Jane “Effing” Smith

Created by James Patterson & Mike Lupica James Patterson, of course, is the best selling author in the solar system, unleashing a tsunami of books on an almost weekly basis, with the help of an impressive rogue’s gallery of co-authors, while Mike Lupica has filled a bookshelf or so himself with his YA sports books … Continue reading Jane “Effing” Smith

Martin Wade

Created by Libby Cudmore “I drove home listening to Elvis Costello. It was a Brutal Youth kind of night." All rock stars end up in a plane crash of one kind or another. Sex. drugs. Rock’n’roll. Take your pick. Someone sad that once. In MARTIN WADE’s case, the crash was definitely the drugs (mostly heroin) … Continue reading Martin Wade

Eddie Bianco (Love Walked In)

Created by Jose Pablo Feinmann (1943-2021) Nervous, weaselly private eye EDDIE BIANCO (The Practice's Michael Badalucco) teams up with his old buddy, mouthy piano man Jack Hanaway (Dennis Leary), a bitterly caustic would-be writer with a drinking problem, in this competent, straight-to-video B-flick. Kevin Thomas of the L.A. Times called it "intelligent and stylish but … Continue reading Eddie Bianco (Love Walked In)

Shep Stone

Created by Jeff Jacks An unlicensed New York private eye working the Greenwich Village area, SHEP STONE, only made two appearances, both in Fawcett Gold Medal paperback originals in the early seventies. According to Robert Randisi, these two hard-to-find novels are full of "great P.I. stuff with a wonderful New York atmosphere." In fact, in … Continue reading Shep Stone

Red Diamond

Created by Mark Schorr Imagine if Robert Leslie Bellem had written Don Quixote... Once upon a time, there was a forty-something cab driver from Hicksville, Long Island by the name of SIMON JAFFEE. Now, Simon, well, his life wasn't going so well. He had a nagging wife that didn't understand him, a genius son that … Continue reading Red Diamond

Lisa Jamison

Created by Lori Duffy Foster When she got pregnant at fifteen, single mom LISA JAMISON vowed her daughter Bridget would have a better life than she did, and then set about getting her one. It took a while, but she cut ties with her own drug-addled parents and Marty, Bridget's father. Lisa worked her ass … Continue reading Lisa Jamison

Don Strachey

Created by Richard Stevenson Pseudonym of Richard Lipez (1938-2022) Albany, New York private peeper DON STRACHEY is openly gay, a younger (forty-something) more emotional, and slightly flakier persona than Joseph Hansen's middle-aged, controlled Dave Brandstetter. Where Dave is calm and collected, Don is flippant, sassy, sloppy, paranoid, compulsive, impulsive and prone to plots and plans. … Continue reading Don Strachey

Laney Bird

Created by Emilya Naymark LANEY BIRD was once one of New York's Finest, a detective who worked undercover, but then her personal life "imploded." That's when the single mom packed up her bags and became a small town dick (and sometime bus driver) in the upstate boondocks of Sylvan in Rockland County, where she's determined to make … Continue reading Laney Bird

Tim Smith

Created by Donald Westlake (1933-2008)  "This is my town. Mine. I don't run away from it, nobody chases me out." -- Tim SmithWinston, New York, is a town of about 40,000 souls that has seen fit to license one--and only one--private eye. That's because TIM SMITH, the man they've licensed, knows every even halfway sordid … Continue reading Tim Smith

Garth Frederickson

Created by George C. Chesbro (1940-2008) A series of short stories featuring GARTH FREDERICKSON, a former NYPD lieutenant now pounding the pavement as a private investigator in Cairn, New York, a Big Apple suburb. If Garth's last name, or his creator's identity ring a bell, it's because Garth's "weird little brother" is world-renown criminalogist/private eye … Continue reading Garth Frederickson