Crossover Cover: Sex, Lies, and Private Eyes

This anthology from Moonstone includes two crossovers. In C.J. Henderson's "The Mind of the Dead," psychometrist Lai Wan comes to the aid of Carl Kolchak when they turn out to be investigating the same series of crimes. Kolchak also encountered Lai Wan in Spring 1997 during the events of Henderson and Joe Gentile’s novel Partners in Crime. September 15 is a Saturday, placing this story in 1997 as well, after Partners in Crime. “The Mind of the Dead” does not address whether Kolchak and Lai Wan have met before. In John Lutz's "Recreational Vehicle," a St. Louis private eye named Nudger travels to Florida to help his girlfriend’s aunt and uncle, who are being blackmailed, and works with his fellow P.I. Fred Carver to resolve the situation. Lutz’s P.I. Fred Carver is in the CU through a mention of Robert B. Parker’s eye Spenser in his first appearance, Tropical Heat, as well as a brief appearance in Robert J. Randisi’s Miles Jacoby novel Hard Look. This crossover brings in Lutz’s other series P.I. character, Alo Nudger.

Crossover Cover: Too Old a Cat

Devlin “Trace” Tracy and his girlfriend Michiko “Chico” Mangini join the New York private investigation agency run by Trace’s dad, ex-cop Patrick “Sarge” Tracy. Sarge’s office is above Bogie’s Restaurant & Bar. A Mafioso who hires Sarge to look into his wife’s involvement with a cult says, “I heard there were some private eyes hung out downstairs in the restaurant.” Sarge replies, “One’s a broken-down pug and the other one’s a one-armed communist.” Detectives William “Tough” Jackson and Ed Razoni investigate the murder of the cult’s guru. The “broken-down pug” is Robert J. Randisi’s private eye Miles Jacoby, while the “one-armed communist” is Michael Collins’ P.I. Dan Fortune. Both detectives hung out at Bogie’s (a real restaurant popular among mystery writers) in their respective series, and ran into each other there in Randisi’s novel The Steinway Collection. Razoni and Jackson were featured in another series of novels by Murphy that were published from 1973-1974.

Crossover Cover: Full Cleveland

Cleveland private investigator Milan Jacovich asks a fellow P.I. in Los Angeles named Saxon to look into the personal histories of some of the people involved in the case he’s working on. Saxon, the protagonist of another series of P.I. novels by Les Roberts, is in the CU through Robert J. Randisi’s Miles Jacoby novel Stand-Up, and this crossover brings in Jacovich.

Crossover Cover: The Cana Diversion

Bill Pronzini and Marcia Muller's novel Double is a team-up between Pronzini's Nameless Detective and Muller's P.I. Sharon McCone, who meet at a convention in San Diego. Also attending the convention are Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone, Robert J. Randisi's Miles Jacoby, and William Campbell Gault's Brock "The Rock" Callahan. In Gault's The Cana Diversion, Callahan investigates the death of his friend and fellow P.I. Joe Puma, who appeared in his own series of novels by Gault from 1953 to 1961.

Crossover Cover: Tropical Heat

The first of John Lutz's novels about Florida P.I. Fred Carver. At one point, Carver takes a bite of his pan-fried steak and understands why he'll never be a gourmet like a private eye he met in Boston. This is a reference to Robert B. Parker's P.I. Spenser. There are two other crossovers involving Carver that I've already written up. He has a cameo in Robert J. Randisi's Miles Jacoby novel Hard Look, and his best friend Lt. DeSoto has a larger role. Lutz's story "Recreational Vehicle" (included in the Moonstone anthology Sex, Lies and Private Eyes) is a team-up between Carver and Lutz's other series P.I. character, Alo Nudger.

Crossover Covers: No Exit from Brooklyn

I've done several posts here in the past about Robert J. Randisi's novels featuring P.I. Miles Jacoby, which have appearances by and references to several other authors' P.I. characters. The Jacoby books also frequently mention two other P.I. characters of Randisi's, Henry Po and Nick Delvecchio. I've not read any of the Po stories yet, but all the Delvecchio books have Jacoby and Po in them. Furthermore, in the first Delvecchio novel, No Exit from Brooklyn, Delvecchio, needing to enlist the services of a Boston P.I., contacts John Francis Cuddy at Jacoby's recommendation. Cuddy is featured in a series of novels by Jeremiah Healy. I just got Delvecchio's Brooklyn, a collection of nine short stories featuring Delvecchio. One of the stories, "The Vanishing Virgin," has an appearance by Ed Gorman's P.I. Jack Dwyer. Randisi obviously loves doing shout-outs like this, since his Gunsmith novels contain frequent references to Clint Adams' friend, Secret Service Agent James West (from The Wild Wild West) and a couple of his non-Gunsmith western novels have references to Loren D. Estleman's character Page Murdock.

Crossover of the Week

October 1983

HARD LOOK

            Miles Jacoby travels to Tampa, Florida to search for a wealthy man’s wife. Jacoby refers a case to Nick Delvecchio in Brooklyn while he’s gone. A Boston P.I. who used to be a professional fighter like Jacoby is mentioned. Fred Carver puts Jacoby in touch with Lt. Alfonso DeSoto.

            Novel by Miles Jacoby, edited by Robert J. Randisi, 1993. Nick Delvecchio is the subject of another series of detective novels and stories by Randisi. The professional fighter turned Boston P.I. is Robert B. Parker’s Spenser. Florida-based private eye Fred Carver appears in a series of novels by John Lutz. Lt. DeSoto is one of Carver’s best friends.

Crossover of the Week

1977

SEPARATE CASES

            Investigating the death of his fellow P.I. Andy McWilliams at Andy’s wife Caroline’s request, Miles Jacoby reads his files, and finds that Andy referred several cases to other detectives, including Jacoby’s friend Henry Po, who usually investigates cases involving thoroughbred horse racing, and a man named Malone, who took a case in New Jersey. After Andy’s death, Caroline took over his agency, and referred another case to a man Jacoby knows in Brooklyn, Nick Delvecchio. Jacoby discusses what to do with a murdered friend’s saloon with another friend, Sal Carlucci, an ex-cop P.I. who runs a saloon in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Jacoby also refers to a Boston P.I. who tends to push and prod until the guilty party comes after him rather than try to find some definitive evidence.

            Novel by Miles Jacoby, edited by Robert J. Randisi. Henry Po and Nick Delvecchio are each the subject of other detective series by Randisi. The New Jersey P.I. named Malone is Ryder Malone, who appears in the novels Jersey Tomatoes and Hot Tickets, both written by Shane Stevens under the pen name J.W. Rider. Sal Carlucci first appeared in Ed Gorman’s novel The Night Remembers. The main character of The Night Remembers, apartment house manager and sometimes P.I. Jack Walsh, first appeared in Gorman’s short story “Friends.” Carlucci is also one of the protagonists of The Black Moon, a round robin novel whose authors include Gorman and Randisi, in which Sal at one point calls Jacoby seeking a recommendation for a detective in Lake Superior, Michigan. The Boston P.I. is Robert B. Parker’s Spenser.