Created by Christopher Bush Pseudonyms include Noel Barclay and Michael Home (1885-1973) "And that’s not all. Somers is dead too … He poisoned himself … in the lounge!” —from Murder in Fenwold LUDOVIC TRAVERS, a tall, skinny, bespectacled and introspective economist and amateur sleuth, eventually turns pro when he becomes the owner of the Broad … Continue reading Ludovic Travers
Tag: London
Solar Pons
Created by August Derleth (1909-71) "How many budding authors, not even old enough to vote, could have captured the spirit and atmosphere with as much fidelity?" -- Ellery Queen on"The Norcross Riddle" One of the most popular--and certainly the longest-running--Sherlock Holmes pastiches of all comes from the heart of the American Midwest. When he was … Continue reading Solar Pons
Nick Ryan (Hutson)
Created by Shaun Hutson London gumshoe NICK RYAN is your average loser private eye. His wife and daughter have gone off to live with some rich bloke, he smokes too much, drinks too much, entertains rather violent thoughts, has terrible taste in music and he's a very sick man. When his daughter is kidnapped by … Continue reading Nick Ryan (Hutson)
Xavier Lombard
Created by Eric Leclere "The Lost Son was not written for the book establishment to sanction, censure or kill. Books are for reading, and we feel the public should be given a chance to do just that." —the author explains why he was giving away his book. Speaking of British crime flicks (well, I was … Continue reading Xavier Lombard
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
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)
Francis Quarles
Created by Julian Symons(1912-1994) Sharp-dressed man about town FRANCIS QUARLES was the low-key private detective who worked the clue-ridden streets of post-WWII London, solving countless cleverly plotted fair-play short stories in the fifties and sixties, paying homage to the Golden Age of crime fiction. Most of them first appeared in The London Evening Standard, although … Continue reading Francis Quarles
Ron Hogget
Created by James Mitchell Pseudonyms include Patrick O. McGuire & James Munro (1926-2002) “I’m good at finding things. It’s what I’m for." TOMMASO RONALD HOGGET is telling it like it is. He's good at finding things. And people. He's a globe-trotting Anglo-Italian private eye based in London, and that’s his speciality. For a price he’ll … Continue reading Ron Hogget
Edward Mercer (Venetian Bird)
Created by Victor Canning (1911-86) Private eye EDWARD MERCER, like most of prolific British thriller writer Victor Canning's other P.I. creations (such as James Helder and Rex Carver) leans more toward the international thriller than the mean streets, but that doesn't mean they're not worth checking out. In Bird of Prey (1950; aka “The Venetian Bird"), … Continue reading Edward Mercer (Venetian Bird)
Francis MacNab
Created by John Ferguson (1873–) Scottish author John Ferguson must have liked the name. He wrote a mystery in 1921, The Dark Geraldine, which featured a Scottish policeman by the name of FRANCIS MacNAB. And then seven years later, in The Man in the Dark (1928), he resurrected the name for another detective, but this time … Continue reading Francis MacNab