Craig Kennedy

Professor Craig Kennedy is a character created by Arthur B. Reeve.

Description

Kennedy is a scientist detective at Columbia University similar to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Thorndyke. He uses his knowledge of chemistry and psychoanalysis to solve cases, and uses exotic (at the time) devices in his work such as lie detectors, gyroscopes, and portable seismographs.^[1]

He first appeared in the December 1910 issue of Cosmopolitan, in "The Case of Helen Bond." He ultimately made 82 appearances in Cosmopolitan, the last coming in the August 1918 issue. He returned for many short stories in magazines as various as The Popular Magazine, Detective Story Magazine, Country Gentleman, Everybody's Magazine, and Flynn's, as well as in 26 novels. Through the 1920s, he became more of a typical detective. Craig Kennedy appeared in a number of 1930s pulp magazines, Complete Detective Novel Magazine, Dime Detective, Popular Detective, Weird Tales, and World Man Hunters, but many of these appear to be ghost-written as they lack the style and flavor of the teen-era Craig Kennedy stories. A series of six Craig Kennedy stories in early issues of Popular Detective are known to have been unsold novelettes rewritten by A. T. Locke.^[2]

The character's name was spoofed in 1916 by Douglas Fairbanks, who played "Coke Enneday" in the cocaine comedy film and Sherlock Holmes sendup The Mystery of the Leaping Fish.

Herbert Rawlinson portrayed Craig Kennedy in the silent serial film The Carter Case (1919). Jack Mulhall played Kennedy in the serial The Clutching Hand (1936) for the Weiss Brothers, who also produced the 1951 television series called Craig Kennedy, Criminologist, which was based on the same character. Donald Woods portrayed Craig Kennedy in the television series.

Books

1. The Silent Bullet (1910)
2. The Poisoned Pen (1911)
3. The Dream Doctor (1914)
4. The War Terror (1915)
5. Gold of the Gods (1915)
6. The Exploits of Elaine (1915)
7. The Social Gangster (1916)
8. The Ear in the Wall (1916)
9. The Romance of Elaine (1916)
10. The Triumph of Elaine (1916)
11. The Treasure Train (1917)
12. The Adventuress (1917)
13. The Panama Plot (1918)
14. The Soul Scar (1919)
15. The Film Mystery (1921)
16. Craig Kennedy Listens In (1923)
17. Atavar, the Dream Dancer (1924)
18. The Fourteen Points (1925)
19. The Boy Scouts' Craig Kennedy (1925)
20. Craig Kennedy on the Farm (1925)
21. The Radio Detective (1926)
22. Pandora (1926)
23. The Kidnap Club (1932)
24. The Clutching Hand (1934)
25. Enter Craig Kennedy (1935)
26. The Stars Scream Murder (1936)

See also

• List of fictional medical examiners

References

1. Peter Haining, The Classic Era of Crime Fiction. Prion Books, 2002. pp 73-74
2. "The Career of Arthur B. Reeve," by John Locke, introduction to From Ghouls to Gangsters: The Career of Arthur B. Reeve: Volume 2 (2007).

External links

• Craig Kennedy, Criminologist at the Internet Movie Database
• The Silent Bullet
• Gutenberg contains a selection of his works.