Where Have All the Gumshoes Gone?

Where have they gone indeed? I remember my first televised show about a gumshoe. Maybe I should use a more common term for gumshoe: detective.

As I remember those days of snowy images in black and white, one detective comes to mind.  And with music.  I can hardly remember Peter Gun without Henry Mancini's driving jazz beat. Craig Stevens played the private detective from which the television series got its name. Gunn was the quintessential private eye.  He had all the characteristics those following him would exhibit. There had been television detectives before but not quite as sauve as Gunn. After all, he was handsome, well dressed, and had an attractive girlfriend.  After  Peter Gun I was a big fan of 77 Sunset Strip.  Efram Zimbalist Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd "Kookie" Byrnes starred. I was developing an interest in hot rods then and was a fan of Kookie's Cadillac powered '23 "T" roadster.  I remember one show in particular. It was named "The Silent Caper". (All of their shows were called capers.) It was a silent movie, not  a word was spoken.

Through the years I enjoyed Simon and Simon, Barnaby Jones, Mike Hammer, Spenser for Hire, and the detective that made a fashion statement of the rumpled raincoat, Columbo. There were of course many more, particularly if you included the police shows. I remember the craggy-faced Lee Marvin on the streets of Chicago in M Squad. 

As I grew older I continued to enjoy the "whodunnits".  Some had a profound effect on me. As a avid fan of Magnum, P.I., I developed a taste for Hawaiian shirts and red Farraris.  I still wear Hawaiian shirts sometimes but still await my first red Farrari. In the 1980s I discovered the British detective shows on Public Broadcasting's Mystery.  At first I was enamored by Diana Rigg of The Avengers but then a new kind of detective was introduced to me. There were several that were favorites of mine.  The British have a way with murder mysteries that I fear the Americans lack.  In most of the British detective shows you rarely see the crime committed and there is very little gore. They tend to be more cerebral. Frequently, the crime is not easily solved although usually the perpetrator of the crime is seen in the first act of the show.  The British crime shows were, and still are, great.  Some of my favorites were Foyle's War, Midsomer Murders, and Inspector Lyndley Mysteries. I will forever be spellbound by Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect or the egotistical little Belgian, Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie's Poirot. The recent Sherlock series starring Benedict Cumberbatch is a visual treat as well as having unique storylines.

But out of the over thirty-six British detective series I have watched over the years, my favorite is Inspector Morse. Detective Chief Inspector Morse of the Thames Valley Criminal Investigation Department has a keen analytical mind and a penchant for the Times crossword puzzles. His tastes lean toward English real ale and his ear toward classical music, preferably Wagner.  The sight of blood sickens him  while the sight of an attractive female allures him.  Sometimes curt and disdaining of authority, he is easily identified by his shock of white hair and his classic Jaguar Mk 2 sedan. John Thaw played the main character and Kevin Whaley his sergeant.  In the last episode of the series, Remorseful Day, DCI Morse  dies. Soon after John Thaw, the actor forever identified with this character, died. Not only did I enjoy stories in this series (I've seen most of the episodes multiple times.), I also enjoyed seeing the English countryside and the town of Oxford as well.  I am a closet Anglophile.

To relax your body and exercise your mind, grab a long-necked stout, kick back and watch  British mystery! The gumshoes have gone to the UK.