P.I. Postage Stamps: If you can't lick 'em, join 'em? Really! These are all actual postage stamps by actual countries, paying tribute to the writers, the actors, the filmmakers and even, amazingly, occasionally the detectives themselves of the Shamus Game. Honest! Or at least sorta. Some countries have legitimate reasons for honouring various detectives on … Continue reading Signed, Sealed and Delivered
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Natty “Hawkeye” Bumppo
Also known as "Hawkeye," "Leatherstocking," "The Pathfinder", "Deerslayer" and "La Longue Carabine" Created by James Fenimore Cooper (1759-1851) "I would dare to speak truth, Hurry, consarning you or any man that ever lived." -- Natty reveals his code in The Deerslayer Honorary private eyes throughout history for a thousand, Alex... No, James Fenimore Cooper's frontiersman … Continue reading Natty “Hawkeye” Bumppo
Kip Muldane
Created by Steve Fisher Pseudonyms include Stephen Gould, Grant Lane (1912-80) Although he wrote a ton of crime and detective stories for the pulps, Steve Fisher actually wrote relatively few private eye characters. One of them, though, was KIP MULDANE, a Hawaiian gumshoe who appeared in at least nine stories in Detective Fiction Weekly and … Continue reading Kip Muldane
Johnny Ryan
Created by Steve Fisher Pseudonyms include Stephen Gould, Grant Lane (1912-80) Although he wrote a ton of crime and detective stories for the pulps (and later for novels and the movies), Steve Fisher actually created relatively few private eye characters. One of them was JOHNNY RYAN, a New York City dick who's pretty much a … Continue reading Johnny Ryan
Tony Key
Created by Steve Fisher Pseudonyms include Stephen Gould, Grant Lane (1912-80) Former Federal Agent turned hard-boiled Hollywood dick TONY KEY, he of the white shoes, white sweater and jet black hair, appeared in a dozen or so stories in Detective Fiction Weekly, and Black Mask, written by screenwriter and pulpster Steve Fisher. Tony calls himself … Continue reading Tony Key
Evander Mills
Created by Lev AC Rosen "Ruby is the most welcoming queer bar in San Francisco. Except maybe for me. News has trickled out about me--the gay P.I. with the office above the Ruby--but with it so has my past, and no one at a gay bar wants to get too close to a cop, even … Continue reading Evander Mills
Betty Ahern
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
Lou Crasher
Created by Jonathan Brown Cop (questioning Crasher at a homicide scene) in Drums, Guns 'n' Money: "I don't need to tell you the  kind of shit you'll be in if you  play P.I. on this." Crasher: "No, you don't need to tell me." Don't go calling " adroitly percussive" drummer and private eye LOU CRASHER … Continue reading Lou Crasher
Three is the Magic Number
Some Notable P.I. Trilogies The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster The Frank Clemons Trilogy by Thomas Cook The Black Mask Boys by William F. Nolan The Joe Kurtz Trilogy by Dan Simmons The Brenna Spector Trilogy by Alison Gaylin The Twenty-Year Death Trilogy by Ariel S. Winter The Terry Orr Trilogy by Jim Fusilli … Continue reading Three is the Magic Number
Terry Orr
Created by Jim Fusilli TERRY ORR is a New York City writer still devastated by the senseless death of his artist wife Marina Fiorentino and their young son, Davy, in Closing Time (2001). It seems some random looney pushed them in front of a subway train. It was an powerful and impressive debut, a first … Continue reading Terry Orr