Gwenn Ramadge

Created by Lillian O'Donnell (1926-2005) GWENN RAMADGE is a private detective working for Hart Security and Investigations who teams up with handsome (of course) homicide detective Lew Sackler to investigate an apparent serial murderer, whose victims include two recent brides in A Wreath for the Bride (1990). Gwenn and Lew must have hit it off, because …

Bill Crane

Created by Jonathan Latimer (1906-1983) Jonathan Latimer's first book, 1935's Headed For a Hearse, was one of the first hard-boiled screwball comedies, following closely on the heels of the previous year's The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett. But where Hammett only toyed with the idea, contenting himself with cocktails and banter, Latimer went whole hog. …

Skeeter Barlow

Created by James M. Reasoner & Livia J. Washburn At a shade over six feet, and a tad under 150 pounds, CASSANDRA "SKEETER" BARLOW's a cowgirl who knows how to take care of herself. By night, she bounces rowdy cowboys and keeps the peace at the Horsehead Bar and Grill in Fort Worth, Texas, and …

Lucas Hallam

Created by L.J. Washburn (1957 --) Shucks. LUCAS HALLAM is an ex-Texas Ranger and honest-to-god cowboy trying to make a living as a stuntman in the Hollywood of the 1920's. But times are tough and business practices can get a mite rough in the fledgling movie industry, so ol' Luke ends up tossing his Stetson …

My Scrapbook: Sore Eyes

My Scrapbook Sore Eyes (Actual Covers for Actual Books) As a graphic designer, I'm sure I've inflicted my share of ghastly art upon the world (there's a particular rush job Asian film festival guide I hope never ever sees the light of day again), but these ill-conceived covers for private eye novels, for whatever reason, …

Carlotta Carlyle

Created by Linda Barnes CARLOTTA CARLYLE's one tall (six feet!), red-headed, tough-talking, blues-loving, heart-on-her-sleeve-wearing, ex-cop cab-driving P.I. cruising the streets of Boston, MA, looking for trouble in all the wrong places. And usually finding it. "As smart as Spenser and as mean as Hawk" is how Margaret Cannon in The Globe and Mail puts it. …

Mort Angel

Created by Rob Leininger "In my personal opinion, and in the court of public opinion, IRS agents rank somewhere below that of politicians or prostitutes." -- Mort mulls over his previous occupation in Gumshoe Reno, Nevada's MORTIMER "MORT" ANGEL turned his back on sixteen years of soul-sucking drudgery as an IRS investigator for sixteen years, …

Diana Andrews

Created by Albert Tucher Defiant, unapologetic and streetwise DIANA ANDREWS is a crime-solving hooker in New Jersey who has -- so far -- appeared in more than seventy hard-boiled short stories in venues including the anthology The Best American Mystery Stories 2010." So... she's not a private eye, not exactly -- more of a gifted amateur. …

B.L. Stryker

Created by Christopher Crowe Smirk Alert! Burt Reynolds played B.L. (BUDDY LEE) STRYKER was a retired New Orleans cop turned slacker Miami P.I. living on his beat-up old houseboat and tooling around town in his equally beat-up Caddy, operating on the fringes of Florida's hoity-toity Palm Beach, sniffing out work, in a series of made-for-TV …

Auggie Velez-Colon

Created by Robert J. Randisi (1951 --) Guitar slinger AUGUSTO "AUGGIE" VELEZ-COLON came back from Afghanistan with a brand-new plan: music. It's taken him a while, but after eight long years, he's starting to carve a niche into Nashville's hyper-competitive music scene as an in-demand session man. But just in case, he's still working his other …