Have you been blitzed by promotions for Terriers, the new slovenly beach bum private detective show from Shawn Ryan, (creator of one of my all-time favorite shows The Shield)? Looks promising. Looks like somebody went to a fire sale at the ol’ cliché factory and cleaned ‘em out, then somehow ended up with something, if not original, fresh. I’ll be honest, it’s got me looking for private eye stuff for the first time in… quite a while. (And wouldn’t you know it, one of my favorite short story writers just announced he was retiring his P.I. character, Charlie Byrne).
Lemme tell you where I’m turning. Across the pond, there’s a particularly nasty young strain of P.I. books—street level crime—coming to the fore led by Manchester detective Callum Innes. Cal is an ex-con, addict and dead end homing pigeon operating out of a closet without a license. And it’s not just ‘a missing girl in the city of angels’ type case that comes his way. Matter of fact, he’s more likely to be making money working as a security guard or errand boy for the gangster Morris Tiernan. Not that he’s a scumbag, he’s got ideals, he’s just got a stronger survival instinct. And humor? Yeah, these are darn funny books no matter how dark they get. Ray Banks’ series begins with Saturday's Child and continues with Sucker Punch, (regret the American title change on that one), and No More Heroes.
Scottish short story master, Russel McLean released a strong debut novel earlier this year that took the melancholy inherent in the genre to the limit with The Good Son and his second, The Lost Sister is already sitting atop my list of most anticipated titles for next year. Now, if I can just get my hands on more of Tony Black’s Gus Drury series, I ought to be set. For a while.
If you like Ken Bruen and Allan Guthrie, do yourself a favor and open one of these books, (but wear something protective for heaven’s sake, they’re dangerous).
Who’re the new private detective stars you’re reading?
Jedidiah Ayres writes fiction and keeps the blog Hardboiled Wonderland.
