Slice of P.I.: “30 for a Harry”

(Part of a series celebrating fictional private eyes.)



30 for a Harry, by Richard Hoyt (Penguin, 1984). Cover illustration by noted Polish painter Rafał Olbinski.

Published originally in a hardcover edition in 1981, this was the second of Hoyt’s nine novels starring John Denson, a journalist turned “soft-boiled” private investigator who operated in Seattle, Washington (though he later relocated to northern Oregon). “Consider him Gonzo-lite, Kevin Burton Smith explains in The Thrilling Detective Web Site. “Or maybe a New Age Northwest reincarnation of Shell Scott. Or just a hippy-dippy eye who has certainly inhaled.”

As Wikipedia explains, “-30- has been traditionally used by journalists in North America to indicate the end of a story or article that is submitted for editing and typesetting. It is commonly employed when writing on deadline and sending bits of the story at a time, via telegraphy, teletype, electronic transmission, or paper copy, as a necessary way to indicate the end of the article.”