Tom Riordan
Created by Dick Riley (1946--)
TOM RIORDAN is a former private eye turned reporter, fond of good food, good weed and good beer who works some of the seamier sides of New Jersey.
In his one recorded case, Rite of Expiation (1976), he's convinced by his buddy, Reverend Edward O'Donnell, to search for a missing high school teacher. Fortunately, he gets a little help from his bingo-playing Aunt Eleanor and his surprisingly resourceful dealer, Barry.
Rite of Expiation had his publisher gushing about Riley being "the Ross Macdonald of the East Coast," but they evidently failed to convince anyone else. There was never a sequel and the book never even made it into paperback, but any gumshoe who expresses a preference for Harp's can't be all bad.
NOVELS
Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. (November 2003)
