Created by Keith Edward Vaughn Wannabe screenwriter ELLIS DUNAWAY inherited his dad's Los Angeles-based Dunaway Private Investigation agency in a series that pretty much drips with Hollywood tropes and touchstones, 1990s style. Broke? No clients? A bad coke habit? Lousy at relationships? Cult nut jobs? Vicious thugs? Seductive starlets? Classic rides? Drugs cartels? Malibu beach … Continue reading Ellis Dunaway
Tag: SoCal
Oke Oakley and Secrets. Inc.
Created by Frederick C. Davis Pseudonyms include Clark Aiken, Garry Grant & Stephen Ransome (1902-77) Just in case anyone thought Joe Gores was the first to relate the adventures of a large, fictional detective agency with his justifiably acclaimed Dan Kearney & Associates series, they ought to check out pulpster Frederick C. Davis' tales of … Continue reading Oke Oakley and Secrets. Inc.
Spade Hearns
Created by James Ellroy(1948--) It's 1942 in post-Pearl Harbor Los Angeles, the blackout's on and the "Jap scare" is going full-tilt, and SPADE HEARNS is a laudanum-tippling P.I. wondering where the lights went, in the short story "Torch Number" by James Ellroy. Hard up for paying cases, the former LAPD  detective finds himself working for … Continue reading Spade Hearns
Terry Strong
Created by Lo Monaco Pseudonym of Virginia Welker "I am a private investigator. My name is Terry Strong. I spy on people. I nose into their most personal spaces and dirty secrets and tattle all. Everything is for my clients. They pay me to find the people  they think have done them wrong." — Lethal … Continue reading Terry Strong
Ricardo “Ricky” Tellez (Death to Pachuco)
Created by Henry Barajas & Rachel Merrill Set against the backdrop of June 1943 Los Angeles, Death to Pachuco is a five-issue comic mini-series (later a graphic novel) from Image worth investigating. The US has just entered World War II, but tensions — racial, political, cultural, economic — are ratcheting up back home, particularly in … Continue reading Ricardo “Ricky” Tellez (Death to Pachuco)
Nefra Adams
Created by Gary Phillips Known around these parts for his acclaimed crime and detective fiction (Ivan Monk, One-Shot Harry Ingram, Nate Hollis, etc.), and his thundeous voice rumbling across vast convention rooms, let the truth be known: Los Angeles author Gary Phillips is just a big nerd, a slavish devotee to all things pulp, be … Continue reading Nefra Adams
Jack Chandler (Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers)
Created by Fred Olen Ray (1954--) and B.J. Nestles Pseudonym of Terrill Lee Lankford "I'd stumbled into the middle of an evil, insidious cult of chainsaw worshipping maniacs. I had to wonder if we'd let our religious freedom go too far in this country, or maybe our immigration laws were just too lax." — Jack … Continue reading Jack Chandler (Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers)
Gene Burk
Created by John Kaye (1941--) Don't look back -- something may be gaining on you. In John Kaye's well-received The Dead Circus (2002), Â a noirish ode to dark secrets and the buried past, it's 1986, and GENE BURK is an ex-cop turned Hollywood private eye, obsessed with rock'n' roll, and still reeling over the death … Continue reading Gene Burk
George Killeen
Created by Roger Torrey Pseudonyms include Sam Drake, Samuel Drake, John Ryan, R.D. Torrey (1901-46) Los Angeles private eye GEORGE KILLEEN was yet another hard-boiled gumshoe created by pulpmeister Roger Torrey. Surprise, surprise.. he's Irish! According to Jess Nevins, he "gets along well with Lieutenant McFee of the Homicide Squad" whom Killeen admits is  “one … Continue reading George Killeen
Sammy & Ethel Abbott
Created by James R. Langham (1912-99) Yet another detecting couple, apparently married to it, SAMMY and ETHEL ABBOTT appeared in two clever, lightly humorous, noir-tinged novels, Sing a Song of Homicide (1940) and A Pocketful of Clues (1941). Sammy was a special investigator for the Santa Monica DA — a quasi-legal private eye who carries … Continue reading Sammy & Ethel Abbott