Julian "Digger" Burroughs
Devlin "Trace" Tracy
Daedulus Patrick Murphy
Created by Warren Murphy

I'm sorry, but there's no sense listing these guys separately. They're all the same guy, whatever name they're going by, especially the first two, JULIAN "DIGGER" BURROUGHS and DEVLIN "TRACE" TRACY.

A bumbling, drunken but lovable freelance insurance invstigator manages to continually solve cases, much to the chagrin of his immediate supervisor of the company he's on contract to, but very much thanks to his very smart Japanese/Italian blackjack dealer/part-time hooker roommate and his very good friend who just happens to own the insurance company. The Digger series ran for four books, all paperback originals, out of Pocket Books.

When that series petered out, author Warren Murphy just changed some names and continues the series for Signet. By the time the character got to television, he's got a new name, PATRICK DAEDULUS MURPHY and has been cleaned up a tad, turned into a loving father, and dusted off. But even then, he's not so much a different guy, but an older, and hopefully wiser guy. Don't believe me? Compare, if you dare!

	DIGGER	TRACE	MURPHY
Physical Description	6' 3", 220 lbs., light-haired, blondish. Sloppy dresser.	6' 3", 220 lbs., light-haired, blondish. Sloppy dresser	Looks like George Segal.
Girlfriend	Tamiko "Koko" Fanucci, Italian-Jewish blackjack dealer and part-time hooker, lives with Digger in a Vegas condo and takes care of him. Koko's smarter than Digger.	Michiko "Chico" Mangani, Italian-Jewish blackjack dealer and part-time hooker, lives with Trace in a Vegas condo and takes care of him. Chico's smarter than Trace.	Kimiko "Kimmy" Fanucci, Italian-Jewish, lives with Murphy and takes care of him. Needless to say, Kimmy's smarter than Murphy.
Occupation	Freelance insurance investigator, on contract to Broker's Surety Life Insurance Company.	Freelance insurance investigator, on contract to Garrison Fidelity.	Freelance insurance investigator, on contract to a life insurance company.
Immediate Supervisor	Walter Brackler, a short, sour man, who doesn't like Digger at all. Digger calls him "Kwash."	Walter Marks, a short, sour man, who doesn't like Trace at all. Trace calls him "Groucho."
Personal Habits	Drinks too much vodka, smokes too much, gambles too much.	Drinks too much Finlandia Vodka, smokes too much, gambles too much.	Used to drink too much, smoke too much, gamble too much.
Work Habits	A bumbler. Sloppy, haphazard, tends to go around interviwing everyone he can think of, secretly recording them on his miniature tape recorder, using a hidden mike in a gold frog tieclip. Then he leaves the tapes around so Koko can find them and solve the case.	A bumbler. Sloppy, haphazard, tends to go around interviwing everyone he can think of, secretly recording them on his miniature tape recorder, using a hidden mike in a gold frog tieclip. Then he leaves the tapes around so Chico can find them and solve the case.	A bumbler. Sloppy, haphazard, tends to go around interviwing everyone he can think of, secretly recording them on his miniature tape recorder, using a hidden mike in a gold frog tieclip.  Then he leaves the tapes around so Kimmie can find them and solve the case.
Guns	No	No	No
Marital Status	Divorced. Has two children he never sees, What's His Name and The Girl	Divorced. Has two children he never sees, What's His Name and The Girl	Divorced. Has a daughter he's pining to see.
Mother?	Doesn't like his mother	Doesn't like his mother	Doesn't talk about his mother
Best Friend? (besides girlfriend)	Owns the insurance company	Owns the insurance company	His boss at the insurance company

See? Told ya! Not exactly high-falutin' literature, maybe, but good, solid, entertaining, humourous reads. And the television show, MURPHY'S LAW, was no slouch, either. It should've been a hit. Light-hearted, warm, with a great cast, especially Segal and Maggie Hahn. As I said before, it's almost as if Murphy is an older, repentant Trace or Digger, trying to clean up the mess he's made of his life. He's still an alcoholic insurance investigator, but now he's on the wagon, and he's trying to rebuild his life and gain visiting right to see his daughter who he abandoned years ago, when his marriage broke up. His Japanese/Italian girlfriend, now called Kimmie, and his bumbling, inept but kind supervisor at work, Wes Harden, are willing to stand by him. All in all, a class act. They even managed to have a conclusion of sorts, before the network pulled the plug-the last episode featured Murphy gaining visitation right to his daughter.

Murphy, of course, is the co-creator of The Destroyer.

QUOTE:

• "Detectives carry guns and get in fistfights and have a philosophy of life, a moral code. (Mine is) ...don't get involved." (Trace: Pigs Get Fat)
  
  
• "You seem to think I'm some kind of real who can find things out...I'm a bumbler. I fumble around. I just annoy people. I never catch anybody. I'm not a detective, I'm an annoyance clerk. I should work in a department store." (Trace: Pigs Get Fat)

DIGGER NOVELS

• Digger #1: Smoked Out (1982)
• Digger #2: Fool's Flight (1982)
• Digger #3: Dead Letter (1982)
• Digger #4: Lucifer's Weekend (1982)

TRACE NOVELS

• Trace (1983)
• Trace and 47 Miles of Rope (1984)
• Trace: When Elephants Forget (1984)
• Trace: Once a Mutt (1985)
• Trace: Pigs Get Fat (1985)
• Trace: Too Old a Cat (1986)
• Trace: Getting Up With Fleas (1987)
• Caribbean Blues (1988; Trace & Chico appear [anachronistically] in a mystery set in 1938)

TRACE SHORT STORIES

• "Highly Irregular on Baker Street" (2001, Mystery Street)

TELEVISION

• MURPHY'S LAW
  (1988-1989, ABC)
  Series
  Created by Lee David Zlotoff
  Based on characters created by Warren Murphy
  Writers: Lee Goldberg, William Rabkin, Ernie Wallengren, Michael Gleason, Bill Schmidt
  Executive Producer: Zev Braun
  Co-Executive Producers: Leonard Stern, Michael Gleason
  Theme Song Sung by Al Jarreau
  Filmed in Vancouver
  Starring George Segal as DAEDULUS PATRICK MURPHY
  Maggie Hahn as Kimiko "Kimmy" Fanucci
  Josh Mostel as Wes Harden

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks to Lee Goldberg for some of the TV info on this page.