Created by Lisa Gardner Pseudinyms include Alicia Scott (1972--) "In my line of work — which isn't exactly a real job if you consider I have no training and receive no pay — I normally choose my cases. I can't always explain why this missing person cold case versus that one... I mostly gravitate to … Continue reading Frankie Elkin
Tag: It’s my prerogative…
Jimmy Burns
Created by Charles Portis (1933-2020) "Christmas again in Yucatán. Another year gone and I still scratching around this limestone peninsula." Best known for his classic (and bestselling) Western, 1968's True Grit, genre-hopping author Charles Portis never quite got around to writing a private eye novel. But 1991's character-driven, tongue-in-cheek Gringos comes awfully close. JIMMY BURNS … Continue reading Jimmy Burns
Rex the Wonder Dog
Created by Robert Kanigher (1915–2002) and Alex Toth (1928–2006) Okay, I'm not really sure where to begin. Partly because I'm not sure even DC Comics quite knew what to do with REX THE WONDER DOG, who at various times was a faithful canine companion, a superhero, and even, yes, a "detective." Rex was the top … Continue reading Rex the Wonder Dog
Duke Valentine
Created by Bob Shields Not exactly a private eye, maybe, but nobody bothered to tell former baseball jock turned night-time radio broadcaster and full-time shit magnet DUKE VALENTINE that. He wades into all sorts of murder and malicious mayhem in at least five stories in the short-lived and sleazy digest Off Beat Detective Stories in … Continue reading Duke Valentine
Mary Lou “Dunk” Bateson
Created by Lawrence Sanders (1920-98) Nope. Not a private eye at all, though she sure ends up making like one, trying to clear her name, six-foot two MARY LOU "DUNK" BATESON is a NYC rare coin specialist stuck in a jam. She's been accused of swiping the valuable Greek coin she's been hired to appraise … Continue reading Mary Lou “Dunk” Bateson
Sammy & Ethel Abbott
Created by James R. Langham (1912-99) Yet another detecting couple, apparently married to it, SAMMY and ETHEL ABBOTT appeared in two clever, lightly humorous, noir-tinged novels, Sing a Song of Homicide (1940) and A Pocketful of Clues (1941). Sammy was a special investigator for the Santa Monica DA — a quasi-legal private eye who carries … Continue reading Sammy & Ethel Abbott
Eight Great Noir Thrillers by Sara Gran
Blame it on her Dad This list first appeared in the March 24, 2025 issue of The New York Times, with Gran, the creator of the private eye Claire DeWitt and the author of the 2003 horror classic Come Closer, opining on her favourite noir novels. "Some people use noir to mean a spare writing … Continue reading Eight Great Noir Thrillers by Sara Gran
Plastic Man (aka Patrick “Eel” O’Brian)
Created by Jack Cole (1914-58) Okay, okay, okay... So... he may have possessed plenty of gumshoe spirit, full of world-weary but snappy patter and he may have known plenty of those mean streets, but much beloved felon-turned-superhero PLASTIC MAN was never really a private eye (except for a brief, almost-glorious moment). Still, you could say … Continue reading Plastic Man (aka Patrick “Eel” O’Brian)
87th Precinct
Created by Ed McBain Pseudonym of of Evan Hunter Né Salvatore Lombino Other pseudonyms include Hunt Collins, Richard Marsten, Curt Cannon, Ezra Hannon, John Abbott, Dean Hudson, Ted Taine, S. A. Lombino, D. A. Addams (1926-2005) Long before Barney Miller, long before Hill Street Blues, Homicide, and NYPD Blue, long before Law and Order This … Continue reading 87th Precinct
Don Cadee
Created by Spencer Dean Pseudonym of Prentice Winchell Other pseudonyms include Jay de Bekker, Giles Norcroft, Stewart Sterling, Robert Wallace (1895-1976) Okay, he's not really a private eye, but DON CADEE doesn't seem to know that. He's chief of security for Amblett's, a swankier-than-swank Fifth Avenue department store in New York City. He's tall, lean, … Continue reading Don Cadee