Eyes from Over There, Over There ITALY Marco "The Alligator" Buratti by Massimo Carlotto (Venice) Franco Corti by Peter Inchbald (Italy) Duca Lamberti by Giorgo Scerbanenco (Milan) Sam Pezzo by Vittorio Giardino (Bologna) GERMANY Bernie Gunther by Philip Kerr (Berlin) Kemal Kayankaya by Jakob Arjourni (Frankfurt, Germany) Lomax by Paula Milne (Hamburg, Germany) Gerhard Selb … Continue reading The European Plan
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Dick Bos
Created by Maz Pseudonym of Alfred Mazure (1914-74) DICK BOS was a much beloved two-fisted private eye from the forties through the sixties, appearing in action-packed comics in the Netherlands (and later, the U.K.). They were mostly aimed at kids, but the story behind the character is arguably more interesting than the character himself. Although … Continue reading Dick Bos
Roger Repo
Created by Harri V. Hietikko The books with ROGER REPO as their hero are closer to Duane Swiercyznski's surreal P.I. novel Secret Dead Men than your ordinary hard-boiled P.I. novels. Roger was created by Harri V. Hietikko, the Finnish theater director who wrote the three-part (so far) series in his spare time. They have been … Continue reading Roger Repo
Lluís Arquer
Created by Jaume Fuster (1945-98) LLUÍS ARQUER was a well-known Spanish private eye created by Catalan writer and director Jaume Fuster; caught up in the the shifting social and political turmoil of Barcelona during Spain's turbulent transition from Franco's authoritarian dictatorship to democracy in the nineteen seventies and eighties. He was the author's homage to … Continue reading Lluís Arquer
Spanish Eyes, Blue and Otherwise
Well, I've Never Been to Spain... ... but I kinda like the music. Sadly, few of the following ojos privados have been translated into English, but the ones that have have been impressive. Spain has a rich crime fiction tradition that includes several prominent fictional private eyes, whose turf almost invariably includes the dark and … Continue reading Spanish Eyes, Blue and Otherwise
Bill Mercer
Created by Michael Gilbert (1912-2006) WILLIAM "BILL" MERCER was a Detective Chief Inspector (and something of a rogue) when he first appeared in The Body Of A Girl (1972), a novel by acclaimed British writer Michael Gilbert. It's not a private eye novel — it's more of a hard-boiled police procedural, but Mercer is definitely … Continue reading Bill Mercer
Hank Mercer/Biff Deegan
Created by Mel Arrighi (1933-86) HANK MERCER is a mild-mannered novelist who's grown tired... very tired... of chronicling the bestselling adventures of hard-boiled NYC private eye BIFF DEEGAN. Certainly there's precedent. Christie supposedly grew to hate Poirot's ego, and Chandler felt trapped by the constant demand for the crowd-pleasing Marlowe. And so Hank decides to … Continue reading Hank Mercer/Biff Deegan
Lorraine Page
Created by Lynda LaPlante Think Prime Suspect's Jane Tennison is a little too sunshiney? Then try Prime Suspect creator Lynda LaPlante's LORRAINE PAGE, who appears in three novels. Lorraine used to have a husband, two daughters, and a promising career as a hot shot lieutenant in the Pasadena homicide division. But that was long ago … Continue reading Lorraine Page
I Wish They All Could Be California Girls
Maybe it's the water? "The West Coast has the sunshine And the girls all get so tanned..." — The Beach Boys Following the success of Sue Grafton and Marcia Muller (and Sara Paretsky in Chicago and Liza Cody over in the U.K.) in the early eighties, there was an explosion of female eyes, and most … Continue reading I Wish They All Could Be California Girls
R. A. Huber
Created by Alice Zogg "And everybody's saying that there's nobody meaner Than the little old lady from Pasadena" — Jan and Dean Not sure if she's really mean, but Swiss-born REGULA AGATHA "R.A." HUBER certainly does hail from Pasadena. She emigrated to the US as a young woman, married a writer named Peter, became a … Continue reading R. A. Huber