Steve Mallory
Created by Douglas Heyes
(1919-1993)

STEVE MALLORY is a partner in a small detective agency based in Los Angeles, that employs, besides his partner, Harry Jellison, at least three other ops. That's the set-up, anyway in the 1951 novel The Kiss-Off, which is one of those almost-forgotten treasures from the past. It's a great read, full of trachery, double crossing, cold-blooded murder, hot-blooded women, and more metaphors and similes than a Chandler convention. Looks like Heyes was paying attention. Not surprising, then, that Mallory was one of the names Chandler discarded for his hero before settling on Marlowe.

But Mallory was also adapted for radio, by and starring Douglas Heyes. In Steve Mallory, Private Eye, he's part of a two-man detective agency based in Los Angeles, and has a secretary named Rusty. The story is in first-person narrative (as were most radio private eyes), and Steve is the same Marlowe-type character, giving out with wisecracks. His partner Harry is killed at the beginning of the surviving episode.

Heyes is one of those gumshoe renaissance men who's been involved in all sorts of P.I. things over the years, from books to radio, film and television, writing, directing and Lord knows what else. He created Lee Gordon and Ray Ripley, as well the PI/adventurers of television's Bearcats! (1971, CBS), and was involved in several other detective shows on the tube, such as Magnum P.I., 77 Sunset Strip and City of Angels, sometimes in conjunction with Roy Huggins.

NOVEL

• The Kiss-Off (1951)

RADIO

• STEVE MALLORY, PRIVATE EYE
  (station and year unknown)
  Written by Doug Heyes
  Starring Douglas Heyes as STEVE MALLORY
  and Rosemary Kelly as Rusty.

• "Tale of the Terrified Temptress" (this is either a rehearsal or audition show, and my money goes on audition-Colin)

Contributed by Colin Clynes and Kevin Burton Smith.

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