Jacob Singer

Created by George Baxt JACOB SINGER is a LAPD detective (later a Hollywood private eye) who wanders in and out of George Baxt’s "Murder Case" series, working the same celebrity-clogged streets of 1930s and 40s Hollywood as Stuart Kaminsky's Toby Peters. Dorothy Parker? Alfred Hitchcock? Greta Garbo? Humphrey Bogart? William Powell AND Myrna Loy Murder? … Continue reading Jacob Singer

Picasso Smith

Created by Hugh Lessig PICASSO SMITH, hard-boiled scribbler for The Frisco Foil tabloid ("Boldly Printing the Truth and Mayhem"), circa 1931-58, is the star of a string of on-line short stories and vignettes by Hugn Lessig that harken back to the days of the pulps. Picasso's a general assignment reporter, with no time for guff … Continue reading Picasso Smith

Sophie Stevenson

Created by by Carolina Garcia-Aguilera We first meet Havana private eye SOPHIE STEVENSON (and her partner  Big Pete) in the amusing (and Shamus-nominated) short story “The Pearl of Antilles,” which made its debut in the 2022 anthology Edgar & Shamus Go Golden. Sophie is a former Navy intelligence officer (she was a Code Girl) who’d been stationed in … Continue reading Sophie Stevenson

Billie Walker

Created by Tara Moss A new series, well-received, following the adventures of feisty Australian war-time reporter BILLIE WALKER who returns home to Sydney after the war, mourning the disappearance and possible death of her husband Jack Rake somewhere in Europe. Turfed out of her job now that "the men are back,” she takes over her late … Continue reading Billie Walker

Max Dexter

Created by Chris Laing MAX DEXTER is a former Mountie and WWII vet who came back from overseas with a bum leg, now working as a private eye, going down the mean streets of post-war Hamilton, Ontario in Canada, a hard town now--a hard town then. They don't call it "The Hammer" for nothing. Max … Continue reading Max Dexter

Clifford Waterman

Created by Richard Stevenson Pseudonym of Richard Lipez (1938-2022) The good news? Richard Stevenson, the creator of the acclaimed Don Strachey mysteries has started a new P.I. series with the publication of Knock Off the Hat in 2022, which introduced CLIFFORD WATERMAN, a gay private eye trying to keep it together in post-war Philadelphia. It's … Continue reading Clifford Waterman

H.P. “Philip” Lovecraft

Created by Joseph Dougherty "The omens are bad. Me, I'm going to Florida!" -- you know things are bad when the landlady threatens to call it quits  Raymond Chandler's mean streets were never like this! A pleasant surprise was Cast a Deadly Spell, a pulpy, tongue-in-cheek 1991 HBO offering that took the world of the … Continue reading H.P. “Philip” Lovecraft

Aloysius Archer

Created by David Baldacci It's 1949, and rough-and-tumble WWII vet ALOYSIUS ARCHER is a hard-luck drifter and a total shit magnet, freshly sprung from Carderock Prison, when he hits the road in  One Good Deed (2019), a sly, noirish change of pace from  the #1 New York Times bestselling author Baldacci. His parole conditions are pretty … Continue reading Aloysius Archer

Tommy “Dapper” Luoo

Created by John Triptych Although primarily a sci-fi writer, John Triptych has written and published two books (so far) about TOMMY "DAPPER" LUOO, a Chinese-American private eye in 1940-50s Los Angeles, and he intends to keep going. As the author says, "If you like hard-boiled detective fiction with equal helpings of James Ellroy, Walter Mosley, Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald, … Continue reading Tommy “Dapper” Luoo

The Twenty-Year Death Trilogy

Created by Ariel S. Winter "I had on my good suit, a navy blue so deep it looked black, with a pressed white shirt, a red-and-blue-striped tie, a red handkerchief, and freshly polished loafers. I'd had a shower and a shave." -- Dennis Foster calls on his client, in The Falling Star "Yeah, I'd always … Continue reading The Twenty-Year Death Trilogy