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-- a cabbie warns Dodd in "Murder in the Red" Norbert Davis' wise-cracking bailbondsman and quasi-private eye WILLIAM "BAIL BOND" DODD first appeared in the February 1940 issue of Dime Detective and went on to appear in seven more stories, full of all sorts of good stuff like great characters, decent, well thought-out mysteries and witty, tough guy wordplay. And humour, too. One of the best of the pulp series, and worth looking for. Dodd lived in a twilight netherworld of cheap dives, flophouses and low-rent saloons populated by lowlifes, deadbeats and petty criminals whose crimes often took a turn beyond petty. At first glance, Dodds may not seem like much. He's an easy-going guy, known around the courts and jails as a bit of a soft touch, with a plodding gait who wears horn-rims, patched over the nose-piece with white adhesive tape. But, in true pulp fashion, "Bail Bond" can handle it -- he's also a big, tall hard-boiled kinda guy with "deceptively wide" shoulders, whatever they are, and a keen mind, and a deep sense of loyalty to his friends and clients weho are, invariably, a little on the peculiar side. He's often helped out in his adventures by his "runner," Meekins, a small, mild, non-descript man who wears his hat at all times to hide bald spot. Pulpster Davis is best known for his stories about private eye Doan and his faithful mutt Carstairs, and gumshoe/con artist/restauranteur Max Latin. He also created several other eyes for the pulps, including Max Clark, Mark Hull, Simeon Saxon, Ben Shaley and trust company investigator Just Plain Jones, . SHORT STORIES
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