Robert Randisi's 1997 PI Survey Results

Robert Randisi's
1997 PI Survey Results
Favorite P.I. Series & P.I. Novel Survey Results, Spring 1997
From rec.arts.mystery

Robert Randisi, founder of The Private Eye Writers of America, not to mention the creator of such popular gumshoes as Miles Jacoby, Henry Po and Nick Delvecchio, took it upon himself to survey the popularity of various PI's in the Spring of 1997, via the newsgroup, rec.arts.mystery. Here are the final results, along with Mr. Randisi's comments, from his post.

"This is going to be a long post, but this survey had a lot of interesting aspects to it, and I want to cover it all.

First some general stats:

63 of you voted for Favorite P.I., naming 83 different ones;
28 of you sent in a list of Favorite Novels, naming 87 different titles. (I will attempt an separate posting of every title, so that some of you might use it as a suggested reading list.)

Here is a list that reflects the amount of times an author had a book mentioned on someone's list. The second number indicates how many different titles were named. In other words, Block appeared on 16 lists with 4 different titles. (I've only supplied the names of authors who appeared on 3 or more lists.)

	Lists	Titles
Lawrence Block	16	4
Marcia Muller	8	4
Sue Grafton	6	6
Robert B. Parker	6	5
Bill Pronzini	5	4
Max Allan Collins	4	3
Sara Paretsky	3	3
Laurie King	3	2
Earl Emerson	3	3

I was rather surprised that Block so easily outdistanced everyone else in total number of lists he appeared on. Grafton's number surprised me. She appeared on 6 lists with 6 different titles.

Okay, now here's a list of individual books, and how many lists they appeared on.

8 Million Ways to Die	Lawrence Block	9
When the Sacred Ginmill Closes	Lawrence Block	5
Wolf in the Shadows	Marcia Muller	4

These were the only books that appeared on more than 3 lists. Again, Block is way ahead. Would this lead you to believe that Scudder was the most popular P.I.? You'd be close.

Here, now, is the list of your Favorite P.I.'s, and the number of lists they appeared on. (I could not accumlate any sort of points for these listings because many of you named your favorite, "in no particular order." Therefore, I could only count by the number of your lists they appeared on.)

Sharon McCone	24
Kinsey Millhone	23
Matt Scudder	22
Spenser	15
Elvis Cole	14
V.I. Warshawski	13
Nameless	11
John Francis Cuddy	8
Carlotta Carlyle	7
Stephanie Plum	6
Burke (This is Andrew Vachss' Burke, not James Lee)	6
Nate Heller	5
Toby Peters	5
Kenzie/Gennaro	5
Sid Halley, Falco, Jacob Asch, Anna Lee, Thomas Black, Kat Colorado	4
Ben Perkins, Dave Brandstetter, Milan Jacovich, Albert Samson	3

Again, I only listed those P.I.'s who appeared on more than 3 lists. (Admittedly, if I had ruled on Myron Bolitar sooner, he might have appeared on more than 2 lists. )

What I find very interesting about these results is

McCone and Millhone finished so close, and managed to beat out Block, even though more of his novels were mentioned;
that Spenser finished 4th, just barely beating out Elvis Cole and V.I. Warshawski;
that Elvis Cole finished so well. Good for Bob Crais, but why weren't more of his novels mentioned besides THE MONKEY'S RAINCOAT (1) and VOODOO RIVER (1)
that the characters of Thomas Lehane and Janet Evanovich finished so well, considering how new they are to the field.

What I find disappointing is

that while Carlotta Carlyle was on 7 lists, none of Linda Barne's novels were mentioned;
that one of my personal favorites, Bill Pronzini and "Nameless" did not finish higher (but see my next list, of the things I'm pleased about);
I thought one of my favorite series, Jerry Healy's John Cuddy, would finish higher;
that John Lutz, Les Roberts, Michael Collins and Loren D. Estleman were not mentioned more than they were.

What I'm pleased about

that Namless finished so close behind Spenser. I only wish he'd beaten him out;
I'm very pleased that Spenser didn't win. I think many people thought he would win easily, but maybe people--readers and critics--are finally starting to catch up to him;
That Sharon McCone finished #1. I knew she'd be high up, but I really expected Kinsey Millhone to finish in the top spot. I'm glad they were so close, as I like both characters and both ladies very much;
I'm pleased that Scudder finished so high, but surprised he didn't win, considering how many of Block's books were mentioned;
I'm also pleased that characters like Jacob Asch and Albert Samson were not forgotten. It's been a while since they appeared in print.

Here's what surprised me:

that Grafton had 6 titles named, but only once each, "A", "B", "C", "D", "F" and "K". I guess you just like all her novels almost equally;
so many of you lamented the "passing" of Jerry Doolittle's "Tom Bethany" series, and yet they appeared on only one list;
again, how well Thomas Lehane and Janet Evanovich did. I'd be interested to see how they'd fair if we did this again in a year or two.

I didn't vote. I'm going to put my lists down right here, but not count them in the final tally. In fact, as far as I can tell NO authors voted, that's why I'll keep my list separate. Here it is, for any of you who are interested:

My Favorite P.I. series (no particular order, as most of you did)

Nameless
Dan Fortune
Carver
Milan Jacovich
John Francis Cuddy

Favorite P.I. Novel

UNDERCURRENTS by Bill Pronzini
ACT OF FEAR by Michael Collins
CASTLES BURNING by Arthur Lyons
MURDER ON THE WILD SIDE by Jeff Jacks
A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES by Lawrence Block

Now, before any of you point it out I will, there are no women on my list. That's because I had the same problem you all did, I was limited to 5 choices.

Given 10 choices there would have been a Grafton, a McCone, and Sandra Scoppetone's first Lauren Laurano novel, which I loved and can't remember the title of (EVERYTHING YOU HAVE IS MINE?), but the books I listed I read a long time ago and they have stuck with me, and the characters Iisted I have been reading for many years.

Which reminds me of another list. Here--and then I'll let you all go--are the top male P.I.'s and the top female P.I.'s:

Males	Females
Matt Scudder	Sharon McCone
Spenser	Kinsey Millhone
Nameless	V.I.Warshawski
Elvis Cole	Carlotta Carlyle
John Francis Cuddy	Stephanie Plum

Here's my final list. This one reflects the authors who appeared on your lists with 2 different series characters:

Max Allan Collins	Heller, Ms. Tree
Liza Cody	Anna Lee, Cordelia Grey
John Lutz	Carver, Nudger

Okay, this time I'm really done. I want to thank everyone who voted. If anyone can think of a stat I didn't print, let me know and I'll do it."

Bob Randisi

Remember, your comments, suggestions, corrections and contributions are always welcome.
At the tone, leave your name and number and I'll get back to you...