Joe Puma
Created by William Campbell Gault (1910-97)

While Brock Callahan remains William Campbell Gault's most famous creation, JOE PUMA deserves some attention, too. Not as handsome, educated or downright decent as the WASPish Brock, Joe, of Italian stock, is bigger, and meaner, and definitely a few notches down the social scale.

While Brock's clients tended to be film stars and heiresses, and corporate big shots, Joe's clientele runs from madames to professional wrestlers. Joe appeared in several books in the late fifties and early sixties and made a final appearance in 1984's The Cana Diversion, featuring the return of Callahan after an absence of almost 20 years. In it, Joe's down on his luck, and Brock tries to lend a helping hand, to no avail.

Besides Brock, Gault was also responsible for several other one-shot PI's, who appeared in various short stories, in the pulps and elsewhere, including Honolulu's Sandy McKane and Armenian gumshoe Pierre Apoyan.

NOVELS

• End of a Call Girl (1958; AKA Don't Call Tonight)
• Night Lady (1958)
• Sweet Wild Wench (1959)
• The Wayward Widow (1959)
• Million Dollar Tramp (1960)
• The Hundred Dollar Girl (1961)
• The Cana Diversion (1982)

SHORT STORIES

• "The Unholy Three" (May 1956, Manhunt; 2003, Marksman and Other Stories)
• "Deadly Beloved" (October 1956, Manhunt; also 2002, Most Wanted; 2003, Marksman
  and Other Stories)
• "Death of a Big Wheel (April 1957, Manhunt; 2003, Marksman and Other
  Stories)
• "Don't Crowd Your Luck (May 1957, EQMM; 2003, Marksman and Other Stories)
• "No Client of Mine (July 1957, Mercury Mystery Magazine; 2003, Marksman and
  Other Stories)
• "Take Care of Yourself (1957, Murder; 1987, The Black Lizard Anthology of
  Crime Fiction)
• "Stolen Star (November 1957, Manhunt; 1990, Detective Story Magazine #9;
  2003, Marksman and Other Stories).

COLLECTIONS

• Marksman and Other Stories (2003; edited by Bill Pronzini)... Buy this book

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks to Dale Stoyer for the nifty scan.