Created by Christopher Mills and Joe Staton With a moniker like FEMME NOIR, you just know things weren't going to be taken entirely seriously in this web comic. Who the hell is she, you may ask? Well, here's how the official advance publicity from co-creator Chris Mills went way back when: Who is Femme Noir? … Continue reading Femme Noir
Tag: It’s my prerogative…
Carmen Valdez
Created by Alex Segura Okay, so… Alex Segura’s Secret Identity (2022) is not a private eye novel per se, but it’s painfully clear where its protagonist, frizzled and frazzled 1970s comic book writer CARMEN VALDEZ, is getting her inspiration from when her writing partner is murdered and she decides to poke around a little. A favourite on many Best-of-the-Year … Continue reading Carmen Valdez
Kitty Pangborn & Dex Theroux
Created by Linda L. Richards "Dex is tall and dreamy… Oh. Sure, he's a mook, but he's the kind of a mook that can heat a girl's socks, if you follow my drift.” —Kitty just might have a thing for her boss. Once upon a time, a secretary was pretty much standard equipment for fictional private … Continue reading Kitty Pangborn & Dex Theroux
John Piper & Quinn
Created by Harry Carmichael Pseudonym of Leopold Horace Ognall Other pseudonyms include Hartley Howard (1908-79) JOHN PIPER was a suitably tough insurance assessor who appeared in four novels in the early fifties, and QUINN was a reporter who worked the crime beat for The Morning Post, a London paper, who showed up in three novels … Continue reading John Piper & Quinn
Gabriela Rose
Created by Janet Evanovch Please! New York City’s GABRIELA ROSE is not a private eye. She’s a "recovery agent.” Like Travis McGee isn’t a private eye—he’s a “salvage consultant." Right. Officially, Gabriela’s job is to “recover” treasures, knickknacks, heirlooms, assets, documents and other assorted items that have taken a powder. All for a fee, of … Continue reading Gabriela Rose
Charlie Cale (Poker Face)
Created by Rian Johnson Writer/director Rian Johnson may just be the best undercover friend the P.I. genre has had in a long, long time. First he gave us 2005’s Brick, a sly reworking of noir tropes, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a teenage would-be Marlowe working his wall through the mean hallways of his high school. Then … Continue reading Charlie Cale (Poker Face)
Albert Parkis (The End of the Affair)
Created by Graham Greene Definitely not a private eye tale, or even a mystery, really (at least in the traditional sense), but Graham Greene’s 1951 novel, The End of the Affair does feature private investigator ALBERT PARKIS of the Savage Detective Agency in a pivotal, if secondary, role. In London, as World War II rages and the bombs … Continue reading Albert Parkis (The End of the Affair)
Rick Deckard (Blade Runner)
Created by Philip K. Dick Developed for the screen by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples When the topic of sci-fi/private eyes comes up for air, so does director Ridley Scott's grim and gritty 1982 film Blade Runner, and, occasionally, the 1968 Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? that it was loosely (very … Continue reading Rick Deckard (Blade Runner)
Cash Blackbear
Created by Marcie R. Rendon She’s not a P.I… yet. For you Girl Detective fans who find Nancy Drew a little too, uh, white, may I suggest Murder on the Red River (2021), a knock-you-back debut which introduces RENÉE “CASH” BLACKBEAR, a moody, rebellious nineteen year-old Ojibwe pool hustler, truck driver and aged-out foster child with … Continue reading Cash Blackbear
Cicero
Created by Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) In Defense of Sextus Roscius of Ameria (aka "Pro Roscio Amerino") by Marcus Tullius Cicero, aka “Cicero,” written about 80 BC, may just be one of my favourite private eye novels. Yep, it's a speech, not a novel, but young Cicero's first major defense speech reads like a short … Continue reading Cicero