Created by Dorothy Tell Dorothy Tell wrote about POPPY DILLWORTH, a cranky 65-year-old retiree from the Dallas Police Department who decides to become a private detective instead of committing suicide. Go figure. She made her debut in the author’s first book, a romance, Wilderness Trek (1990), which was ostensibly a story of six women on a camping … Continue reading Poppy Dillworth
Tag: Texas
Jim Bob Luke
Created by Joe R. Lansdale More private eye action... as you like it. Shit-kicker gumshoe JIM BOB LUKE first appeared in the 1992 one-off Cold in July, a nasty little slice of vengeance and Texas justice run amock, full of crooked cops, murderous ex-cons and straight-arrow dads just trying to do the right thing, which … Continue reading Jim Bob Luke
Deuce Ramsey
Created by Jamie Mandelkau There wasn't much love for the off-beat The Leo Wyoming Caper when it was released in 1977, and it hasn't much improved with age. Dallas, Texas gumshoe DEUCE RAMSEY is hired to track down eccentric (ie: batshit crazy) millionaire and merry prankster Leo Wyoming, an aging hippie who's planning a local "art … Continue reading Deuce Ramsey
Clayton Yankee Taggart
Created by Robert J. Ray CLAYTON YANKEE TAGGART is a Vietnam vet turned Texas private eye, big and tough as all git out. As one character spouts out, "Man don't run across many like that. No sir.'' Which may be the problem. The author tries to tamp down Clayton's character a little, adding a few Spenserian … Continue reading Clayton Yankee Taggart
Dan Roman
Created by Edward Mathis (1927-1988) "Mathis was the real thing--a fine writer with a slant and style all his own. He brought us a dusty tapped-out Texas I'd never encountered before. If he reminded me of anybody it was the proletariat novelists of the Forties and Fifties such as Harvey Swados and Clancy Sigal." -- … Continue reading Dan Roman
Welcome to Texas, y’all.
Address to Attendees at the 2019 PWA Shamus Awards Banquet By Michael Bracken Dallas, Texas Nov. 1, 2019 Welcome to Texas, y’all. More than just part of fly-over America, the Lone Star State is home to an incredible diversity of ethnicities, religious affiliations, political persuasions, sexual orientations, and sociological stratification. Located within the confines of … Continue reading Welcome to Texas, y’all.
Billy Raskolnikov & Ringo
Created by William Dylan Powell Peg-legged ex-cop turned unlicensed private eye BILLY RASKOLNIKOV and his pet monkey RINGO (yeah, you read that right) work out of a boat, David's Fifth Margarita, docked in Redfish Bay near Corpus Christi. They've appeared in several humorous short stories in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, set on the Texas coast in the … Continue reading Billy Raskolnikov & Ringo
Truman Smith
Created by Bill Crider Pseudonyms include Nick Carter, Jack MacLane, Jack Buchanan (1941-2018) Galveston is the unique turf of TRUMAN SMITH, retired Dallas private eye. Pushing forty, obsessed with the disappearance of his sister, his only living relative, Truman quits the shamus game and moves back home to Galveston, off the Texas coast. There, he … Continue reading Truman Smith
Lee Henry Oswald
Created by Harry Hunsicker Talk about your double-barrelled names! LEE HENRY OSWALD (Call him "Hank."... PLEASE!) is a Dallas PI with one hell of a monicker. He apparently was given his jaw-dropping name in a parental attempt to toughen him up, sorta like on the Johnny Cash song "A Boy Named Sue". It seems to … Continue reading Lee Henry Oswald
“Moe Ron” Boyette
Created by Michael Bracken MORRIS RONALD BOYETTE ("MOE RON" to his friends) is a hard-boiled, hardcore P.I. working out of an office behind Millie's Tattoos and Piercings, just down the hall from Big Mac's Bail Bonds in Waco, Texas. Boyette, is a life-long resident, divorced, with a son with a fondness for SF magazines. He handles … Continue reading “Moe Ron” Boyette