No. 30 in the Nameless P.I. series has a nice balance between his family life and solving a murder case. First-rate entry.

Ken Bruen combines a fierce noirish approach with a tenacious but flawed crime investigator. Jack Taylor is a good man to have on your side.

This is one of my favorites of the Lew Archer series.

The late Ms. Seranella wrote a wonderfully humane series starring "Munch", flawed but tenacious and lovable.

Chester Himes was a pioneer in the P.I. field with his Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones black Harlem cops.

Frank Gruber is pure pulp. Johnny Fletcher and Sam Cragg were partners and really bunko artists. Johnny was the brains and Sam provided the muscle. Worth checking out for a change of pace.

P.I. Karl Craven investigates in a creepy Midwest American town. This is a classic hardboiled title with a sleazy twist. Great atmosphere.

Classic crime writer from Washington, D.C.

This stylish, offbeat, and intricate murder mystery features the eccentric, likeable Hickey family (DO-RE-MI is fourth in the series, the third title THE LOUD ADIOS won a 1991 Shamus award). Something different, this first-rate P.I. novel spins a compelling tale with a little romance thrown in as well.

Classic Jacob Asch mystery. One of the vastly under-rated P.I. writers of the 1980s. Superb prose stylist.

PI Joe Kurtz, after eleven years behind bars at Attica, investigates for the Mob for a missing accountant and their highjacked trucks. Fast-paced, adventurous, and tough as nails: choice hardboiled fare.

Okay, so Stephanie Plum is really a bounty hunter, but I enjoyed the book and have no other list to put her on. Sassy dialogue, over-the-top antics, and just a good rollicking read.

P.I. Sam McCain, 26, lives and works in Black River Falls, Iowa, somewhere between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. The year is 1959 and a local liberal is discovered murdered. By turns nostalgic, spiritual, and investigative, Ed Gorman spins a gem of a detective yarn with his usual panache. Includes admiring nods to Rabe, Whittington, and other period pulpsters.

Short stories get short shrift too much. This is a vibrant collection of shorts, featuring Bill Pronzini's steadfast Nameless Detective. Vivid SF atmospheric setting, nifty cases, and even a Christmas story of a collaboration between Marcia Muller's P.I. Sharon McCone and "Wolf" (really Nameless).

P.I. C.W. Sughrue rides again in high style and hardboiled verve.

Victorian England private detective William Monk tracks down pilfered ivory from a ship docked on the Thames. Meanwhile his wife Hester runs her clinic for battered women (i.e., streetwalkers). Outstanding setting and sturdy characters in this first-rate, long-running series.

Well-told, complex, and top-notch gumshoe tale set in NYC. An affable, tenacious sort, Moe Prager has some echoes of Arthur Lyons' excellent P.I. Jacob Asch on the West Coast. Enjoyable and intriguing P.I. series still in progress.

Probably more of a romantic suspense than a detective novel, this entertaining story features Laura Caldwell-Carter and her husband James taking on the Philly Mob and Jamaican gangsters. My understanding is this is the last title in the series. Good beach reading.

One title in Harold Browne's P.I. Paul Pine series, HALO (written by "John Evans") originally appeared in 1948. The plot is pretty basic. The decided strengths are Browne's vintage hardboiled tone, Chandleresque metaphors, and gritty Chicago setting. "Poor old Pine" is a likeable P.I., going to movies and reading William P. McGivern, a fellow crime fiction writer. Enjoyable, brisk read.

This is another giant that got the P.I. fiction ball rolling. Many critics and fans say this was Chandler's best novel and the subsequent titles became parodies. Nevertheless, all make for fun reads.