FFB: First Cases

Before they were stars, everyone's favorite literary private eyes had to start somewhere. Many jumped to life fully-formed in novels, but others began their lives in short stories. Robert Randisi, a lifelong champion of P.I. fiction and founder of the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA), in addition to being an author himself, put together a collection of First Cases: First Appearances of Classic Private Eyes in 1996. Fortunately, that volume was successful enough that Randisi was able to compile three additional collections, the last in 2002.

The 1996 volume (and the one that started it all) includes stories in which now-beloved protagonists first saw the light of day, such as Bill Pronzini's Nameless Detective in "It's  a Lousy World," first published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine in 1968; Joe Gores's Dan Kearny and company in "File #1: The Mayfield Case," printed in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine in 1968 (a banner year, it seems); Linda Barnes's Carlotta Carlyle in "Lucky Penny," published in New Black Mask in 1986; and Robert Randisi's own ex-boxer Miles Jacoby in "The Steinway Collection," first published in Mystery Monthly in 1977.

Other entries are the first short story appearances of detectives who had already made a splash in a novel, such as Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder in "Out of the Window,"  Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski  in "The Takamoku Joseki," and Max Allan Collins's Nathan Heller in "The Strawberry Teardrop," all three of which were published barely one year after each character's debut novel.

Most of these authors and their detectives went on to win major awards, including several Shamus nods—awards Randisi initiated as part of the PWA. In this book and the following volumes, the stories and characters include hard-boiled and soft-boiled, covering a range of settings (Block's Manhattan, Jeremiah Healy's Boston, Gores's San Francisco), but the most interesting aspect, as Randisi notes, "It's interesting to go back and read an early story about a series character. In some cases the character you meet is very different from the character as he or she appears in later stories." In some cases, these include a switch of POVs from third to first, or major life changes as with Block's pre-AA Scudder who still drinks bourbon with his coffee.

These collections should be both inspiration and caveat to contemporary writers of crime fiction short stories. If you're fortunate enough to produce a long-lived private eye series after having auditioned the character first in the short format, you might just wind up in a future Randisi anthology. So make it good and make it count.

Check out all the other offerings on the topic of "First Books" in the weekly Friday's "Forgotten" Books feature over at Patti Abbott's blog.

Comments

[George Kelley]

This was a terrific anthology. You're right about it being an inspiring set of stories!

[BV Lawson]

And it's so fascinating how some iconic crime fiction characters got their start in stories before the novels. As a fan of short mystery fiction, gotta love that!

[Todd Mason]

When short story markets were plentiful, most detective characters first appeared in short fiction, I'd wager...Ellery Queen being one of the few exceptions of his era, I think.

[Todd Mason]

Then again, I think the novel FER-DE-LANCE (and I should check the spelling) was the first Nero Wolfe.

[BV Lawson]

You're right on both counts, Todd, although apparently FER-DE-LANCE was published as a novel in October of 1934, then abridged as "Point of Death" in The American Magazine in November of that year.