Created by Simon Swift It's the thirties (and the forties and the fifties), and New York City gumshoe ERROL BLACK talks the talk and walks the expected walk, in a proposed trilogy of "indie" books by Simon Swift. I say "proposed," because the third book, the "much anticipated" The Gold Gate Goodbye, never surfaced, although … Continue reading Errol Black
Tag: Historical 1940s
Rigby Reardon (Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid)
Created by George Gipe, Steve Martin and Carl Reiner Juliet Forrest: What are you doing? Rigby Reardon: Adjusting your breasts. You fainted and they shifted all out of whack. RIGBY REARDON is the doofus P.I. (played by Steve Martin) who gets by with a little help from his friends, in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, … Continue reading Rigby Reardon (Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid)
Spade Hearns
Created by James Ellroy(1948--) It's 1942 in post-Pearl Harbor Los Angeles, the blackout's on and the "Jap scare" is going full-tilt, and SPADE HEARNS is a laudanum-tippling P.I. wondering where the lights went, in the short story "Torch Number" by James Ellroy. Hard up for paying cases, the former LAPD  detective finds himself working for … Continue reading Spade Hearns
Ricardo “Ricky” Tellez (Death to Pachuco)
Created by Henry Barajas & Rachel Merrill Set against the backdrop of June 1943 Los Angeles, Death to Pachuco is a five-issue comic mini-series (later a graphic novel) from Image worth investigating. The US has just entered World War II, but tensions — racial, political, cultural, economic — are ratcheting up back home, particularly in … Continue reading Ricardo “Ricky” Tellez (Death to Pachuco)
Darrow Nash
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
Nicholas Bishop
Created by Stephen G. Eoannou Stephen G. Eoannou's mystery, After Hours (2025), featuring World War Two-era private eye NICHOLAS BISHOP is a bit of a Frankenstein monster; a patchwork tale comprised of multiple parts gathered from all over the place. Instantly familiar, but quite fun if you enjoy those parts. Bishop is a drunk, but … Continue reading Nicholas Bishop
Frank Harding (Hard Bargain)
Created by Steven S. DeKnight (text) Leno Carvalho & Bruno Hang (art) He's HARD-boiled. The 2025 graphic novel he appears in is called HARD Bargain. And the name of this tough guy private dick in 1940s Los Angeles is FRANK HARDING. Do you think maybe the author, Steven S. DeKnight, is trying too HARD? Still, … Continue reading Frank Harding (Hard Bargain)
Babs Norman & Guy Brandt
Created by Elizabeth Crowens Pseudonym of Sheri Lane For those of you who miss the star-studded, name-dropping Hollywood misadventures of Stuart Kaminsky's beloved Toby Peters, you might want to check out Elizabeth  Crowens' similarly light-hearted novels featuring 1930s and 40s Tinseltown dick BABS NORMAN and her partner, best friend and aspiring actor, GUY BRANDT. They … Continue reading Babs Norman & Guy Brandt
Pete Caudill
Created by Mitchell Bartoy Motor City madness, retro-style. And slathered in noir. When we first meet him in Mitchell Bartoy's 2005novel The Devil's Own Rag Doll, PETE CAUDILL is not a private eye. He's a cop in world WWII-era Detroit. But owing to the events in that impressive debut (I ain't telling) he's pretty much … Continue reading Pete Caudill
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