Created by Patrick Raynal (1946--) PHILIPPE CLERC isn't really a private detective. But he sure acts like one. Truth is, he's an insurance salesman in Nice. Not the most crooked one in town, perhaps, but not the most honest, either. The beginning of Fenêtres sur femmes (1988; translates as "Window on Women") is in the best P.I. … Continue reading Philippe Clerc
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Gillian Hazeltine
Created by George F. Worts Pseudonyms include Loring Brent (1892-1967) Was GILLIAN HAZELTINE the inspiration for Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason? He was once one of the more popular lawyer/sleuth series characters from the pulps; but now almost totally forgotten. He was a long-running series character, a criminal attorney and investigator who appeared in almost thirty … Continue reading Gillian Hazeltine
My Bookshelf: “The Graphic Canon of Crime & Mystery”
My Bookshelf The Graphic Canon of Crime & Mystery, Volumes One and Two Edited by Russ Kick Created and curated by activist, journalist, writer, editor, muckraker and comics buff Russ Kick, this ambitious anthology series by Seven Stories Press which kicked off in 2017 with The Graphic Canon of Crime and Mystery, Volume One: From Sherlock Holmes … Continue reading My Bookshelf: “The Graphic Canon of Crime & Mystery”
C.J. Floyd
Created by Robert O. Greer (1944--) "The only black bail bondsman operating on Denver's Bail Bondsman's Row," C.J. FLOYD is one sleuth who likes to spend his dough. He's a sucker for antiques--be they license plates, blues records or classic cars (including his beloved BelAir), and he owns season tickets for the Broncos and the … Continue reading C.J. Floyd
Ruby Dark
Created by Bruce W. Most She's mean, she's ornery, she's seen fifty and doesn't care who knows it, and you better stay on her good side. She's RUBY DARK, a Lamborghini-driving, Denver-based widow who took over her husband's bail bond businessafter he was murdered. But this is no pearl-clutching widow woman--and you better not treat … Continue reading Ruby Dark
Rex Howard
Created by Ferguson Findley Pseudonym of Charles Weiser Frey (1910-63) "They Killed My Sister -- And I Want Revenge" -- how's that for a front cover tag? Private eye REX HOWARD sounds pretty like all the other Spillanesque eyes snorting their way through the paperback racks of the fifties and early sixties.The publisher even helpfully … Continue reading Rex Howard
“Corpus Delicti” Mort
Created by Julius W. Long (1907-1955) Defense attorney and notorious barfly CLARENCE DARROW MORT, better known by his nickname "CORPUS DELECTI," liked to drink and hang out in dive bars and dubious nightclubs--and what's wrong with that? He was a regular in the pages of Dime Detective in the mid-forties, staggering from case to case, slightly … Continue reading “Corpus Delicti” Mort
Ben Corbett
Created by Julius W. Long (1907-1955) "The D.A.'s bundler carrier, that's me. I crack the cases, and Keever gets the headlines." -- "Blind Bogey" Prolific pulpster Long--he seemed to be everywhere in the forties, with his name frequently splashed on pulp covers-- had two ongoing series. He wrote about Clarence Darrow "Corpus Delecti" Mort, a … Continue reading Ben Corbett
Johnny Maquis
Created by Vernon Warren Pseudonym of George Warren Vernon Chapman (1925-96) "Private-eye" JOHNNY MAQUIS was apparently a one-shot shamus brought to you by the same Brit who did the Mark Brandon series. His lone appearance, Back-Lash, came out in 1960, and had Johnny investigating a five-year-old payroll robbery at the Fairfax General Engineering company (presumably … Continue reading Johnny Maquis
Grace Culver
Created by Roswell Brown Pseudonym of Jean Francis Webb (1910-91) One of the first female private eyes from the pulps, young, attractive, red-haired GRACE "REDSIE" CULVER was a secretary for Big Tim, who ran the Noonan Detective Agency. But don't let that fool you--Grace was a "fast action girl," Big Tim's "aider-and-abetter," and she was usually … Continue reading Grace Culver