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
Tag: New York State
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)Â "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
Jane Whitefield
Created by Thomas Perry "I'm a guide . . . I show people how to go from places where somebody is trying to kill them to other places where nobody is." JANE WHITEFIELDÂ doesn't think of herself as a private eye. She prefers to think of herself as a "guide." But what she really is is … Continue reading Jane Whitefield
Barney Calhoun
Created by Richard Deming Pseudonyms include Max Franklin, Emily Moor, Ellery Queen (1915-1983) "Don't fret about my ethics, Joe... show me an angle and I'll shoot it." BARNEY CALHOUN is six-foot-two and 210 pounds of ex-cop turned P.I. out of Buffalo, New York, who's tired of eating hamburger. When a wad of cash is waved … Continue reading Barney Calhoun
Dave Gurney
Created by John Verdon For someone who is not a locked room or impossible crime buff, Think of a Number (2010), the first in a popular series featuring DAVE GURNEY, a retired NYC homicide dick, was one hell of an introduction. It's a genre that's easy to make fun of (and I have), but it's actually … Continue reading Dave Gurney