Created by Andy and Dave Lewis "Tell me, Klute, did we get you a little? Huh? Just a little bit? Us city folk? The sin, the glitter, the wickedness? Huh?" "Ah - that's so pathetic." -- Klute responds to Bree's taunts with his typical brevity. Donald Sutherland plays tight-lipped small-town sleuth JOHN KLUTE in Klute, … Continue reading John Klute (Klute)
Tag: Manhattan
“Silky” Pincus
Created by Leo Rosten Pseudonyms include Leonard Q. Ross (1908-97) Ever wondered when someone would create a nice Jewish P.I.? Well, look no further, bubeleh. SID "SILKY" PINCUS is a genuinely nice guy, an ex-cop and Vietnam vet who runs a Manhattan detective agency called Watson and Holmes, Incorporated (Chutzpah, anyone?), with his partner, Michael … Continue reading “Silky” Pincus
Jack Levine
Created by Andrew Bergman(1945--) "Private dicks aren't known for being great abstract thinkers, Miss Lane, but we can get around town without a map."-- Jack tries to reassure a client in The Big Kiss-Off of 1944 One of the first, and still one of the very best retro eyes, predating both Nate Heller and Toby … Continue reading Jack Levine
Mike Noonan
Created by S.J. Perelman (1904-79) "She... had eyes like dusty lapis lazuli, taffy hair, and a figure that did things to me. I kicked open the bottom drawer of her desk, let two inches of rye trickle down my craw, kissed Birdie square on her lush, red mouth, and set fire to a cigarette." One of the all-time great spoofs of … Continue reading Mike Noonan
Carrie Cashin
Created by Theodore A. Tinsley Other pseudonyms include Reid Sleyton, Maxwell Grant (1894-79) Attractive as sin, hard-boiled as hell. One of the very first of the hardboiled lady dicks of the pulps, and certainly the most popular was Manhattan eye CARRIE CASHIN, who appeared in over three dozen action-packed, fast-paced stories, starting in the November … Continue reading Carrie Cashin
Repairman Jack
Created by F. Paul Wilson "You know, sometimes I wish there was someone else around to handle these jobs." Got a problem? He can fix it. First introduced in the 1984 novel The Tomb, horror writer F. Paul Wilson's REPAIRMAN JACK is simply one hell of an an intriguing, compelling character. He's not a private eye, … Continue reading Repairman Jack
Miles Jacoby
Created by Robert J. Randisi (1951 --) Manhattan-based former boxer and current private eye MILES "KID" JACOBY appears in a series of novels that begin right from his first stumbling steps as a P.I., when -- possibly still a little punch drunk -- he obtains his license in Eye in the Ring (1982). Numerous cameos … Continue reading Miles Jacoby
Henry Swann
Created by Charles Salzberg “I've put in for a personality transplant but evidently I'm way down on the list.” -- from Swann's Down Unlicensed Big Apple skip tracer (calling himself a detective would raise too many expectations) HENRY SWANN works out of a beatdown office in a beatdown Manhattan building full of Salvation Army furniture, which is … Continue reading Henry Swann
Robert McCall (The Equalizer)
Created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer. 212-555-4200. Sort of an update of the old TV western Have Gun, Will Travel. Need justice? Wire McCall, Manhattan. That was the premise of The Equalizer, which ran on CBS from 1985 to 1989. Cynical, disillusioned and guilt-ridden, former secret … Continue reading Robert McCall (The Equalizer)
Jonathan Ames (Bored to Death)
Created by Jonathan Ames Ray: "You're an idiot!" Jonathan: "Thanks for understanding." -- from "Super Ray is Mortal!!" There's something a little too self-consciously hip and edgy and meta-smug about the HBO comedy Bored to Death (2009-11), but underneath it all, there beats a warm and generous heart. I think. Jason Schwartzman stars as JONATHAN AMES, … Continue reading Jonathan Ames (Bored to Death)