The Crime Fighters

Page 3

Detective Superintendent Bradbury

Vote for Death (1960) and four other novels by Norman Longmate feature Detective Superintendent Herbert Bradbury of Scotland Yard. He was a burly, self-sufficient officer who, like many of his type, stood in awe of his wife. Bradbury was assisted by Detective Sergeant Christopher Raymond, who was, we were told, a freshman at Oxford.

Simon Brade

Simon Brade, detective and collector of porcelain, wore an eyeglass and made it a rule to roll his own cigarettes. He appeared in The String Glove Mystery (1936) and six other novels by Lady Harriette Campbell, who did not give much background information on her sleuth.

Inspector Bradley. See: Superintendent Hallick.

Inspector Bradley

An Edgar Wallace creation, Insp. Bradley was a good-looking man who had the face of an intellectual, with large deep-set eyes and the trick of looking through half-closed lids. He was a member of The Flying Squad, and appeared in the book of the same name (1928).

Superintendent Bradley

Created by Colin Robertson, Bradley of Scotland Yard appeared in Time to Kill (1961), Murder in the Morning (1957), and several other novels. He was a large man with iron grey hair, heavy shaggy brows and deep set eyes, and he consumed tobacco at a stupendous rate. Bradley was assisted by Bill Firth, a plain-clothes sergeant who was ten years younger and also happened to be his brother-in-law.

Dame Beatrice Lestrange Bradley

She was Gladys Mitchell’s Home Office pathologist, psychiatrist and gourmet, and she lived at the “Stone House”. Dame Bradley had black hair, yellow skin and a beautiful voice, and she starred in a large number of books including Say It with Flowers (1960) and The Nodding Canaries (1961).

Luke Bradley

He was a private detective who appeared in Whose Was the Hand? by J. E. Muddock (1901).

James Brampton

James Brampton, known to all thieves, vagabonds and associates as “J.B.”, was a New York police officer, aged between forty and forty-five. Something very peculiar about his features instantly gave the impression that he possessed the power of analysis, and his movements were very quick. He was born in New York, the son of a respectable merchant who was unfortunately burned to death, which curtailed J.B.’s intended career in the medical profession. He wrote up his most interesting cases, which were published as Leaves from the Note-Book of a New York Detective (1865; published in England as The New York Detective Police Officer), edited by Dr. John B. Williams. This collection of 22 short stories has generally been regarded as fiction.

Helene Brand. See: Jake Justus.

Mark Brand. See: The Counsellor.

Victor Brand & Co.

The Victor Brand organization was to be marvelled at, for Brand employed a trained gorilla named Jacko as an assistant. This animal conveniently understood every wood his master uttered and was accepted without misgivings by the detective’s clients. He must have been an enormously profitable proposition for Brand since the only reward Jacko received for his services was a cigar, even though he brought the criminal to justice single-handedly at times. These tales, obviously intended for the juvenile market, appeared in Favourite Comic (1911-1917) and concluded in Merry and Bright in 1917.

Burt Brandon

A handsome man about thirty-three, Brandon had a rich timbre in his voice and was reputed to be one of the most clear-headed and skilful detectives who ever ran down a criminal. He appeared in Aldine Detective Tales No. 41 in The King of Detectives, an American reprint.

Chief of Police Edwin Brandon. See: Vic Malloy.

Mark Brandon

Brandon, a tough Chicago private eye, was a huge man, 76 inches tall, weighing 220 pounds stripped, with shoulders as wide as a house (or so his author, Vernon Warren, described him). He had a secretary named Norma Clarke, a girl with golden hair, to look after the administrative side of his business. In addition to being Norma’s boss, Brandon was also her guardian. The Brandon novels were told in first person, and included Brandon Takes Over (1953) and Brandon Returns (1954).

Mason Brant

This celebrated criminal investigator, a tall-broad-shouldered manhunter from New York, was created by Nevil Monroe Hopkins. He appeared with his partner Robert Dale in The Strange Cases of Mason Brant (1916).

Father Bredder

Leonard Holton’s priest detective has been identified with G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown, although Bredder was more interested in the salvation of the soul than the punishment of the criminal. Six feet tall, with a 200 pound frame, he was a very humble man and acutely shy. He smoked a pipe and his favourite tobacco was dark, coarse Carolina. Bredder was chaplain of the Convent of Holy Innocents in downtown Los Angeles. He worked with his old friend Louis Minardi of the Los Angeles Police Homicide Department. Minardi had been a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. The pair was featured in novels such as A Pact with Satan (1960) and Out of the Depths (1966).

Chief of Police Charles Brennan. See: Dave Fenner.

Brian Brett

Christopher Monig’s Brian Brett was a brash, cynical, wise-cracking and martini-drinking insurance investigator in New York. He related his adventures in an amusing fashion in such novels as Once Upon a Time (1959).

Chico Brett

This private eye had a proper appreciation for the comforts of life, though he was tough enough in the clinch and by no means a dilettante in his work. His real name was Senor Loretto Brett, and he originated in the Argentine. Generally Chico was in competition with Inspector “Gypsy” Rawson and his assistant Sergeant Gamble, who nicknamed him “The Caballero Cop”. He appeared in Don’t Tell the Police (1963), And Here Is the Noose! (1959), and many other novels, all by Kevin O’Hara..

Dixon Brett

This was the Aldine Publishing Company’s own leading detective. Dixon Brett was a scientific sleuth and the owner of one of the first Mercedes racing cars, which he called “Nighthawk”. He could often be found at the wheel, smoking a cigar and wearing immaculate evening dress under a fur-lined overcoat. In the early stories no mention was made of his having assistants, but later on two joined him. They were Pat Malone, his number one, and Bill Slook, who more often than not was left to look after Brett’s chambers in Lincoln’s Inn. Slook was 32 years old but only looked 16. He was rescued by Brett from a life of degradation after being found in an opium den.

As was the case with many other detectives who appeared in rival publications, Brett had numerous chroniclers, including Escott Lynn, Jack Wylde, Peter Gerrard, Phil Dexter, Colin T. Baine, Stephen H. Agnew, Melton Whyte, Stephen Marlow, Frank Kerridge, Clive R. Fenn, Walter Herrod, David Douglas, A. W. Bradley, Stanton Sleigh and Anthony Thomas. A great many of these were pen names, and it is suspected that more than one, like Walter Herrod, may have been the work of Aldine editor Walter Light. Dixon Brett was featured exclusively in such publications as Aldine Thrillers and the Dixon Brett Library, but he also turned up in other Aldine publications.

Robert Brewer

Brewer was an insurance detective, so perfectly and fashionably turned out that his presence established a hall-mark of “good tone.” He had a tiny moustache and a monocle in his right eye and the air of buoyant freshness that could only come from the young. In addition to his immaculate appearance and good looks, Brewer possessed the immense audacity, imperturbable coolness and cheek that are the usual stock in trade of the successful detective. He was introduced in The Big Four (1929) by Edgar Wallace.

Fenton Brewster

He was one of the many detectives featured in Merry & Bright’s “Clues Ltd.”

Detective Bob Bridger

This investigator appeared in Bob Bridger, Detective in No. 20 of Aldine Detective Tales, reprinting a U.S. dime novel Detective Bob Bridger by R. M. Taylor.

Inspector Bridie

When Black Plumes was published in 1940, Margery Allingham departed from her famous sleuth, Albert Campion, in favour of Bridie. It was an excellent novel, but Allingham’s fans requested more of Campion, so Bridie had to go. Divisional Inspector Bridie was a canny Scot who privately credited himself with being the best policeman in the world.

Bob Brierly

Bob Brierly, a Yorkshireman of Scotland Yard, and Charlie Hudson, one of New York’s smartest detectives, were featured in The Twin Detectives in Aldine Detective Tales No. 53. The two were exactly alike, with fresh coloured faces, large bright blue eyes and curly hair, both aged 25, and these similarities had earned them the name of twin detectives.

Brindle

Brindle was a brindle-coloured dog of medium size, a cross between a mastiff and a bull terrier. He was owned by Morton Merrill of Boston and was featured in The Dog Detective in Aldine Detective Tales No. 3. Merrill was a schoolboy about thirteen years of age, with a well developed frame.

Billy Bristol

He was the inimitable bareback rider better known as Bareback Billy, the circus detective, who appeared in Aldine Tip Top Tales. He was eighteen years old and he had, in addition to great skill as a circus performer, equally great reputation as a detective.

Superintendent William Bristow. See: The Baron.

Captain Michael Brixan

Mike Brixan, described as a young man and as the cleverest agent in the Foreign Office Intelligence Department, appeared in Edgar Wallace’s The Avenger (1926; published in the U.S. as The Hairy Arm).

Broadway Billy

His real name was William Weston. He was known as the jolly bootblack detective and first appeared in the U.S. in Beadle’s Half Dime Library in 1886, his adventures written by Jesse C. Cowdrick. The opening tale was reprinted in Aldine Tip Top Tales No. 90 as Broadway Billy. Billy continued to appear in Half-Dime Library until 1894, a total of 39 stories.

Broadway Bob

He was featured in Broadway Bob, the Bounder Detective in Aldine Detective Tales, reprinting.

Lord Broghville

Lord Broghville, or Mr. Geoffrey Bennett, was the ruler of the contentious Pamin Islands, rising out of the Indian Ocean some distance north of Madagascar. He held this position by special arrangement with the League of Nations. He was in his seventies, extremely tall and impressive to look upon though his figure was slightly stooped with age. He had sharp eyes beneath white thickets of hair, and was featured in There Was a Crooked Man (1936) by George Worthing Yates.

Loveday Brooke

This early lady detective appeared in The Experiences of Loveday Brooke (1894) by Catherine Louisa Pirkis. Loveday Brooke worked for Ebenezer Dyer, who was chief of a well-known detective agency in Lynch Court, Fleet Street. She was about 30 years of age, and her features were completely nondescript but she had the habit, when absorbed in thought, of dropping her eyelids over her eyes till only a line of eyeball showed. She then appeared to be looking at the world through a slit instead of through a window. Her dress was invariably black and was almost Quaker-like in its neat primness. She had originally been thrown penniless and friendless upon the world, but through determination eventually rose up in the world and joined the detective agency.

“Beejee” Brooks

Benjamin Gordon Brooks, known as “Beejee”, was born in Illinois near Rocky Knoll in 1914 and orphaned in 1918. He was raised by two local families, spending the winter with one and the summer with the other. By the time of his appearance in Wilson Tucker’s The Man in My Grave (1956), he was middle-aged, carried a black umbrella and a rather ornate watch, worked for the American Association of Local Parks, and had a great interest in unusual tombstones.

Inspector Herbert Broom

Inspector Broom of the C.I.D., a stout man with a large sleepy-looking face, was featured in such novels as Death by Bequest (1960) and Acquainted with Murder (1962) by Freda Hurt. Broom wore a hat that was too small for him and perched it at the back of his massive. Head. Although his clothes were neat and well cut, the hat spoiled the effect and gave him a somewhat rakish and Bohemian air. His aide was Sergeant Duffield, a thin and quiet young man.

Brown

Brown was the alias of Dolly Varden Dick, a fabric salesman created by Edward S. Ellis. After many reprint appearances in America, he appeared in England in “Wild Town” in the London Library No. 91 around 1881/2.

Belmont Brown

He was featured in Aldine Detective Tales No. 12, The Post Office Detective reprinting a U.S. dime novel by George W. Goode. Belmont Brown was of medium height and strikingly good looking, with a long drooping silken brown moustache. His brow was lofty, his eyes grey and fearless in their expression.

Dagobert Brown and Jane Hamish

Dagobert was usually unemployed and read thrillers, about three a day. He had been a sergeant in the Intelligence Corps. Jane Hamish was a law clerk, age 29, who lived in Holland Park Avenue. According to her young man she had blue hair, but she thought it was off-black. This amusingly zany pair of detectives, created by Delano Ames, first appeared in She Shall Have Murder (1948) and later as husband and wife in such novels as Lucky Jane (1959; published in the U.S. as For Old Crime’s Sake).

Dan Brown

Dan Brown, a Denver detective, was a born rider with a tall, superbly athletic figure and a strong handsome face. He had dark blue eyes which were bold and searching or mild and genial, depending on the circumstances. His face wore a full drooping pair of moustaches and his head was crowned with closely trimmed brown hair. He had a wife, Rachel, and children named Cherry and Willie, and was featured in Aldine Detective Tales No. 315, The Detective’s Victory.

Father Brown

Reverend J. Brown, the famous sleuth created by G. K. Chesterton, was a Catholic priest attached to St. Francis Xavier’s Church, Camberwell. He was described as a short, dumpy little man, with large, grey, ox-like eyes. A mild, hard-working fellow who found difficulty in rolling his umbrella, in knowing the right end on his return ticket, he was thus the most preposterous of detectives. In the 1954 film Father Brown he was portrayed by Alec Guinness. Fifty short stories were contained in the five volumes The Innocence of Father Brown (1911), The Wisdom of Father Brown (1914), The Incredulity of Father Brown (1926), The Secret of Father Brown (1927) and The Scandal of Father Brown (1935).

Orson Brown

This was a character in The Eye of the Sun by Edward S. Ellis, which won fifth prize in the Chicago Record’s $30,000 competition for authors of mystery stories in connection with the Chicago Exposition of 1896. This story, one of 816 entrants, earned Ellis $800. A heavily abridged reprint eventually appeared in England in Weekly Telegraph Novels No. 1.

Rebecca Brown

This lady detective was featured in The Idol of Lost Chance in Aldine Detective Tales.

Sam Brown

Sam Brown, a young stripling nicknamed “Handsome and Brilliant Sam,” was one of the most promising detectives of Scotland Yard. He appeared in “The Ghost Detective; or, The Manor on the Moor,” an anonymous story in Pluck.

Sarah Brown

This buxom lady sleuth, with her ready smile, appeared in Sarah Brown, Detective by K. F. Hill (1901; reprinted anonymously in Aldine Detective Tales No. 35).

Vee Brown

Frail and undersized Vee Brown was a writer of song hits that brought him a handsome income. This strange dual personality was also the cold calculating killing of the police department. He lived by his wits and by his ability to draw his gun a fifth of a second faster than the man he was up against. He was employed by the District Attorney of New York in Murder Won’t Wait (1933) by Carroll John Daly, and also appeared in Emperor of Evil (1936).

William Brown

Alan Brock’s “Bill Brown C.I.D.” tells how Brown joined the C.I.D. and became a detective constable. This fictional detective is used to illustrate police training and the progress to be made in the police force, with technical detail incorporated in narrative form. Bill Brown’s career is traced from leaving school, through his time at Hendon Police College, and on to his becoming a very worthy member of the C.I.D.

Bob Bruce

This fearless young detective, in stories written by Paul Delver, succeeded Pat O’Keefe Detective in Funny Wonder in 1920, beginning with issue 320.

Captain Jack Bryce

When Bryce was demobbed from the army, he was out of a job. He had no special qualifications, though this handsome six footer was equipped with a pleasant personality, a healthy constitution, and the strength of a lion. His full name was John Richard Plantagenet Bryce, known also as “Wireless Bryce.” In The Iron Grip (1929) by Edgar Wallace his role was that of a diplomatic detective, working in conjunction with an old friend of his father, a well-to-do lawyer named James Hemmer. In this book Bryce is revealed as one of Wallace’s most interesting and original characters.

Billy Bub

This character appeared in Aldine Tip-Top Tales in a story entitled Billy Bub, the Bootboy Detective.

Inspector Bucket

Bucket, the first detective in English fiction, appeared in Charles Dickens’ Bleak House (1853). Of the 66 chapters in the novel only 14 had any bearing on Bucket’s investigation, and these chapters were collected by Julian Hawthorne and arranged in sequence under the title “Inspector Bucket’s Job.” The character is believed to have been based on Dickens’ personal friend, Inspector Field of the Metropolitan Police Force.

Mr. Budd

Mr. Robert Budd, from the pen of Gerald Verner, was a superintendent of the C.I.D. He was a Londoner with his own house at Streatham. This seemingly sleeping-eyed detective had a portly, rather obese features, and he smoked thin black cigars. His abode at Scotland Yard was a small cheerless room, and his aide was the melancholy Sergeant Leek, a somewhat slow-witted man. Budd himself was a plodder, but he could think well and resolved his cases as well as a slick private detective. His rough and ready speech gave him a down-to-earth aspect. In addition to novels including The Red Tape Murders (1962), Six Men Died (1964) and The Seven Lamps (1947), Mr. Budd appeared in Detective Weekly in stories published between 1937 and 1939.

Sholto Budd

Budd was a very amusing, comical detective. He was middle-aged, thick set, with thinning hair plastered across his balding head. His expressionless pug-like face showed dull intelligence, and he wore a pince-nez perched on the end of his nose. At school Budd’s main reading had been the adventures of Bloodhound Blake, the human sleuth, and he always wanted to be a detective. When his uncle died, leaving him a fortune and making him a millionaire, his dream was realized. His astonishing success as a detective was gained by the most extraordinary luck and amazing good fortune. A creation of Michael Cobb, he appeared first in magazines and then in book form in 1932, the title appropriately being Sholto Budd.

Buffstone

This detective from Vermont was a character in Old Jack’s Frontier Cabin by R. L. Wheeler, published in America in 1908 and subsequently in England in an abridged, anonymous version in London Library No. 12 as The Indian Queen’s Revenge.

Halson Bujah

Edwin Harcourt Burrage wrote a story entitled The Conjuror Detective about Halson Bujah for Aldine Half-Holiday (1910).

Inspector J. Humphrey Bull

This friend of Mr. Pinkerton, q.v., was created by Mrs. Zenith Jones Brown under the pseudonym David Frome. Insp. Bull of the C.I.D. was a bachelor who lodged at Mr. Pinkerton’s home in Golder’s Green, London, renting the front room for fifty shillings a week. Bull’s hair was light brown, a sandy shade that almost turned red in the moustache. He was a burly man, with light blue eyes. He collected antique china and Dresden shepherdesses and was an easy prey to every dealer in antique china. He was the epitome of middle-class morality, so thoroughly imbued with middle-class ideals that he was instantly called in to investigate cases with middle-class backgrounds. These he solved mainly by intuition and dogged tenacious perseverance. The first novel about his association with Mr. Pinkerton was The Hammersmith Murders (1930).

Marcus Buller

Lord Marcus Buller was an amateur who delved into detection purely as a hobby. This wealthy, cricket-loving detective, with his manservant, an ex-batsman named Tim Berks, was featured in Young Britain in a series entitled “Marcus Buller, Detective,” written by Richard Starr using the pen name Richard Essex.

Bullock

He was stout, middle-aged Scotland Yard detective who appeared in False Cards (1873), a three-decker Victorian romance by Hawley Smart. When he was making good progress on a case, he seemed very disposed to indulge in a good deal of silent chuckling and low pitched snatches of melody.

Sub-Inspector Bullott

Inspector Bullott of Scotland Yard was an uncommunicative pipe-smoking young man, with an interest in breeding canaries. He was featured in Edgar Wallace’s The Hand of Power (1926).

Burchell. See: Augustus Champnell.

Dan Burdette

Dan Burdette of New York was Featured in The Prairie Detective in Aldine Detective Tales No. 10. His rather pale face was adorned by a moustache as yellow as amber and a nose longer than average and not quite straight. His eyes were an extraordinary grey, and his thick body was very tall.

Inspector Burgess

Charles Franklin’s Inspector Jim Burgess of Scotland Yard-Chief Inspector Burgess in later books-was a big man with irregular features who appeared in a series of stories including The Bath of Acid (1962), Guilt for Innocence (1959) and Kill Me and Live (1961).

Alfred Burgess. See: Iron Burgess.

Iron Burgess

Alfred Burgess appeared in Iron Burgess, the Government Detective in Aldine Detective Tales No. 45 (reprinting the tale of the same title published in the U.S. as by Old Sleuth). He was a well-dressed man, slightly above average height, with fine features and keen grey eyes. He had been given the nickname “Iron Burgess” because of his miraculous strength and his numerous hair-breadth escapes.

Burke

He was assisted by burly Sergeant Turner and appeared in a series of complete stories in the Joker in 1929 under the collective title “Burke, Chief of Police.”

Amos Burke

Amos Burke, central character in the ABC-TV series “Burke’s Law” and excellently portrayed by Gene Barry, brought a little breath of fresh air to the usual crop of American imports. Captain Burke of Homicide was a millionaire and carried out his duties as police chief in unbelievable luxury. His Rolls-Royce, driven by chauffeur-houseman Harry, his home, his clothes-everything about Burke-just oozed wealth, and made him the most eligible bachelor in detective fiction.

His beat was high society, where only the best people were done it, and so genteelly. His best friend, right-hand man, and severest critic was Detective Sergeant Les Hall; his other assistant was young Tim Tilson. His father, now dead, was Francis Xavier Burke, an Irish immigrant’s son who had talent for making money as honestly as the big-time construction business would permit in those early years.

Amos had developed his fascination for police work at the age of fifteen, when he was right in the middle of a payroll hold-up at a skyscraper construction site. He entered Amherst and graduated in 1948, then entered a Police Academy. Burke only had to spend a small amount of time with his business, getting richer and richer, and through hard police work he reached the rank of captain. Despite the distraction of business and the inevitable love affairs, Burke always beat the criminal, though the feeling remained that police work was purely a hobby with him.

Roger Fuller adapted two of the stories to book form: Who Killed Madcap Millicent? (1964; published in the U.K. in 1966 as The Martini Murders) and Who Killed Beau Sparrow? (1964; published in the U.K. in 1965 as Burke’s Law),

Manton Burke. See: Old Deadsure.

Detective-Superintendent Cheviot Burmann

Cheviot Detective Inspector-later Superintendent-Cheviot Burmann was introduced as a youthful-looking man of about thirty. He was a member of the Criminal Investigation Department, assisted by Sergeant Scoones. They appeared in Inspector Burmann’s Busiest Day (1939) and many other novels by Belton Cobb.

Breeze Burnham

Tom “Breeze” Burnham, once a college football player, became a patrolman in the New York police and later a plain clothes detective. This 38-year-old special investigator was well dressed and deceptively quiet. He was accompanied by “Ritz” Slosson in A Delicate Case of Murder (1937) by Sinclair Gluck, with Burnham also serving as narrator.

Inspector Burnley

Burnley was an extremely thorough policeman and brilliant master of disguise who indulged in smoking black cigars for relaxation and concentration. He appeared in Freeman Wills Crofts’ The Cask (1920), which also featured Georges La Touche, q.v.

Superintendent Charlie Burnside

In The Burma Ruby (1932) by J. S. Fletcher we are informed that Charlie Burnside of the Heatherstone Police Force has only just been appointed to the rank of superintendent. He was not really a dynamic character and others in the book, such as Major Wake, the chief constable, seemed more resourceful. Determining whether or not Fletcher intended Burnside to be the star of the story is rather difficult.