by Bruce Harris

Forget the wise-cracking, trench coat wearing tough guy private eyes like Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon), Philip Marlowe (The Big Sleep), Mike Hammer and their ilk. Their images, along with Holmes, are most often affiliated with that of the detective. Completing the picture of these toughs are cigarettes, often seen dangling from their lips. Where are the cigars?

Despite the lack of big name recognition (with the exception, of course, of television's Inspectors Columbo and Banacek, or Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op), many cigar smoking crime fighting detectives have found fame (and sometimes fortune) in the world of fiction. Some date to the 19th century, others appear in the fragile, yellowed pages of the 1930's and 1940's pulp magazines, and some are more contemporary. What follows is a sampling to whet your appetite and introduce you to some (perhaps) new names. It does not require much detective skill to discover the common thread.

Detective Dixon Brett is somewhat of an enigma. No one is sure who created this scientific sleuth. We know Brett was a man of expensive tastes. He favored formal wear, a fur-lined overcoat, and good cigars. He particularly enjoyed smoking a cigar while driving "Nighthawk," one of the first Mercedes racing cars. Brett was described as tall and handsome, with grey hair and a distinguished face. He lived and worked in London and appeared in hundreds of magazine adventures during the 1920's as well as one novel, simply entitled, Dixon Brett, Detective.

An interesting character to come out of the 1920's literary world was Octavius Cohen's detective, Jim Hanvey. Hanvey has been described as a combination of Jabba the Hutt, conman, and good old boy. He was fat, slow-moving, and wore cheap, shabby clothes. But, he had something going for himself. He fancied little black cigars. Another rotund detective, Shamus Maguire, was the house dick for the upscale Hotel Paragon during the 1930's. Stanley Day's creation weighed in at a beefy 260 pounds, and he also puffed and chewed on little cigars. The popular 1920—1930 star of S.S. Van Dine's mysteries, Detective Philo Vance, was a smoker. The inimitable Vance preferred his Regie cigarettes to cigars. Vance's sidekicks, however, were cigar lovers. New York District Attorney John F.X. Markham, a frequent smoker of Corona Perfectos, and police Sergeant Ernest Heath, who liked to chew viciously on his cigars.

Detective Gideon Fell in John Dickson Carr Novels

Prolific author John Dickson Carr first penned detective Henri Bencolin in the 1930 novel, It Walks by Night. Bencolin appeared in a total of five novels. Henri could often be found at fancy nightclubs, where he enjoyed listening to jazz, smoking cigars, and drinking beer. Perhaps the best known of the cigar smoking detectives, Dr. Gideon Fell, also came from the typewriter of John Dickson Carr. Dr. Fell was the protagonist of 23 novels from 1933 through 1967 as well as a few short stories. Fell was not your ordinary private eye. He was described as a mustached, corpulent man who wore a tent-like cape, carried a red handkerchief, wore a shovel hat (whatever that is) and walked with the aid of two canes. He was, of course, a cigar smoker. At 250+ pounds, Fell's cigar provided an interesting contrast above his flabby, double chin. It is generally accepted that Carr modeled Dr. Fell after author G. K. Chesteron. The creator of the Father Brown series, Chesterton was a well-known cigar smoker, one who smoked his stogies down to small stubs.

John Dickson Carr also created a third cigar smoking detective, Sir Henry Merrivale. Merrivale appeared in 22 novels from 1934 through 1954. The scowling, balding Merrivale was fond of chomping down on what most considered a vile cigar. Carr created several other characters, but Bencolin, Fell, and Merrivale who used their brains rather than their muscles, are of particular interest because of their appreciation for and pursuit of the pleasure and enjoyment that only cigars provide.

More contemporary is novelist Kinky Friedman. Friedman had a failed bid for the 2006 governor's office in Texas. Nevertheless, he is a smoker of fine cigars; partial to Montecristo number two’s and Bolivars. His detective is a fictionalized version of himself, solving crimes in New York City. "I set fire to the end of my cigar," he repeats time and time again.

Smoking Out a Killer: A Nicholas Chase Mystery

For an unmitigated mixture of cigars and murder, it is difficult to surpass the work of H. Paul Jeffers', (writing under the pseudonym, Harry P. Lonsdale) three Nicholas Chase Cigar Mystery books. These adventures are jam-packed with cigar references. Why? Detective Nicholas Chase owns and operates a fine tobacco shop, The Happy Smoking Ground. A retired homicide detective from New York’s finest, Chase smokes H. Upmann Lonsdales. But, the 1962 American embargo on imports from Communist Cuba forced him to switch from genuine Havanas to those rolled by exiles in the Dominican Republic. While patrolling the streets in his younger years, Chase purchased H. Upmann's from the famed Nat Sherman's on Fifth Avenue. As the owner of a cigar store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, obtaining his favorite smoke is easy. He stocks them in The Happy Smoking Ground's humidor. Through hard work, The Happy Smoking Ground soon becomes one of the top five small cigar stores in the United States, and the setting for three terrific cigar-infused detective novels; Where There's Smoke, There's Murder (1999), Smoking Out a Killer (2000), and Up in Smoke (2001).

Fred Carver, Florida's private investigator who walks with the aid of a cane, is sweet on Swisher Sweets. Carver made his debut in Tropical Heat in 1986. Author John Lutz has written about the cigar-smoking Carver in more than 10 novels.

NOT ALL DICKS ARE MEN

Of the hundreds of female private eyes who ply their trade in the pages of fiction, there exists an elite bunch that enjoys the pleasures of a good cigar. Like some of her male and female counterparts, Zenara (Zen) Moses is a tough, hard-boiled PI from California. Created by Elizabeth Cosin, Moses smokes cigars, drinks microbrew beer, and rides a mountain bike. She isn’t afraid to get in your face and she can be pushy when it suits her. In a 2000 interview, Elizabeth Cosin had this to say about her Jewish, cigar smoking sleuth:

1. It's difficult to define Zen in a few words or sentences. She's very complex and hard to pin down, one of the reasons I made her 33 years old as opposed to 23 or 43. I wanted a character who had been around long enough to have some wisdom, but not so long as to have everything figured out. I was in my early 30's when I created Zen and I'd just gotten through a few tough years, including a life threatening bout with cancer. I felt stronger, wiser and smarter, yet still in the process of defining the person I would become. That's where I wanted to start with Zen and that's why you'll always see her changing and evolving.
   

Despite her personal bout with cancer, or because of it, Cosin thought it important that Moses smoked cigars. She could have very easily gone the anti-tobacco route. Zen, accompanied by her Cajun sidekick Bobo, has appeared in three novels: Zen and the Art of Murder (1998), Zen and City of Angels (1999), and Zen Justice (2001). She is by no means perfect and without personal problems, but then again, who among us is?

The late Rosel George Brown's, Sibyl Sue Blue is no ordinary female cigar smoking detective. Created in the mid 1960's, her adventure in Galactic Sibyl Sue Blue takes place in the future… the 1990's! Sibyl Sue Blue enjoyed a stiff drink of gin in addition to a good cigar. And, she knew how to handle men. Whether having them cuffed and arrested or as partners in bed, the single mother of a teenage daughter was a survivor in any decade.

Dulcie Bligh was the star of two novels during the 1970's, Dulcie Bligh and The Baroness of Bow Street. She also made appearances in two romance novels, The Right Honourable Viscount and Bachelor's Fare. Bligh is the brainchild of prolific author Gail Clark Burch (the Dulcie Bligh novels are written under the name Gail Clark). Set in London, the two novels feature murder most foul. Author Gail Clark Burch, in a personal communication, explained why Dulcie smoked cigars: "I was looking for ways to make her a real character, an eccentric, a rule-breaker, an original. Women simply didn't smoke cigars….so she did." Burch succeeded on all levels. She continues, "I've decided she smoked Cuban cigars – Cabanas cigars in Havana were a prestigious Cuban brand from 1810 until the late 1950's. Dulcie’s husband was a world traveler and adored/indulged his wife, so she would have had access to all sort of exotic goodies…Cuban [cigars] were regarded as the world’s finest." In addition to an affinity for fine cigars, Ms. Bligh was noted for her hair. That is, her use of multi-colored wigs. She changed hair (wig) color to suit her mood.

A Knife in My Back: An Amy Brewster Mystery

Brewster casts quite an image. In addition to Knife in My Back (1945), she appeared in A Matter of Policy (1946) and Message from a Corpse (1945). She could be found smoking long, black cigars while drinking plenty of gin ("The only liquor fit to drink"). Brewster not only smoked, but also frequently chewed her cigars. She was fond of corona – coronas. She is said to have picked up the habit when cigarettes were considered bad manners. She was adept at blowing perfect smoke rings. In the climax of, A Knife in My Back, she tossed her cigar into the eye of the killer, hoping to subdue him. Brewster was successful, but had regrets about the lost cigar. "Damned waste of good tobacco," she lamented. During the three novels, Ms. Brewster is seldom seen without a cigar in her mouth.

A far cry from today's attempts by Madison Avenue to portray women cigar smokers as sexual images to help sell products, female cigar-smoking bloodhounds were not exploited in this or any other manner. They were bright, fiercely independent, and strong. Attributes anyone would hope to possess. Psychologists say we are attracted to others with similar tastes and habits. If so, and you enjoy an occasional or frequent cigar, here is a virtual smorgasbord from which to choose. Perhaps there is a gumshoe or two unfamiliar to you? The aforementioned detectives and the cigars they smoke come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Whether tall, short, thin, fat, round, dark, cheap or stately, there is bound to be one or two or more to suit your fancy. The next time you are ready to curl up with a good book, just sit back, light up a favorite stogie, and think about spending quality time with one of these cigar-smoking sleuths.

About the Author: Bruce Harris is the author of, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson: ABout Type, published by The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box (2006). His articles have appeared in Pipes and Tobaccos and Cigar Magazine.