Created by Sylvie Lussier and Pierre Poirier Non-Montrealers may think the lead character in the Radio-Canada private eye TV show Les aventures tumultueuses de Jack Carter is some sort of hands-across-the-water homage to Michael Caine's character in the iconic 1971 Brit noir Get Carter. But they'd be wrong. It's all given away by numerous publicity stills which … Continue reading Jack Carter (Les aventures tumultueuses de Jack Carter)
Tag: Montreal
Eugène Duchamp
Created by Marie-Ève Bourassa Pas pire. Pas pire... In her first foray into crime fiction, Marie-Eve Bourassa brings it on home with Red Light: Adieuu, Miognonne (2016), scoring an Arthur Ellis for Best French novel and -- even better -- introducing an intriguing new private eye to Montreal's ranks. It's the 1920s, and former cop, … Continue reading Eugène Duchamp
Bill Yates
Created by Malcolm Douglas Pseudonym of Douglas Sanderson Other pseudonyms include Martin Brett (1922- 2002) At first I thought I'd discovered a long-lost Montreal eye here. And in a way I have. And in a way I haven't. BILL YATES is actually just Douglas Sanderson's Mike Garfin with a different name, released by another publisher … Continue reading Bill Yates
Hard, Tough and More Than a Little Nasty
Martin Brett's Mike Garfin Novels An Overview by Kevin Burton Smith For a homesick Montréaler like me, Stark House's 2006 reprinting of The Deadly Dames (originally published in 1956) and A Dum-Dum for the President (1961), the third and fourth books to feature ma ville's greatest private eye, Martin Brett's Michel "Mike" Garfin, provides an embarrassment … Continue reading Hard, Tough and More Than a Little Nasty
Mike Garfin
Created by Martin Brett Pseudonym of Douglas Sanderson Other pseudonyms included Malcolm Douglas (1922- 2002) "This is a dangerous town, did you know?" A Montreal eye! Born of an Irish-Canadian father and a French-Canadian mom, MICHEL "MIKE" GARFIN was left an orphan at an early age, and raised by the nuns (it's better than … Continue reading Mike Garfin
Ashley Smeeton
Created by Anna Dowdall The author calls them "Gothic cozy mysteries" but there's a welcome dash of simmering noir in her well-received books about young, half-Abenaki, Montreal detective ASHLEY SMEETON. The books are full of the usual suspects: betrayed fiancées, beautiful young heiresses, long-lost relatives, isolated estates, creaky old houses and more than enough dark secrets … Continue reading Ashley Smeeton
Nat Lawson
Created by John McFetridge Oh, John, you're such a tease... If there's one thing that gets my shamus senses tingling, it's a Montreal private eye. And Toronto author (and Montreal ex-pat) McFetridge delivers just enough with the short story "Barbotte" to get me all hot and bothered. It's 1946, and NAT LAWSON is just back … Continue reading Nat Lawson
Elliot Forsman & Rivka Goldstein
Created by Gary Raymond Coffin When we first meet him in Ogrodnik (2016), the first in the series, long-time Montreal criminology professor (he teaches a course in "Logical Deduction" at the university) and part-time private eye ELLIOT FORSMAN is at loose ends, growing older and going nowhere. He's living on plastic cheese, packaged salami of … Continue reading Elliot Forsman & Rivka Goldstein
Duck Darley
Created by Casey Barrett Unlicensed New York P.I. DUCK DARLEY has been around, and has the physical and emotional scars to prove it. A former felon and alcoholic who's currently walking the more-or-less straight-and-narrow, he self-medicates by vaping pot, attending AA meetings and getting beat up at his local dojo. Oh, he's also the estranged … Continue reading Duck Darley
The Eye (The Eye of the Beholder)
Created by Marc Behm An unnamed private detective, known only as "THE EYE," is the aging, lonely hero of Eye of the Beholder (1983), one of those peculiar books written in the genre but not of the genre, if you know what I mean. Hired to tail a young newlywed on her honeymoon, The Eye … Continue reading The Eye (The Eye of the Beholder)