-cop turned lone-wolf private eye, working in 1930s Los Angeles, in Banyon, a short-lived NBC television show back in the seventies. (The very similar City of Angels and Manhunter, both period pieces, … Continue reading Miles Banyon (Banyon)
Maisie Dobbs
Created by Jacqueline Winspear In her spawling, ambitious eponymously-titled historical novel, we first meet MAISIE DOBBS, a young working class girl in 1920s England with a love of books and learning. Once, a long time ago (much of the book flashes back to her younger years), Maisie worked as a housemaid for social activist Lady … Continue reading Maisie Dobbs