Following the interview with John “Wade” Wright here not too long ago, I’ve been asked to say some more about his recurring characters. (Preceding the interview is a list of all 14 of his mystery novels.)

   I still don’t have access to copies of his books myself, and while I’ve purchased two or three in the last couple of days and they’re on their way to me, that doesn’t do me any good right now. So I asked Bill Pronzini, who’s read them all, I believe, and here is what he had to say.   

Haloes

Steve:

   I don’t have the time to do a full write-up on John’s series characters, but in a nutshell:

   Bart Condor is a tough, violent New York private eye inspired by and patterned after Spillane’s Mike Hammer.

   Paul Cameron is a more cerebral P.I. built along the lines of Philip Marlowe, Thomas Dewey’s Mac, Bob Martin’s Jim Bennett; his bailiwick is southern California.

   Calhoun is a Vietnam vet who works for a shadowy U.S. internal security agency run by “The Man” and whose job is to “help lop off the many tentacles of the racket boys [i.e. Mafia]” by any necessary means, operating close to the law and without any official cover.

   The Paul Cameron series is the best of the three. For my taste, though, the best of all John’s novels are the two stand-alones, Death at Nostalgia Street and It Leads to Murder.

Best,

    Bill