Shep Stone
Created by Jeff Jacks

A former cop and currently unlicensed New York private eye working the Greenwich Village area, SHEP STONE, only made two appearances, both in Fawcett Gold Medal paperback originals. According to Bob Randisi, these two hard-to-find novels are full of "great P.I. stuff with a wonderful New York atmosphere." In fact, in the May/June 1989 edition of Mystery Scene he remarks that Murder on the Wild Side is #1 on his own personal top ten list of P.I. novels.

So the big question then is, "Who the hell is Jeff Jacks?"

Rumours abound as to the identity of the mysterious author, including Randisi's speculation in Pronzini and Muller's 1001 Midnights (1986) that Jacks was actually Lawrence Block. Although a few have suggested Jacks is actually Randisi himself.

But so far, nobody's stepped up to claim credit.

Another puzzler is Black Eye, the lame and rather clumsy 1974 cinematic adaptation which for some reason recast Stone as a blaxploitation action hero (played by former jock Fred Williamson), and scrapped the sharply-etched New York setting for Venice, California. Say "Huh?"

Still, if you're into cheesy action flicks, it's not bad, no better or worse than most of the rest of Williamson's ouevre. And there's the added bonus of Bret Morrison, old time radio's The Shadow, playing a porno movie-maker.

NOVELS

  • Murder on the Wild Side (1971)
  • Find the Don's Daughter (1973)

FILMS

  • BLACK EYE ..Buy this video
    (1974, Warner Bros.)
    98 minutes
    Based on the novel "Walk on the Wild side" by Jeff Jacks
    Screenplay by Mark Haggard and Jim Martin
    Directed by Jack Arnold 
    Cinematography by Ralph Woolsey
    Original music by Mort Garson  
    Produced by Pat Rooney
    Associate producer: Larry Noble
    Assistant producer: Anne Reeves
    Executive producer: Jack Reeves
    Tagline: Whenever the cane turns up, someone turns up dead. Black Eye knows why.
    Starring Fred Williamson as STONE
    Also starring     Rosemary Forsyth, Teresa Graves, Floy Dean, Richard Anderson, Cyril Delevanti, Richard X. Slattery, Larry D. Mann, Brett Morrison, Frank Stell, Teddy Wilson , Jim Malinda Nancy Fisher

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.

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