Created by Marcy Holland After the previous week’s disappointing premiere of Francesca Quinn, P.I., the Girl Detective and I warily turned into the premiere of Hallmark Movies & Mysteries’ "Nikki & Nora: Sister Sleuths” with more than a little trepidation. Another pilot (I think) for a proposed string of TV movies, it starred Hunter King and Rhiannon … Continue reading Nikki & Nora Sullivan: Sister Sleuths
Tag: Illinois
Dek Elstrom
Created by Jack Fredrickson Wry, spry and "creatively unemployed," Chicago's VLODEK "DEK" ELSTROM is a hapless, soft-boiled private eye in a hard-boiled world, scrounging to pay the rent on his fixer-upper turret and feed his junk food habit. And he's not suffering from an abundance of pride or ego. So... whatever it takes. As long … Continue reading Dek Elstrom
Carl Good/Carl Guard
Created by Robert O. Saber Pseudonym of Milton K. Ozaki Other pseudonyms included Mark Shane (1913-89) "I put my arms around her and drew her close. She didn't resist. Then her cool arms were around my neck and her warm breasts were digging into my chest and she was kissing me like a French horn … Continue reading Carl Good/Carl Guard
Ron Shade
Created by Michael A. Black This P.I. can definitely kick your ass. That's because RON SHADE is not just a tough Army vet turned tough-guy Chicago P.I.--he's a tough Army vet turned tough-guy Chicago P.I. really into competitive kickboxing. So don't get him pissed, okay? In his debut, A Killing Frost (2002), he's hired to find an … Continue reading Ron Shade
James Reardon (The Killers)
Created by Ernest Hemingway Adapted by Anthony Veiller It feels like some sort of cheat to credit Ernest Hemingway as the "creator" of hard-working tough guy insurance dick JAMES REARDON here, since Papa's snippet of a short story (originally published in 1927), didn't even have a detective--by any name--in it. It simply related the tale … Continue reading James Reardon (The Killers)
Johnny Maguire
Created by Richard Himmel (1920-2000) Although he's almost forgotten today, author Richard Himmel was tagged as one of the greatest hard-boiled crime writers of the Fawcett Gold Medal era, starting things off with his first book, I'll Find You in 1950, only the second book GM ever published. But the book, which introduced his series … Continue reading Johnny Maguire
My Scrapbook: Be Careful Out There!
It Ain't All Booze, Bullets and Babes...(or "How Two Wrights Make a Wrong") Folks send me stuff all the time, but this clipping sent to me from John Larsen from the January 22, 2021 Chicago Tribune just really stuck in my craw. It's one hell of a way for a hardworking gumshoe to start off the … Continue reading My Scrapbook: Be Careful Out There!
Kalinda Sharma (The Good Wife)
Created by Michelle King and Richard King Alicia: Are you gay? Kalinda: I'm private. CBS' hit legal drama The Good Wife, which ran from 2009 until 2016) was NOT a P.I. show. But one of the major characters on it was, and for a few glorious seasons, we were treated to occasional glimpses of KALINDA SHARMAN, … Continue reading Kalinda Sharma (The Good Wife)
Nick Bancroft
Created by Bob Liter Pseudonyms include Cyn Castle (1923-2008) NICK BANCROFT is a sometime-freelance investigative reporter and sometime private eye who's the sole operative of AAA Investigations in Central City, Illinois (loosely based on Peoria), in a series of breezy, medium-boiled books by the late Bob Liter. Nick's just a regular guy, a working joe … Continue reading Nick Bancroft
Nick Cranley
Created by Michael Storme Pseudonym of George H. Dawson Other pseudonyms include Michael Storm (1918-1979) The very first book featuring NICK CRANLEY, Make Mine a Shroud (1949), promised “a never-ending vortex of excitement ... tough mobs ... police that mean business; and gals that mean business too – but not the same kind," while the second suggested we'd find … Continue reading Nick Cranley