Created by Gilbert Ralston (1912-1999) Much like Ralph Dennis' Hardman series, it's difficult to see the six novels Gilbert Ralston wrote featuring CLAY DAKOTA, a half Piegan, half Shoshoni ex-Marine and ex-cop turned Nevada rancher, rodeo rider and private detective, as part of the 1970s Men's Adventure craze. But that's how they were marketed by … Continue reading Clay Dakota
Tag: My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
Whispering Smith
Created by Frank H. Spearman (1859-1950) Cowboy and railroad detective GORDON "WHISPERING" SMITH first showed in in a 1906 novel by celebrated Western author Frank H. Spearman. Supposedly, Smith was modeled on real-life Union Pacific Railroad detectives Timothy Keliher and Joe Lefors (though his name was taken from another UPRR policeman, James L. "Whispering" Smith. … Continue reading Whispering Smith
Dan Boyd
Created by James M. Reasoner (1953--) James M. Reasoner has written tons of private eye stuff, in between about a zillion Westerns. Besides the thirty-six Mike Shayne stories he wrote as "Brett Holliday" for Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, he's highly regarded among fans of the genre for Texas Wind, a much beloved P.I. novel, and … Continue reading Dan Boyd
Fred J. Dodge
(1854-1938) Born in Butte County in California in 1854, FRED J. DODGE grew up in Sacramento, and became a detective for Wells Fargo, working for them for over fifty years, much of it undercover, in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma. There's no doubt Dodge got around. While working in Tombstone, Arizona in 1879, … Continue reading Fred J. Dodge
Old Red & Big Red Amlingmeyer
Created by Steve Hockensmith “So how is it,” I hear you ask, “that a couple no-account saddle bums like you and your brother came to be so fired-up excited about detectifying like a proper English gentleman detective?” To which I say, “Who’s a no-account saddle bum?” -- Otto puts a little spit in the pan. … Continue reading Old Red & Big Red Amlingmeyer
Virgil Cole & Everett Hitch
Created by Robert B. Parker (1932-2010) It could be argued -- and given a beer or two, I would -- that town-taming gunslingers VIRGIL COLE and EVERETT HITCH are private eyes in deed, if not in name. Roaming the old West in the last part of the nineteenth century, essentially serving as lawmen-for-hire, there are at least … Continue reading Virgil Cole & Everett Hitch
Wyatt Earp
As written by Patrick Culhane (pseud. of Max Allan Collins), Robert B. Parker, Loren D. Estleman & Charles Knief Brave, courageous and bold... and a P.I.? WYATT EARP, of course, was a real person, a legendary lawman in the Old West. Dime novels, movies, TV and radio -- we're all more than familiar with the "story." … Continue reading Wyatt Earp