Created by Liz Milliron "I wish life was more like a movie." -- opening lines of The Enemy We Don't Know Be careful what you wish for. In The Enemy We Don't Know (2020), billed as "A Homefront Mystery," it's November, 1942, and the world (even the United States) is at war, and Buffalo, NY … Continue reading Betty Ahern
Tag: Shamus Finalist
Nick Merchant
Created by Chris Larsgaard Here's one eye who makes sure you get what's coming to you... It's a whole new spin: high-flying private eye NICK MERCHANT has a speciality--he's an heir hunter. That is, he searches for a dead person's next of kin when no will exists, and in return collects a cut of the … Continue reading Nick Merchant
Joe Riddick
Created by Grant Bywaters In Farewell, Las Vegas (2020), former New England cop JOE RODDICK is now a Sin City private op, tough enough to get by, but human. His daughter Kaylee seems set on stepping into her father's footsteps, and she's already occasionally helping him out on his cases, mostly with computer stuff. But … Continue reading Joe Riddick
Dave “Mace” Mason
Created by Dick Lochte Only you know and I know just how good Dick Lochte can be... In Blues in the Night (2012), Lochte, one of the most reliable--if hardly the most prolific--writers in the Shamus Game, ditches the weatherman (at least for a while) and delivers a first rate new character: ex-con DAVE "MACE" … Continue reading Dave “Mace” Mason
Thomas Black
Created by Earl Emerson What were they smoking in Seattle in the eighties? Another 1980's Seattle P.I. who may have once inhaled is Earl Emerson's THOMAS BLACK. While not quite the flake that Richard Hoyt's John Denson is, he certainly has his moments. Especially when he teams up with his best bud, Kathy Birchfield who, … Continue reading Thomas Black
Scott Elliott
Created by Terence Faherty (1954 --) Another of the growing breed of retro eyes (see Toby Peters, Jack Levine, Brian Kane, Nate Heller, etc.), the adventures of Tinseltown gumshoes SCOTT ELLIOTT take him from Hollywood's so-called "Golden Age" of the 1940s right up to the late sixties. A former bit-player (a nice word for failed actor) … Continue reading Scott Elliott
Fina Ludlow
Created by Ingrid Thoft Boston private eye FINA LUDLOW is the black sheep daughter of--and the in-house investigator for--the powerful Ludlow clan of high-priced shysters, both family and firm lorded over by her father (and boss), Carl Ludlow. There are a few unnecessary lapses into Evanovich territory in an attempt to make Fina "quirky" in … Continue reading Fina Ludlow
“Big Jim” Foote
Created by Tom Bredehoft This private eye is a little different—he ain't human! Nope, “BIG JIM” FOOTE is the genre’s first Sasquatch Shamus, a fact not immediately recognized by the good citizens of Morgantown, West Virginia. They simply don’t suspect that the friendly local P.I with the rather large feet is “one of them,” living … Continue reading “Big Jim” Foote
Sam Quinton
Created by Kevin R. Doyle “If you’d been ready for it, I would have hit you a whole lot harder and you’d still be down.” Well, it takes all kinds. SAM QUINTON is a former professional wrestler of all things, turned part-time private investigator and full-time owner of The Blaster gym in Providence, Missouri, trading … Continue reading Sam Quinton
Kate Myles
Created by Alex Kenna When we first meet her, in her Shamus-nominated debut, What Meets the Eye (2022), KATE MYLES is really up the junction. Two years ago, she was a happily married, a dedicated artist and a hot-shot detective for the LAPD, married to fellow detective John Bennett. Â Then her police car, part of … Continue reading Kate Myles