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
Tag: It’s my prerogative…
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
Ronan Carver
Created by Thomas Fincham Hoo-boy. Another misfit shit magnet with a specific skill set meandering across the sometimes violent highways and byways of this troubled land, not necessarily looking for trouble, and yet somehow always finding it. RONAN CARVER is a former Navy SEAL who fell in love with a beautiful woman, and then successfully … Continue reading Ronan Carver
Smooth Kyle
Created by Borden Chase Pseudonym of Frank G. Fowler? (1900-1971) PETER “SMOOTH” KYLE was not a private eye, but he was definitely a cabbie — first an actual one, working Hell's Kitchen, and then posing as one after signing up with the U.S. Treasury Departments. As a G-Man, he prowled by mean streets of New York … Continue reading Smooth Kyle
Mister Maddox
Created by T.T. Flynn Pseudonym of Thomas Theodore Flynn (1902-78) "When Joe Maddox tells you it's all right, it's all right. You can lay money on it." MISTER JOE MADDOX, almost always referred to as "Mister Maddox," earned the nickname "The Bland Buddha of the Bangtail Circuit," for hanging around racetracks all over the States … Continue reading Mister Maddox