Greg Clark Noir Art

  GREAT DETECTIVES & PEOPLE OF MYSTERY #15 DR. MABUSE This fictional character was created by Norbert Jacques in the 1921 novel "Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler".  Jacques (1880-1954) was a novelist from Luxembourg who became a German citizen in 1922.  He created the character in the fashion of Fantomas and Dr. Fu Manchu but with the goal of commercial success and political commentary.  Mabuse was a master of disguise and telepathic hypnosis, employing body transference like demonic possession, and sometimes utilized technologies like television and phonograph machines.  He built a "society of crime".  He would rarely commit crimes himself, instead operating through a network of agents who would enact his schemes.  Mabuse's agents range from career criminals to innocent citizens who are blackmailed or hypnotized into cooperation, or dupes who are manipulated so successfully that they do not realize they are doing Mabuse's bidding.  His identity often changes.  O

  GREAT DETECTIVES & PEOPLE OF MYSTERY #14 HERCULE POIROT Created by Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot is one of the most celebrated detectives in English crime fiction.  Poirot is a Belgian who was forced to flee to England after the German invasion of his homeland in 1914.  He had served as a policeman with honor and distinction before retiring in 1904.  After the war he remained in England and became a private inquiry agent (what we call a private detective in the US).  He shared a home with his old friend Captain Hastings at 14 Farraway Street in London.  The not-too-bright Hastings acts as Poirot's "Watson" and chronicles his early adventures.  When Hastings married and moved to Argentina in the 1930s Poirot moved to Whitehaven Mansions, a modern block of flats whose geometrical appearance and proportions indulged his passion for method and order.  His needs were served by his faithful manservant Georges and his efficient secretary Miss Lemon.  He grew to the age o

GREAT DETECTIVES & PEOPLE OF MYSTERY #13 BULLDOG DRUMMOND   Bulldog Drummond is a gentleman adventurer who finds peace dull after his demobilization following WWI, and Captain Hugh Drummond continues to defend England from her enemies. Drummond is a super-patriotic hero who constantly upbraids degenerate villains for their stereotypical foreign shiftiness and unsavory personal appearance.  Bulldog Drummond exhibited the inevitable xenophobia and antisemitism  of the period, displaying a bundle of chauvinisms.  His major adversaries are Germans and Russians, but his most notable encounters involve Carl Peterson, an archvillain who will accept anyone as an ally if doing so will help him realize his personal goals.  Intensely patriotic Drummond would do anything for his country: break the law, risk his life (and that of Phyllis his lovely wife), and commit acts of violence against those foreign devils who would do the same if given the opportunity.  He is often contemptuous of the pol

GREAT DETECTIVES & PEOPLE OF MYSTERY #12 BOSTON BLACKIE   The Character was created by Jack Boyle.  In the forward to "Boston Blackie" (1919), the only book about the ex-convict and cracksman, Boyle wrote: "To the police and the world, he is a professional crook, a skilled and daring safecracker, an incorrigible criminal made doubly dangerous by intellect.  But to me, 'Blackie' is something more - a man with more than a spark of the Divine Spirit that lies hidden somewhere in the heart of even the worst of men.  University graduate, scholar, and gentleman, the 'Blackie' I know is a man of many inconsistencies and a strangely twisted code of morals."  Blackie does not consider himself a criminal - he is a combatant who has declared war on society.  He is married to a pretty girl named Mary, his "best loved pal and sole confidant" who knows what he does and joins in his exploits.  Oddly, Blackie lives in San Francisco.  Boston has nothing

  GREAT DETECTIVES & PEOPLE OF MYSTERY #11 THE LONE WOLF The Lone Wolf was created by Louis Joseph Vance in 1914.  The Lone Wolf's real name was Michael Lanyard who was raised as a virtual slave in a disreputable Paris hotel where he was forced to lie, cheat, and steal at an early age.  Lanyard once tried to rob an accomplished thief named Bourke but failed in the attempt.  But Bourke took a liking to the darkly handsome youth and decided to teach him the skills necessary to become a master criminal.  In addition to schooling the lad in such practical subjects as mathematics, explosives, gem appraisal, art, and social graces, Bourke taught him the three cardinal principles of successful cracksmanship:  know your ground thoroughly before venturing upon it; strike and retreat with the swift precision of a hawk; be friendless.  "And the last of these is the greatest", Bourke told the young man.  Lanyard learned his lessons well and became the Lone Wolf - a respected, sop