Created by Gaston Leroux (1868-1927) JOSEPH ROULETABILLE was a crime-solving, baby-faced cub reporter for the Parisian paper L'époque who regularly outsmarted the police; solving seemingly impossible crimes. His 1907 debut, Le Mystère de la Chambre Jaune by Gaston (Phantom of the Opera) Leroux is considered one of the very first locked room mysteries; a classic … Continue reading Joseph Rouletabille (aka Joseph Josephin)
Tag: Paris
Antoine Doinel (Baisers volés/Stolen Kisses)
Created by François Truffaut & Marcel Moussy Shy, hapless and hopelessly romantic bookworm ANTOINE DOINEL is hardly your typical private eye. He tumbles in and out of love in a series of five romcoms by noted French director François Truffaut that follow him as he stumbles his way from rebellious teenager to manhood. He wanders through a … Continue reading Antoine Doinel (Baisers volés/Stolen Kisses)
Zut! Les Flics Privés
French Eyes Georges Asculape by Alexandre Valetti Francis Bayard by Jean des Marcenelles Jerome K. Jerome Bloche by Pierre Makyo, Serge Le Tendre & Alain Dodier (Paris) Nestor Burma by Leo Malet (Paris) B.F. Cage by Peter Israel Philippe Clerc by Patrick Raynal Félix by Maurice Tillieux Robert Flécheux by Alain Demouzon René Griffon by … Continue reading Zut! Les Flics Privés
Aimée Leduc
Created by Cara Black Parisian AIMÉE LEDUC is one P.I. who really gets into it, be it surfing the web, traveling through sewers, or going undercover among neo-Nazis. That's just the kinda hands-on kinda half-American, half-French gal she is. Aimée makes her living as a private investigator in the Paris, aided by her partner, René … Continue reading Aimée Leduc
Jack Morgan, Peter Knight, Dan Carter, Chris Schneider, Craig Gisto, Santosh Wagh, Joey Montague, Matteo Ricci, et al (Private)
Created by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro, Mark Sullivan, Mark Pearson, Michael White, Ashwin Sanghi, Rees Jones, Jassy Mackenzie, Adam Hamdy, et al I've heard so many bad and even cruel things from writers and readers whom I generally respect about James Patterson's writing--tempered by equally effusive but vague praise by diehard fans--that I really had … Continue reading Jack Morgan, Peter Knight, Dan Carter, Chris Schneider, Craig Gisto, Santosh Wagh, Joey Montague, Matteo Ricci, et al (Private)
Nestor Burma
Created by Léo Malet (1909-96) Mesdames et messieurs, ladies and gentlemen, may we introduce to you France's answer to Chandler's Marlowe, the one and only, NESTOR BURMA--detective de choc! Malet was heavily influenced by Chandler, Hammett, et al, and Burma's first appearance, in 120, rue de la gare (1943), ushered in a whole new era in French … Continue reading Nestor Burma
Francis Bayard (“The Sphinx”)
Created by Jean des Marcenelles Pseudonym of Jean-Henri Dancoine (1913-95) Parisian private eye FRANCIS BAYARD appeared in a series of light-hearted short stories in Police-Privée and other French pulps from about 1938 until 1943, when he began appearing in his own series, Les Aventures du détective Francis Bayard, which would make him a contemporary of Leo … Continue reading Francis Bayard (“The Sphinx”)
Eugène Tarpon
Created by Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995) EUGÈNE TARPON is a real, honest-to-goodness, hard-boiled Parisian private eye, who appeared in two novels by the legendary French noirista, Jean-Patrick Manchette, as well as a couple of films. Tarpon's right out of the pages of the American detective pulps of the thirties and forties, but painted black. When we … Continue reading Eugène Tarpon
Gerard Griffu
Created by Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995) and Jacques Tardi (1946--) GERARD GRIFFU is the disheveled, battered and betrayed legal adviser/punching bag hero of a real rock 'em, sock 'em hard-boiled detective story initially serialized in 27 installments between October 1977 and April 1978 in BD (issues #1-27), and eventually published as a very stylish graphic novel in … Continue reading Gerard Griffu
Hamilton Cleek (The Man of the Forty Faces)
Created by Thomas W. Hanshew Pseudonyms include Charlotte May Kingsley (1857 – 1914) Is it a defect or a feature? Caught somewhere between Sherlock Holmes and the rise of the hard-boiled dick in the 1920s is HAMILTON CLEEK, also known as "The Man of the Forty Faces," a "consulting detective" who prefigures the weird menace … Continue reading Hamilton Cleek (The Man of the Forty Faces)