Ah, gee, if I don't vote, I'll kick myself.
Maybe I'm more Machiavellian than most, but I couldn't help
looking to see how other people voted, and acting
accordingly, ignoring shoe-ins (do Chandler/Hammett/Macdonald
really need my vote?) in order to boost my own particular
favourites and/or obsessions. But still, it did surprise me
how many of my other favourites and obsessions didn't make my
final cut.
Big shock, I'm sure, that all of them are more or less
private eyes, mostly in series. Except for the Bat dude, of
course.
17. Batman (comics/novels, short stories, lunch boxes, action
figures, etc., various authors) 19. Ben Perkins (series, Rob
Kantner) 59. Cliff Hardy (series, Peter Corris) 67. Dan
Fortune (series, Michael Collins) 72. Dave Brandstetter
(series, Joseph Hansen) 120. Frank Clemons (trilogy, Thomas
Cook) 152. Jack Liffey (series, John Shannon) 153. Jack
Reacher (series, Lee Child) 165. Jo Gar (short stories, Raoul
Whitfield) 173. John Marshall Tanner (series, Stephen
Greenleaf) 201. Mac (series, Thomas Dewey) 215. Max Latin
(short stories, Norbert Davis) 225. Mitch Roberts (series,
Gaylord Dold) 234. Ms. Tree (comics, short stories, Max Allan
Collins and Terry Beatty) 246. Nick Stefanos (series, George
Pelecanos) 249. Op with No Name (SOLOMON'S VINEYARD, Latimer)
253. Paul Pine (Halo series, Howard Browne) 292. Sid Halley
(trilogy, Dick Francis) 297. Slot Machine Kelly (short
stories, Dennis Lynds)
Write-in: Jim Rockford, by Stephen J. Cannell and Roy Huggins
(two original novels, a couple of novelizations). I like my
votes. I think they reflect a good cross-section of the P.I.
genre, past, present, and in a few cases, hopefully future.
Certainly, anyone who's gone through the trinity will find
plenty of good reading in the suggestions above.
As for the validity of the whole exercise, hell, I don't
know. I think a secret ballot would have produced far
different, and possibly more honest, votes. For one thing, as
miker suggested, I would have voted for Agatha
Christie.
--
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