Fred Carver
Created by John Lutz
Talk about your walking wounded...
Carrying the twin burdens of cynicism and pain, Del Moray, Florida private eye FRED CARVER toughs it out with every step he takes, thanks to a hold-up man's bullet that ended his police career and left him with a permanently stiff left leg, forcing him to walk with the aid of a cane for the rest of his life.
But that's not enough. Carver must also contend with the aftermath of a messy divorce and the loss of custody of his two children, and even, in Scorcher (1987), the tragic murder of his young son. No wonder he's a wee bit on the cynical side.
But tough it out he does, sweating it out as a private eye, trying to stay as honest as possible, living in a one-room beach house, where he sits and broods, smoking his Swisher Sweet cigars, waiting for cases to come along that interest him, a fierce-looking guy, deeply tanned, almost bald. Don't cross him-Carver's a"hard sonuvabitch" and, thanks to years of swimming-as-therapy that have left him with an extremely powerful upper body, he swings a mean cane. Not to mention the fact that he gets a tad obsessive at times. In fact, one ladyfriend likens him to an "unhealthy...combination of pitbull and bloodhound." Other, less benign folks just call him a "persistent peckerhead."
One of the interesting things about the series are the two police officers Carver deals with.
Orlando Police Department Lieutenant Alfonso DeSoto is Carver's closest friend and sometimes mother hen, as well as his best police contact. An unrepentant lover of women, a flashy dresser with a taste for salsa, he's a class act and a tough but fair cop.
Del Moray Police Lieutenant MacGregor is another story. He's slime incarnate, a corrupt, viscious man with no conscience or record of personal hygiene and a nasty streak a mile wide. He seems to delight in wedging his way into Carver's life, looking for an angle.
Another cool thing about the series is the women Carver has been involved with. First there was Edwina Talbot, a real estate agent coming out of a very bad relationship. Carver and she use one another almost as therapy, but eventually the relationship strains under the weight. Even better has been Beth Jackson, former mobster squeeze and one tough cookie, as hardass as Carver himself, an expert at firearms and martial arts. Seems Carver's finally met his match. Both Edwina and Beth are real women, fully Carver's equals, who, like Carver, are walking wounded, trying to help themselves, but not always succeeeding, a theme that seems to run through this hard, fierce series.
A series, I might add, that never reached the mass audience I think it deserved. Part of it might be simply because most of the later novels never made it to paperback, but I suspect the books' smouldering bleakness might have had a little something to do with it.
Author Lutz is the creator of another hardluck P.I., St. Louis' Alo Nudger and numerous stand-alone thrillers. He's also written (believe it or not) several mystery jigsaw puzzles.
NOVELS
SHORT STORIES
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
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