I hesitated to nominate George Gideon (series of novels by
John "J.J. Marric" Creasey), a seminal figure in the police
procedural sub-genre and one of my personal favorites,
because, being the stolid British gentleman that he was, he
struck me as not quite "common" enough, tough though he was,
to qualify as "hard-boiled." But since others have nominated
a couple of much-beloved cop characters I had similar doubts
about, Maigret and Beck, I feel comfortable adding Gideon to
the list.
In that same vein, I'll nominate Inspector DeCock
(sometimes spelled as "DeKoK" in US editions, a series of
novels by Cornelius Bjaantjer), a very popular series of
European procedurals by a retired Dutch police officer who is
the most popular writer in the Netherlands.
Also Mike Shayne (series of novels by Davis "Brett Halliday"
Dresser, many short stories by numerous ghosts using the
"Halliday" byline including our own James Reasoner), one of
the longest-running and most consistently popular series of
PI novels ever published and one of the few characters strong
enough to sustain his own magazine for more than 20
years
(Ellery Queen lent his name to the magazine but not his
character in each and every issue; the Saint didn't last as
long as Shayne).
Also Delilah West (series of novels by Maxine O'Callahan), a
tough female PI who predates both Kinsey Milhone and V.I.
Warshawski.
Also Neil Fargo (INTERFACE and one short story the title of
which I can't remember, both by Joe Gores). If the DKA series
is Gores's equivalent to the Continental Op, then Fargo is
his Sam Spade.
Finally, Terry Mack/Race Williams (series of novels and short
stories by Carroll John Daly). I list them as a single
character because, for practical purposes they're the same
person, in the same way that Chandler's Carmady and Dalmas
were the same character as Marlowe. Daly didn't have the raw
talent and genuine toughness of Hammett (whom he beat into
print by just a few months), nor the gift for language of
Chandler, nor the ability to grow and learn of Gardner, but
there's no denying that he was the first of the "BLACK MASK
boys," and his fingerprints have been and will be on every
piece of hard-boiled crime fiction ever written.
JIM DOHERTY
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