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Peter Gunn
Meet Peter Gunn... The crimebuster with the gray flannel manners, who singlehandedly established the latest style in private investigators. He's tall, dark and debonair, a lad with an Ivy League air who's a killer with the ladies--and the last word in trouble for killers. He's a private eye who digs the good life--le jazz hot and a fabulous chick named Edie. Meet Peter Gunn. And murder.
- GenresMystery
160 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 1960
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19 people want to read
About the author
Henry Kane
229 books13 followersAuthor Henry Kane was a lawyer who seemed to prefer writing. In his career, wrote over 60 novels, including about 30 featuring Peter Chambers. Other short-lived series characters were PIs Marla Trent and retired NYPD detective inspector turned P.I. McGregor. He also wrote the movie adaptations for Ed McBain's 87th Precinct's Cop Hater and The Mugger. And, in light of his experience with Chambers, Kane was the perfect choice to pen an original novel starring television's Peter Gunn.
He also wrote under the pseudonyms Anthony McCall, Kenneth R. McKay, and Mario J. Sagola. He is the creator of Peter Chambers, a private eye in New York City, McGregor, an ex-cop turned private eye in New York City, and Maria Trent. Kane also contributed to the series of 'Ellery Queen' novels ghostwritten by other authors.
He also wrote under the pseudonyms Anthony McCall, Kenneth R. McKay, and Mario J. Sagola. He is the creator of Peter Chambers, a private eye in New York City, McGregor, an ex-cop turned private eye in New York City, and Maria Trent. Kane also contributed to the series of 'Ellery Queen' novels ghostwritten by other authors.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 29, 2019
This 1960 paperback is a tie-in to a crimefighter television series that was celebrated at the time. It amounts to a so-so entry in Henry Kane’s series of thirty or so breezy mysteries about Peter Chambers, the puckish ladies’ man PI whose adventures were mildly saucy for their time (1947-72).
It has little to do with the Peter Gunn TV character.
Chambers’ cool is a Hugh Hefner pose while Gunn’s cool is like the Modern Jazz Quartet’s. The Man Who Reads Playboy casually excels at his day job and becomes something more, something enviable, after hours: a valued customer for members-only places that offer luxury goods. The MJQ took their Ivy League style everywhere and produced the cool, exploring a sound that others were allowed to overhear.
Telltale detail: Peter Chambers knows a lot of bartenders in high and low places but he’s always the valued customer, treated respectfully. Gunn has the Ivy Leaguer haircut and narrow ties, but his validation comes from being accepted by the offbeat denizens of places that few middle class TV viewers would even know about. He’s allowed to come after hours to a place called Mother’s, where everyone calls him “Pete.” In Kane’s book, the bartender actually thanks Pete for coming and calls him “Mr. Gunn.”
Kane is pretty much clueless about the show he’s trying to evoke.
That’s interesting, because several connoisseurs of vintage paperback detective stories think that the show’s producer, Blake Edwards, created Peter Gunn in Chambers’ image. (See: https://www.mulhollandbooks.com/books... or the Henry Kane entry at www.thrillingdetective.com.) And this is an example of how devotees of one thing can be ignorant of what devotees of something else know.
For students of TV (such as Ric Meyers; see MURDER ON THE AIR), "Peter Gunn" derives from a whimsical radio show that Blake Edwards created for Dick Powell in 1949: "Richard Diamond, Private Detective". And indeed some "Peter Gunn" episodes do recycle plot gimmicks from the radio show and carry the credit “Story by Blake Edwards”.
But aficionados of radio know that "Richard Diamond" was Powell’s second screwball-mystery show, following one from 1945 called "Rogue’s Gallery".
So the facts don’t suggest that Kane had anything to do with "Peter Gunn". What they show is that half-serious crime stories coexisted with somber ones in the late 1940s. In movies, the gentleman-adventurer type of story—Philo Vance, The Saint, The Falcon, and even Sherlock Holmes—were awash in comic relief. The Gunn character is more in the line of these characters than that of the hardboiled private eye.
The creators of the two Peters were swimming in the same broad currents. But Chambers is on the prowl and Gunn is a grave romantic. Where Chambers is facetious, Gunn is deadpan cool and leaves the absurdist comedy to a parade of Runyonesque supporting players. Gunn will fall into a bedroom farce now and then and be flustered. Chambers is a fantasy of success.
So read the book if you like Peter Chambers. For those who like "Peter Gunn", it's the answer to a trivia question.
It has little to do with the Peter Gunn TV character.
Chambers’ cool is a Hugh Hefner pose while Gunn’s cool is like the Modern Jazz Quartet’s. The Man Who Reads Playboy casually excels at his day job and becomes something more, something enviable, after hours: a valued customer for members-only places that offer luxury goods. The MJQ took their Ivy League style everywhere and produced the cool, exploring a sound that others were allowed to overhear.
Telltale detail: Peter Chambers knows a lot of bartenders in high and low places but he’s always the valued customer, treated respectfully. Gunn has the Ivy Leaguer haircut and narrow ties, but his validation comes from being accepted by the offbeat denizens of places that few middle class TV viewers would even know about. He’s allowed to come after hours to a place called Mother’s, where everyone calls him “Pete.” In Kane’s book, the bartender actually thanks Pete for coming and calls him “Mr. Gunn.”
Kane is pretty much clueless about the show he’s trying to evoke.
That’s interesting, because several connoisseurs of vintage paperback detective stories think that the show’s producer, Blake Edwards, created Peter Gunn in Chambers’ image. (See: https://www.mulhollandbooks.com/books... or the Henry Kane entry at www.thrillingdetective.com.) And this is an example of how devotees of one thing can be ignorant of what devotees of something else know.
For students of TV (such as Ric Meyers; see MURDER ON THE AIR), "Peter Gunn" derives from a whimsical radio show that Blake Edwards created for Dick Powell in 1949: "Richard Diamond, Private Detective". And indeed some "Peter Gunn" episodes do recycle plot gimmicks from the radio show and carry the credit “Story by Blake Edwards”.
But aficionados of radio know that "Richard Diamond" was Powell’s second screwball-mystery show, following one from 1945 called "Rogue’s Gallery".
So the facts don’t suggest that Kane had anything to do with "Peter Gunn". What they show is that half-serious crime stories coexisted with somber ones in the late 1940s. In movies, the gentleman-adventurer type of story—Philo Vance, The Saint, The Falcon, and even Sherlock Holmes—were awash in comic relief. The Gunn character is more in the line of these characters than that of the hardboiled private eye.
The creators of the two Peters were swimming in the same broad currents. But Chambers is on the prowl and Gunn is a grave romantic. Where Chambers is facetious, Gunn is deadpan cool and leaves the absurdist comedy to a parade of Runyonesque supporting players. Gunn will fall into a bedroom farce now and then and be flustered. Chambers is a fantasy of success.
So read the book if you like Peter Chambers. For those who like "Peter Gunn", it's the answer to a trivia question.
Want to Read
March 4, 2019Synopsis: a tie-in with the hit TV show. A father wants the suave PI to investigate his daughter's new boyfriend. Problems arise quickly.
May 3, 2023
Not quite like the show but readable.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews