|
|
Author/ Detectives
|
Titles
|
Modus Operandi
|
|
1
|
Joe
Leaphorn & Jim Chee
by Tony Hillerman
|
The
Dark Wind
|
1. Employed by the Navajo Tribe. 2. Both are
expert trackers. 3. In the film version of The Dark Wind, Jim Chee was played by Lou Diamond Phillips and Leaphorn was played by Fred ward.
|
|
2
|
Jules
Maigret by George Simeonon
|
Maigret & the Apparition
|
1. Most prolific author.
2. Strives
for understanding.
|
|
3
|
Hoke Mosely
by Charles Willeford
|
Miami
Blues
|
Brilliant detective who is unable to cope with his personal
life. Wears out-of-style leisure suits & pays half of his salary to
ex-wife who is living with a major league ballplayer.
|
|
4
|
Easy
Rawlins by Walter Mosley
|
Devil
in a Blue Dress
|
Black detective in early ‘50’s Los Angeles.
|
|
5
|
Steve
Carella by Ed McBain
|
The
Big Bad City
|
1. Police procedural set in fictional city of Isola’s 87th precinct. 2.
Very prolific writer with another series of books about Florida Lawyer Mathew
Hope and novels under the name, Evan Hunter .
|
|
6
|
Richard Jury by Martha Grimes,
|
The
Horse You Rode In On
|
1. Aided by amateur sleuth, Melrose Plant 2. Each title is the
name of a pub.
|
|
7
|
Peter
Pascoe & Andy Dalziel by Reginald Hill
|
Arms
and the Woman
|
1. Contrasting personalities of blustery Dalziel
and introspective Pascoe. 2. Strong supporting characters include homosexual
detective Edgar Wield and Pascoe's college professor spouse, Ellie.
|
|
8
|
Porfiry Petrovitch Rostnikov by Stuart Kaminsky
|
Fall
of
a Cosmonaut
|
1.
Rostnikov "the Washtub", Karpo "the Vampire" & Tkack
"the Innocent." 2. Russian politics. 3. Rostnikov lifts weights
& reads Ed McBain. 4. Kaminsky is also the creator of 60-year old Chicago
detective Abe Lieberman and detective spoof series featuring Toby Peters.
|
|
9
|
Spenser
by Robert B. Parker
|
Pastime
|
1. Great ensemble group consisting of Spenser, girlfriend
Susan Silverman and street tough Hawk plus several of Boston’s best cops
and most dangerous hoods. 2. Spenser is an ex-boxer who also reads poetry. 3.
Parker is also the creator of small-town police chief Jesse Stone and female
sleuth Sonya “Sonny” Randall.
|
|
10
|
Alo
Nudger by John Lutz
|
The
Right To Sing the Blues
|
1.
Classic low-rent detective with office upstairs from a donut shop. Suffers from
ulcers & chain-chews antacid tablets. 2. Lutz is also the creator of
ex-cop-turned private eye, Fred Carver.
|
|
11
|
Martin Beck by Maj
Sjoval & Per Wahloo
|
The
Laughing Policeman
|
Police
procedurals in which the detectives are constantly battling bureaucratic
politics & incompetence.
|
|
12
|
Hieronymous “Harry” Bosch
by Michael Connelly
|
Trunk
Music
|
1.
Named after the Pre-Surrealist painter.
2.
Likes the tenor sax.
|
|
13
|
Edward
X. Delaney by Lawrence Sanders
|
The
Seventh Commandment
|
1.Known
as "Iron Balls", makes "wet" sandwiches as a form of
meditation. 2. Sanders was a prolific writer, including the Archie McNally
series, about a detective who does "discrete inquiries" for his
father's law firm.
|
|
14
|
Marshall
Guarnaccia by Magdalen Nabb
|
Death
of an Englishman
|
Plodding
& uneducated, but with brilliant intuition.
|
|
15
|
Jack
Laidlaw by William McIllvanney
|
The
Papers of Tony Vietch
|
Introspective,
iconoclastic and street-smart Glasgow detective.
|
|
16
|
Everiste Pel
by Mark Hebden
|
Death
Set To Music
|
1.
Stodgy, pessimistic chief of detectives, respected for his native
intelligence.
2.
Constantly trying to quit smoking.
|
|
17
|
Joe
Bragg & James Morton by Ray Harrison
|
Death
of an Honourable Member
|
1.
Bragg is the crafty veteran, Morton the youthful gentleman/copper. 2. Set in
turn-of-the-century London. 3. Morton's love interest is crime-reporter
Catherine Marsden
|
|
18
|
Cyril
McCorkle, Michael Padillo, Artie Wu & Quincy
Durant by Ross Thomas
|
Twilight
at Mac's Place
|
McCorkle
& Padillo deal in espionage & political intrigue, while Wu &
Durant are high class grifters. Thomas also authored a series about
professional "go-between" Phillip St. Ives, under the pen-name
Oliver Bleeck.
|
|
19
|
Dan
Kearny & Associates (DKA) by Joe Gores
|
Dead
Man
|
Modern
detective agency that traces "skips", repossesses cars & runs
surveillance on errant spouses.
|
|
20
|
Chili
Palmer, et.al. by Elmore Leonard
|
Get
Shorty
|
1.
Prolific writer of crime novels & westerns. 2. Several of Leonard’s
books have been made into movies, including "Stick", which starred
Burt Reynolds and "Get Shorty" starring John Travolta as Chili
Palmer. 3. Master of street dialogue.
|
|
21
|
Bumper
Morgan, et. al., by Joseph Wambaugh
|
The
New Centurians
|
1.
Former cop. 2. Several of Wambaugh’s books were made into movies. The
film version of "The Blue Knight" starred William Holden and the TV
series starred George Kennedy.
|
|
22
|
The
Namesless Detective by Bill Pronzini
|
In
an Evil Time
|
1.
Pronzini is also a fan of detective and crime novels and has published
several anthologies & critical works. 2. The Nameless detective is never
referred to by name, but appears to resemble the author --- he is Italian,
his first name is Bill and collects pulp detective novels. 3. In addition to
over 25 "Nameless" books, Pronzini has collaborated with other
novelists in books where the fictional detectives join forces to solve a crime;
In Double, Pronzini collaborated with his wife, Marcia Muth Miller,
the creator of Detective Sharon McCone.
|
|
23
|
Jack
Reacher by Lee Child
|
61
Hours
|
Former MP who was discharged at the end of the cold war.
|
|
24
|
Rat
Trapp by John & Joyce Corrington
|
A
Project Named Desire
|
1.
New Orleans setting. 2. Intimidating detective, "Rat" Trapp.
|
|
25
|
Virgil
Tibbs by John Ball
|
In
the Heat of the Night
|
1.
Movie version was played by Sidney Poitier, with Rod Steiger as Sheriff
Gillespie. TV version starred Carl Weathers and Carroll O’Conner.
|
|
26
|
John
Shaft by Ernest Tidyman
|
Shaft
|
1.
Original Movie version of “Shaft” starred Richard Rountree;
Updated version starred Samuel L. Jackson.
|
|
27
|
Precious
Ramotswe by Alexander McCall Smith
|
The
Double Comfort Safari Club
|
The Number One Ladies Detective Agency of Botswanna. HBO series stars Jill Scott.
|
|
28
|
Tess Monaghan by Laura Lippman
|
In
a Strange City
|
Life-long resident of Baltimore and former news reporter
who becomes a PI
|
|
29
|
Kinsey
Millhone by Sue Grafton
|
S
Is for Silence
|
1.
Minimalist detective who lives in converted garage. 2. Alphabetic titles have
covered A through S.
|
|
30
|
Skip
Langton by Julie Smith
|
Mean
Woman Blues
|
1.
Tough female New Orleans police detective. 2. Smith also created private
detective and poet Talba Wallis.
|
|
31
|
Lindsey
Boxer by James Patterson
|
The
9th Judgment
|
Four women involved in law enforcement --- a cop, a
prosecuting attorney, a medical examiner and a reporter join forces to fight
crime. Portrayed by Angie Harmon in television series “The Women’s
Murder Club”
|
|
32
|
Dave
Robicheaux by James Lee Burke
|
Heaven's
Prisoners
|
1. Cajun detective set in an around New
Orleans. 2. Film version of Heaven's
Prisoners starred Alec Baldwin.
|
|
33
|
Johnny
Ortiz by Richard Martin Stern
|
Murder
in the Walls
|
1.
Spanish American detective set in a fictional town that resembles Santa Fe.
|
|
34
|
Travis
McGee by John D. McDonald
|
The
Long Lavendar Look
|
1.
Lives in a houseboat called "The Busted Flush". 2. Every title has
a different color in it.
|
|
35
|
Charlie
Carr by Gerald Petievitch
|
To
Live & Die in LA
|
1.
FBI agents Carr & Jack Kelly specialize in counterfeiting operations
while battling politically sensitive supervisior Norbert, "No"
Waeves.
|
|
36
|
Frank
Hastings by Colin Wilcox
|
Hire
a Hangman
|
1.
Prolific procedural set in San Francisco, featuring no-nonsense Hastings,
philosophical Pete Friedman and intuitive Detective Culligan. 2. Basis for
movie, Bullitt, starring Steve McQueen. 3. Wilcox also wrote a series
featuring actor-detective Alan Bernhardt
|
|
37
|
Tony
Justice, Fabe Falletti, et.al. by Eugene Izzi
|
The
Criminalist
|
Crime
stories from Chicago
|
|
38
|
Moroni Traveler by Robert Irvine
|
The
Spoken Word
|
1.
Named after an angel from The Book of Morman, Traveler lives in Salt
Lake City and is often at odds with the Morman Church leadership.
|
|
39
|
Salvo
Montalbano by Andrea Camilleri
|
The
Track of Sand
|
Food loving Sicilian detective
|
|
40
|
Lucas
Davenport by John Sanford
|
Chosen
Prey
|
Specialist
in hunting serial killers; has lucrative hobby creating computer games
|
|
41
|
Joe
Gunther by Archer Mayor
|
The
Price of Malice
|
Head of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation
|
|
42
|
Elvis
Cole & Joe Pike by Robert Crais
|
LA
Requiem
|
|
|
43
|
Nerese Ammons
by Richard Price
|
Lush
Life
|
|
|
44
|
Matt
Payne & Jason Washington by W.E.B. Griffin
|
The
Investigators
|
1.
Payne is a "rich kid" and son of a successful lawyer; Washington is
a well educated black detective who becomes Payne's mentor. 2. The series
deals with Philadelphia politics as well as police procedures.
|
|
45
|
Joe
Picket by C J Box
|
Nowhere
To Run
|
Game warden in Wyoming tries to keep
peace between hunters, land developers and environmentalists.
|
|
46
|
Arkady Renko
by Martin Cruz Smith
|
Gorky
Park
|
Portrayed
on screen by William Hurt, Renko is an intelligent detective who's
investigations are often hampered by cold war politics.
|
|
47
|
Charlie
Resnick by John Harvey
|
Lonely
Hearts
|
1.
London detective who likes jazz and cats and has four cats named Dizzy,
Miles, Art & Bud.
|
|
48
|
Derek
Strange by George Pelecanos
|
A
Firing Offense
|
Ex-cop/ PI in DC
|
|
49
|
Kurt
Wallender by Henning Mankell
|
Faceless
Killers
|
|
|
50
|
PDivision by Peter Turnbull
|
The
Killing Floor
|
1.
Police procedural set in the rough side of Glasgow. 2. Clandestine romance
between detectives Ray Sussock & Elka Willems.
|