TV Review: Miami Undercover | Richard Diamond, Private Eye

TV Review: Miami Undercover | Richard Diamond, Private Eye Miami Undercover was a 1961 series shot in Miami Beach, with Lee Bowman as private investigator Jeff Thompson and Rocky Graziano as “Rocky.”  Mr. Thompson was employed by the hotel owners to perform undercover investigations to avoid alarming guests with the presence of an overt hotel… Continue reading TV Review: Miami Undercover | Richard Diamond, Private Eye

TV Review: Public Defender

TV Review: Public Defender “If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.”  The office of the Public Defender is a special government department that  specializes in handling the cases of indigent defendants.  The first such office was opened in Los Angeles in about 1914. This series, which aired in 1954-55, was… Continue reading TV Review: Public Defender

TV Review: Dick Tracy

TV Review: Dick Tracy Dick Tracy has had many incarnations over the years, but the actor most associated with the character is Ralph Byrd, who played him in serials, movies and eventually a television show in 1950.  Unfortunately, Mr. Byrd was not in good health by this point, and the fast pace of TV production… Continue reading TV Review: Dick Tracy

TV Review: Man with a Camera

TV Review: Man with a Camera Mike Kovac (Charles Bronson) is a World War Two veteran who works as a freelance photographer.  He’s a tough fellow who’s known for getting the shots other shutterbugs can’t make.  As a result, he’s often called in to help investigate incidents for newspapers and private citizens.  Mike is aided… Continue reading TV Review: Man with a Camera

TV Review: Front Page Detective

TV Review: Front Page Detective This series was broadcast on the DuMont Network from 1951-1952, starring Edmund Lowe as David Chase.  Mr. Chase was a newspaper columnist in the style of Walter Winchell, seeking interesting tidbits of news and gossip, with many people sending him items.  Often, his column or his investigative activities involved him… Continue reading TV Review: Front Page Detective

Book Review: The Case of the Missing Servant: From the Files of Vish Puri, Most Private Investigator

Book Review: The Case of the Missing Servant: From the Files of Vish Puri, Most Private Investigatorby Tarquin Hall Disclosure: I received this book as a Firstreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. This is the first of a series about Vish Puri, owner and operator of the Most Private Investigations office of… Continue reading Book Review: The Case of the Missing Servant: From the Files of Vish Puri, Most Private Investigator

Magazine Review: Out of the Gutter #7

Magazine Review: Out of the Gutter #7 (Winter 2010) Back in the day, the low-cost entertainment option of choice was the pulp magazine.  It contained fast, exciting stories on cruddy paper–a lowbrow art form that is still fondly remembered by some.  “Out of the Gutter” tries to be somewhat in that tradition. This is the… Continue reading Magazine Review: Out of the Gutter #7

TV Review: Bulldog Drummond & Burke’s Law

TV Review: Bulldog Drummond & Burke’s Law A couple more episodes from my DVD collection. Bulldog Drummond was created by H.C. “Sapper” McNeile in 1920, after a prototype police officer version failed to get traction.  Mr. Drummond was an independently wealthy gentleman adventurer and veteran of World War One who got bored and put out… Continue reading TV Review: Bulldog Drummond & Burke’s Law

TV Review: The Adventures of Ellery Queen–The Hanged Acrobat

TV Review: The Adventures of Ellery Queen–The Hanged Acrobat Ellery Queen was the pseudonym of Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee, and also the main character of their long-running mystery series.  He was an intellectual, and a bit of a snob, who often helped his father, a New York City police inspector, solve murders.  The… Continue reading TV Review: The Adventures of Ellery Queen–The Hanged Acrobat

Book Review: Limestone Gumption

Book Review: Limestone Gumption by Bryan E. Robinson Disclaimer:  I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. When Big Jake Nunn, former football star and big man around the sleepy town of Whitecross, Florida dies while diving the limestone caves of the Suwannee River, suspicion naturally falls on the… Continue reading Book Review: Limestone Gumption