by Monte Herridge
Inspector Porky Neale was an interesting series by Roland Phillips that ran in DFW from about 1930-34. Porky was a nickname, and his real name was rarely if ever mentioned. His initials and middle name are stated in the story “Walk Into My Parlor.” His initials are J.O.N., and his middle name is Oswald. It is not stated what his first name is. There is a bit of an inconsistency regarding his name. In “Feathered Doom” it is revealed that he was known as Bob Neale when young. Even though Neale is a large man, that is not the source of his nickname. He is described as having a “gaunt face . . . bleak as a polar sunset, whose stiff, bristly hair stuck up like quills of a porcupine, and won him his sobriquet . . .” ("Spook’s Progress") He is a single parent, and his only daughter, a girl of eighteen named Sadie, lives with him. He gives her an expensive jeweled watch on her eighteenth birthday. The daughter is mentioned in some of the stories, but never is featured in any of them.
Neale smokes a briar pipe, which Sergeant Wallace calls a “vermin-exterminator.” Wallace prefers unlit cigars.
A bit of his past comes to light in the story “Feathered Doom,” in which he investigates the murder of an old friend named Captain Brennan. Brennan was a retired sea captain, and when young, Neale had served on a ship under him. The ship was probably an old sailing vessel named China Girl, which Brennan had a model of in his apartment.
Another hint of Neale’s past appears in “Pitch and Catch,” when his first cousin Gus Whimple from Walla Walla brings trouble with him. Whimple is a baseball player visiting the city, and gets mixed up with bank robbers. He is the son of Neale’s Aunt Hattie.
He lives on the sixth floor of an old fashioned apartment building, “one of the few remaining older types, dwarfed by ornate and towering structures on both sides. Unpretentious, it boasted of neither doorman nor liveried flunkies.” So Neale is not interested in moving into a newer type of apartment, and is happy with the old style to which he has become accustomed.
The Inspector may not be a workaholic in his police work, but he seemingly has no other life. One experience with trying to take a vacation turned into a miserable, boring time for him, and he came back from it with the firm opinion that “Vacations were the bunk.” ("Walk Into My Parlor") However, he had changed his mind the next year, when he went to the Florida Keys to do some fishing. He was lucky, catching one large tarpon after a day’s work of fishing ("Brought to Gaff"). He also caught a murderer during his vacation, as he stepped into a double murder incident during his time there. Neale liked the tarpon fishing in Florida so well he went back down there for vacation the next year, and wound up getting involved in another murder case with complications involved ("Jeweled Bait").
Most of the stories in the series involve regular police cases. There are a couple of exceptions besides the vacation cases mentioned above. One is the story “Walk Into My Parlor,” where Neale comes back from vacation to find that someone has been impersonating him and using his apartment. Another exception is the story “Hocus Pocus,” where Neale is a guest in Palm Beach of a wealthy New York family. He spends a week dressing up and going to parties and functions with the rich elite. However, there is police work for him after all, when on the final day a jewel thief decides to raid the fancy party Neale is attending. Neale shows himself able to outthink the crook, and also shows himself physically able to defend himself even without a gun.
The series of stories shows that Neale is able to be observant when it comes to clues of crime, and is not just brawn like other detectives. Another good example of this is the story “Exit to Murder,” where Neale is after a slippery and smart crook. However, Neale does like a good brawl with criminals if it comes his way, and enjoys a good scrap with a jewel gang in “Goldfish Tell.”
The first story in the series has a few aspects that do not occur in later stories. In the this story, “Spook's Progress,” Neale sits behind a desk and gives orders to his subordinates about investigating crimes. In later stories, Neale is out and about doing investigating himself. Another interesting point about the first story are the statements about Neale’s attitude towards and philosophy of interrogation of criminal suspects. He did not believe in giving suspects the third degree, or rough stuff. “He maintained that ‘sweating’ was a scientific process, and devised startling methods for extracting information from sealed lips.” ("Spook’s Progress"). One of his “surprises,” as they are called, comes in useful when a criminal enters his office and threatens him in “Spook's Progress.”
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Many and original were the “surprises” bestowed upon the unfortunates who found themselves in the hands of the inventive Neale. His dingy office became a stage upon which he personated the director, electrician, and property man. He held the script and pulled the strings that set his marionettes dancing -- literally. No zealous producer devoted more time or displayed more ingenuity; none took greater delight in opening his bag of tricks than Porky Neale.
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These surprises are not much in evidence in later stories in the series. Neale is too busy investigating crimes. His assistant on cases is Sergeant Wallace, who knows the Inspector very well. In fact, on more than one occasion Neale has invited the Sergeant to dinner at his apartment with him and his daughter. One case where Neale put on one of his surprises is “Feathered Doom,” where Wallace encouraged him to “Get that ingenious mind of yours steamed up. Put on one of your sideshows.” It is the first time Neale does so outside the confines of his office.
Regarding the inspector’s personality, some details are given in the stories. Sergeant Wallace remarks that “Neale, outwardly gruff and hardboiled, inwardly as soft as a two-minute egg!” ("Catch as Catch Can") Neale dislikes lying at any time, even when dealing with criminals, so he lets Sergeant Wallace do the lying when it is necessary. Neale also has his bias. He has an intense dislike of tabloid photographers and private detectives. Possibly based upon personal experience.
One thing that stands out in the series is the inspector’s long experience at his work, and his use of this experience in his investigations. In one story it was noted, “Long experience had taught the inspector the value of camouflage, of covering his trail, whether it seemed necessary or not. He assumed that the hunted was every bit as crafty as the hunter, and played the game accordingly.” ("Time to Kill")
This is an average series, without any great pretensions to it. However, it is well worth reading for the character of Inspector Porky Neale and his entertaining exploits.
A mostly complete list of the stories in this series is below. There are probably more not yet seen.
Inspector Porky Neale in Detective Fiction Weekly by Roland Phillips:
Spook's Progress - - - June 14, 1930
Feathered Doom - - - April 11, 1931
Red Night - - - July 11, 1931
Catch as Catch Can - - - September 5, 1931
Walk into My Parlor - - - January 2, 1932
Hocus-Pocus - - - May 7, 1932
Time to Kill - - - June 18, 1932
Brought to Gaff - - - November 4, 1933
Pitch and Catch - - - February 3, 1934
Goldfish Tell - - - April 21, 1934
Masterpiece Murder - - - April 28, 1934
Jeweled Bait - - - July 14, 1934
Exit to Murder - - - August 25, 1934
copyright Monte Herridge
Links:
You can find other articles at The Pulp Rack by Monte Herridge about series characters from Detective Fiction Weekly.
You can read "Tug Norton, Detective" by clicking here.
"Hugo Oakes, Lawyer-Detective" -- a precursor of sorts to Perry Mason created by J. Lane Linklater -- can be found elsewhere on The Pulp Rack by clicking here.
Monte also has supplied a biographical sketch about Linklater that was originally published in Detective Fiction Weekly. You can read it elsewhere on The Pulp Rack by clicking here.
Linklater has a story in the anthology, 100 Crooked Little Crime Stories. Click here to purchase a copy.
Posted by ds at August 28, 2007 07:47 AM
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