Mark,
Re your questions below:
> Can I infer from this that Mute Witness was not the
first novel to
> feature Clancy? Or were the earlier series entries
short stories?
And
> were they written as Fish or Pike -- my movie tie-in
copy of Bullitt
> creates on Pike on the cover and title page, but
Fish on the
copyright
> page.
MUTE WITNESS was, in fact, the first Clancy novel, but it was
followed by THE QUARRY and POLICE BLOTTER, both of which
appeared prior to BULLITT.
As near as I've been able to find out, Clancy made his debut
in a 1961 short story called "Clancy and the Subway Jumper."
I'm pretty sure there were other Clancy short stories,
including the one that was later expanded into REARDON, but I
don't recall the titles. I think the story that he expanded
into the novel had "Eyes" or "Cat's Eyes" in the title.
All the Clancy and Reardon entries were written as "Pike."
This was, apparently, a pun as a pike is a type of fish. He
also wrote as A.C. Lamprey, a lamprey being another kind of
fish.
The other Reardon novels, by the way, are THE GREMLIN'S
GRANDPA, BANK JOB, and DEADLINE 2 A.M. The first book in the
series acknowledged the technical assistance of SFPD's
then-police-chief, Tom Cahill, for whom the San Francisco
Hall of Justice is now named, though, despite that
high-powered assistance, he still managed to make a lot of
errors.
> Jim, ever give any thought to setting up a police
procedural site
> comparable to Kevin's Thrilling Detective site? I
may snipe at
some of
> your semantics, but I definitely look to you as an
authority on
anything
> having to do with police procedurals. Of course,
you're probably
too
> busy with real police procedures to spend the time
setting up a
site.
I've thought about writing a book, but it's already been done
several times. Don't really have the technical expertise or
the inclination for a full-blown website. The one I have now
was set up for me by my publisher.
I've talked with a publisher about an idea for a book to be
called RADIO PATROL, which would trace the development of the
police procedural on Old-Time Radio, culminating in the debut
of DRAGNET, but I've got too much on my plate now to do more
than think about it.
Thanks for the kind words.
JIM DOHERTY
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