The BEST Private Dick?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

There are only 10 choices here, so I know that there are plenty of other great Detectives that aren't mentioned.

If your dick isn't here, tell us about him or her.

Ya gotta tell why your choice is your choice... Me? I'm a Travis McGee fan because I know the scenery and always wanted to live on a boat (at least I did when I first read him)



Take off your coat and pour yourself some of that rye. Spill, sweetheart.

[GOPFighter]

1. Spencer...

...and Hawk

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

2. Shame on me! What a miss.

I'm afraid that there will ba a lot of those.

[SiobhanClancy]

4. Spenser....

like the poet:) Those two are my favorites,too

[GOPFighter]

8. Uh, yeah, I knew that.

:silly:

[Don_G]

3. Sherlock Holmes

Without a doubt, the standard to which the others are measured.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

7. I didn't forget about Mr. Holmes, but decided to keep them

relegated to being created in the 20th century. Besides, he'd be too easy a shoe in.

[Don_G]

12. True

Even Mark Twain included Sherlock in one of his stories...but then didn't Basil Rathbone star in a series of movies in the 20th century?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

13. Yeah, but he was first created in the 19th c in serials published in

The Strand. Doyle continued With Sherlock into the 1920's if memory serves.

[Don_G]

16. You're Correct

The "Strand" serialized the stories over several issues. I managed to borrow the complete set of issues containing "The Hound Of The Baskervilles", scanned it and burned it to a CD for myself and the owner.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

18. I've sold a couple of sets. Both bound and in original boards

[Don_G]

48. And You Didn't Scan It?

Do you know how much I would pay pay for A CD with the origonal illustrations beyond what I already have?

:grr:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

64. Gates was buying tons of 1sts for scanning about 15 years ago

and there are several Universities that are scanning and have scanned items loke this. I'll bet you can find them without too much trouble. If not, check with some of the more reputable rare book shops and you could probably get them to scan them for a reasionable fee.

If you're a collector, send me your want list. I still deal in 1sts and rare books on a part time basis.

[ornotna]

5. where the heck is Nick Danger? n/t

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

9. "Now the gum's on the other shoe." LOL. He was beyond the company listed

[Paragon]

51. "They call me..." (looks at his stenciled door)

"Regnad." :silly:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

62. Took me a moment. I was thinking Regnad? Who the hell is Regnad? LOL

[DarkPhenyx]

6. Anita Blake!

DAmn! How did you forget her?

[toddzilla]

10. uhh... hello??? colombo??

i love unassuming people who are much deeper and more intelligent than they first appear.

[Don_G]

57. I'll Let That Go

But I've been known to "put" my money where my mouth is on several occassions.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

11. She's a Vampire hunter. If I listed her, I'd have to list Van Helsing!

:evilgrin:

[mr_hat]

14. Anchovies? I spell my name Danger. [nt]

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

17. A special lonk 4 u

http://www.firesigntheatre.com/

[phaseolus]

15. "There are blondes and there are blondes..."

"There are blondes and there are blondes and it is almost a joke word nowadays. All blondes have their points, except perhaps the metallic ones who are as blond as a Zulu under the bleach and as to disposition as soft as a sidewalk. There is the small cute blonde who cheeps and twitters, and the big statuesque blonde who straight-arms you with an ice-blue glare. There is the blonde who gives you the up-from-under look and smells lovely and shimmers and hangs on your arm and is always very very tired when you take her home. She makes that helpless gesture and has that goddamned headache and you would like to slug her except you are glad you found out about the headache before you invested too much time and money and hope in her. Because the headache will always be there, a weapon that never wears out and is as deadly as the bravo's rapier or Lucrezia's poison vial.
There is the soft and willing and alcoholic blonde who doesn't care what she wears as long as it is mink or where she goes as long as it is the Starlight Roof and there is plenty of dry champagne. There is the small perky blonde who is a little pal and wants to pay her own way and is full of sunshine and common sense and knows judo from the ground up and can toss a truck driver over her shoulder without missing more than one sentence out of the editorial in the Saturday Review. There is the pale, pale blonde with anemia of some non-fatal but incurable type. She is very languid and very sharowy and she speaks softly out of nowhere and you can't lay a finger on her because in the first place you don't want to, and in the second place she is reading The Waste Land or Dante in the original, or Kafka or Kierkegaard or studing Provencal. She adores music and when the New York Philharmonic is playing Hindemith she can tell you which one of the six bass viols came in a quarter of a beat too late. I hear Toscanini can also. That makes two of them.
And lastly there is the gorgeous show piece who will outlast three kingpin racketeers and then marry a couple of millionaires at a million a head and end up with a pale rose villa at Cap Antibes, an Alfa-Romeo town car complete with pilot and co-pilot, and a stable of shopworn aristocrats, all of whom she will treat with the affectionate absent-mindedness of an elderly duke saying goodnight to his butler."

- Raymond Chandler's character, Philip Marlowe, in "The Long Goodbye"

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

19. What a great taste of Chandler. God he's fun to read.

[BiggJawn]

20. Mine.

Oh, not THAT dick? Oh, OK...

Charlie Chan.
He was the greatest, I think.

I don't consider Sherlock Holmes asa "detective". Forensicologist is more like it.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

21. LOL... I was curious as to how long that pun would hide in the weeds.

Chan was great fun!

[DS1]

22. Tex Murphy

.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

24. He's a GAME character! LOL, He doesn't count!

[GAspnes]

23. Travis McGee, without a doubt

although Spenser comes close. They both have eggheads as friends. Gotta love that.

Read Sherlock Holmes as a child (me, not him) and adored the logic of the stories.

Oh -- wasn't Smiley a spy, more than a detective? What about Nick & Nora? And Ellery Queen?

And one of the real greats, Subadar Ind'dni.

Subadar Ind'dni appeared absorbed in Droney Lafferty's bizarre collections while the Ghoul Squad hauled out the wrapped bodies, the Molecule Squad hypo'd their print readouts and left, the Telly Squad left, the Media Team left, and the Polizei and Hommie Squad left, carrying with them the noose, laser, pistol, scalpel and (CN)₂ bulb, all eternalized in plastic. When they were alone at last, Ind'dni turned from the vitrines and spoke to the stunned Wish-Shima.

"Merely going through the motions for Legal," Ind'dni said. "Legal is obsessed with evidence factual which they add and subtract and compute. They are accountants at heart. It is my belief they are all failed IRS candidates."

-- Golem 100, Alfred Bester

[BrotherBuzz]

31. Yes, McGee! But...

on a technicality Travis wasn't a private dick because he wasn't licenced. He chose to call himself a sole salvager.

[GAspnes]

33. good point

and even more technically, I think he called himself a "salvage consultant".

But if it walks like a dick, and talks like a dick, then it's ...

[BrotherBuzz]

35. You're right

A quick google confirmed 'Travis McGee, salvage expert, saver of souls and dreams'

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

39. I would have to agree with your portraying Mr. Smiley as a spy...

I am not familiar with Subadar Ind'dni. Time to go googling!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

40. Ahhh, now I think I know where the CyberCob, Bester, got his name

in Bab5.

[GAspnes]

45. yeah, that's an hommage

although I'm not sure Alfred would appreciate the compliment.

[DieboldMustDie]

25. How about Sam Spade?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

26. Ouch! Another shoulda listed!

[GAspnes]

30. Yeah, well, 10 isn't even *close* to enough choices

Miss Marple. Lord Peter Whimsey. Nero Wolfe. August Dupin. Hercule Poirot. (same author, though). Jane Tennison. Inspector Morse.

Jeeze, could I go on.

[peekaloo]

27. SHAFT!

we can dig it!

[JVS]

37. right on!

[GOPisEvil]

28. Easy Rawlins, created by Walter E. Mosely

"Devil In A Blue Dress" is his most famous work.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

29. Good call! I thought about listing Easy, but thought so few would know

about him.

[Nailzberg]

32. Ford Fairlane, the rock n roll detective

[Faygo Kid]

34. Sam Spade

The stuff that dreams are made of. Kind of liked Dixon Hill (Picard) on STNG, too.

[Spirochete]

36. Edward X Delaney

was an actual cop - not a private detective.

On Edit: Those typing lessons aren't working. hehe

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

38. No.... He is the creation of Lawrence Sanders

The prolific Lawrence Sanders (1920-98) enjoyed an enduring success as a best-selling writer of crime fiction, beginning with the publication in 1970 of The Anderson Tapes, the novel that introduced the character of New York detective Edward X. Delaney. Not only a bestseller, The Anderson Tapes won Sanders the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar award as the year's best first mystery novel.

Sanders' apprenticeship as a writer began in the 1940s, with writing jobs for such magazines as Mechanics Illustrated and Science and Mechanics. The experience in technical writing would later become an invaluable element in his precisely crafted thrillers. In 1968 and 1969, he published a number of short stories in the men's magazine Swank, all involving the character of Wolf Lannihan, a tough insurance investigator. With the blockbuster success of The Anderson Tapes and its 1971 film version, Sanders established himself as one of the most commercially successful novelists of his day. More than 30 novels followed, and the name Lawrence Sanders became a significant commodity in the business of publishing.


The popularity of the Edward X. Delaney character in The Anderson Tapes inspired a further installment, the even more successful The First Deadly Sin (1973), filmed in 1980 with Frank Sinatra as Delaney, the last significant screen role the singer/actor undertook. In all, there would be four best-selling police procedurals in the Deadly Sin series, the last appearing in 1985. In addition to Delaney, Sanders' novels feature a gallery of memorable sleuths such as Dora Conti, Samuel Todd, Joshua Bigg and Archibald "Archie" McNally. So distinctive and successful was Sanders' style -- spiked with his fascination with technology, the power of sex and the decadent lives of the wealthy -- that his characters lived on after the writer's death in 1998. McNally's Dilemma (1999) bears Sanders' name on the cover, though the actual writing is credited to Vincent Lardo.

from: http://www.rosettabooks.com/pages/author_17.html

My typnig lessons didn't take either.

[Spirochete]

44. I meant to say...

that Sanders' Delaney character worked for the police department in his novels, and therefore doesn't count as a PRIVATE dick.
I remember reading a bunch of books featuring a PI named Shell Scott, when I was young. I think they were by some guy named Prather or Prager?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

46. Doh! Oooohkay. Do I feel silly.

You are correct and I am wrong!

Richard S. Prather's SHELL SCOTT was, without a doubt, the second most commercially successful private eye of the fifties (over forty million books sold). He appeared in a long string of over three dozen Fawcett/Gold Medal PBOs, collections and countless short stories, and even lent his name to Shell Scott Mystery Magazine. Carrying on in the screwball tradition of such eyes as Bellem's Dan Turner and Latimer's Bill Crane, the Scott stories were smirky, outlandish, innuendo-laden, occasionally alcohol-fueled, off-the-wall tours-de-farce that, depending on your point of view, were either a real hoot, or a lot of adolescent, sexist swill and hackwork. The latter viewpoint seems to be the dominant one today, and Shell Scott seems to have slipped out of the public conciousness. Too bad.

And Hollywood eye Shell, at 6'2", with his teal blue suits, bristly blonde buzzcut and almost white eyebrows, broken nose and a chunk of his left ear missing, tooling around in a canary yellow 1941 Caddy convertible, is kinda hard to miss.

Prather was the most successful PI writer of the 50s with the obvious exception of Mickey Spillane. In a Publishers Weekly book called 70 Years of Best-Sellers, there was a chapter on best-selling mysteries (i.e. mysteries that had sold a million or more copies). 150 books were listed. 16 of them, more than 10% of the list, were by Prather.

And he was also prolific in magazines. Prather's work appeared in Shell Scott Mystery Magazine, Manhunt, Cavalier, Thrilling Detective, Menace, Justice, Accused, Suspect, Murder!, Ed McBain's Mystery Book, Adam, Escapade, Man's World, Swank, For Men Only, Tiger, Caper, and several anthologies. Many of them were adaptions of current or soon to be released Shell Scott novels, along with the occasional original story.
<snip>
from: http://www.thrillingdetective.com/scott.html

I don't think I ever read Prather.

[WilliamPitt]

41. Sam Spade, fa Chrissake

It's the shhhtuff that dreams are made of.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

43. I am afraid I was greatly amiss in not including Dashiell Hammett's

penultimate gumshoe!

Now hear this: http://www.dean-barrett-thailand.com/480808%20TheBluebeardCaper.wma

[Don_G]

54. You Can't Include Sam Spade

I'm older than you and the poster never mentioned his birthdate and/or experience!

Should I have included "Shakespeare" in my inital assessment?

[TrogL]

42. Nero Wolfe

and Archie

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

49. Damn, I needed a poll with 50 choices.

I doubt 50 would be enough to include all the well written detectives out there.

[Mz Pip]

47. Harry Bosch

from the Michael Connelly novels followed by Lucas Davenport from the John Sandford "Prey" series.

MzPip
:dem:

[BrotherBuzz]

52. Yes, Hieronymus finally turned private dick...

after retiring from LAPD.

[stickdog]

50. Lance White (nt)

[oustemnow]

53. Encyclopedia Brown

he crapped all over Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys

[study_war_no_more]

59. oh yeah oh yeah

[lpbk2713]

55. Peter Gunn of course

From early 60's TV.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

56. With one of the best TV themes ever!

[study_war_no_more]

60. sound of noise

and hey where is Charlie Chan?? Although no longer politicall correct he was a hot detective.

[study_war_no_more]

58. Sano Ichiro or Zatoichi

Sano Ichiro is a detective in Japans Edo district in the 1800's created by Laura joh Rowland. Really fascinating and well researched stuff. Zatoichi is a blind Samari and popular figure in film and television, probably about twenty films in the series. he is really an all heart kinda guy when not pissed off. Lol.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

67. Sounds fun! I'm inadvertantly expanding my reading list by leaps

and bounds this evening.

[OldEurope]

70. 200 years earlier, 16th century, but yes, Sano Ichiro is great! Do

you also know Fandorin? 19th century in Russia, very very funny stuff!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

71. No, the only 16th century detective story I have read is Name of The Rose.

[DoNotRefill]

61. Baby Boy Burke...by Vachs

eom

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

66. I've never read Vachss, but a lot of critics seem to think highly of him.

[DoNotRefill]

68. He's not too light.....he's pretty dark.....correction....he's...

REALLY F****** DARK!!!!!

;-)

good read, though.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

69. He sounds like Bronson's Vigilante character...

In the figure of Burke, Andrew Vachss has given contemporary crime fiction one of its most mesmerizing characters. An abused child raised in orphanages, foster homes, and prisons, Burke is a career criminal and outlaw who steals and scams for a living. But he draws the line at the psychopaths and predators who stalk children. Sometimes he draws that line in blood.

In Blossom, an old cellmate has summoned Burke to a fading Indiana mill town, where a young boy is charged with a crime he didn't commit and a twisted serial sniper has turned a local lover's lane into a killing field. And it's here that Burke meets Blossom, the brilliant, beautiful young woman who has her own reasons for finding the murderer—and her own idea of vengeance. Dense with atmosphere, savagely convincing, this is Vachss at his uncompromising best.
<snip>
http://www.vachss.com/av_novels/blossom.html

[Feanorcurufinwe]

63. Dixon Hill

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

65. A trekkie! Loved the Dixon Hill scenes. Great fun!

[Kamika]

73. Yeah !

I was gonna mention him :D

I always felt bad for them cuz they all dressed up and all (especially the ladies) then there would be a "all officers to the deck" after 2 minutes

[LWolf]

72. Sharon McCone

Karen Pelletier
Laura Winslow
Mallory; except that she isn't always "private"
Richard Jury, ditto

on edit:

How could I forget Stephanie Plum and her sidekicks? A laugh a minute. With Ranger as a bonus.

[Throckmorton]

74. Jim Rockford,

or is it Rockfish,

[mac56]

75. Second on Rockfish.

Don't even want to see the name Lance White on here.

Add on edit: Damn! Stickdog already nominated Lance White.

[trof]

76. Charlie Chan

Either Warner Oland


or Sidney Toler.


and Mantan Moreland (always wondered about that name..."Mantan")
as the ever popular "Birmingham Brown".


I loved those movies.
http://www.charliechan.net/