The DICK SLEUTH detective story collection is set in Tasmania and brings to life a most original detective whose unorthodox and bizarre actions leads to impressive (and often lucky) results. Just who is Dick Sleuth? In the thirty four stories in this bumper collection, the reader will find out just how tough and how good Dick really is. Just who is Dick Sleuth? Don’t let the name fool you. His real name is Eddie Morrison and he is my cousin. He is also a private detective. Eddie, or as he prefers to be known, Dick, has been a private investigator for nearly twenty five years – not bad for an over-weight and balding man of fifty five.
I don’t know how many cases he has solved in that time, but he must have solved a few because the detective business is very competitive: blackmail cases, fraud, adultery, missing persons, and of course murder. I once asked him why he used the name Dick Sleuth and Eddie’s simple reply was, “I’m not a tough guy but the name sounds tough, just like the private detective in those 1940s Humphrey Bogart movies, The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep.” Of course, any similarity between Eddie and Humphrey Bogart is not only coincidental, but is completely non-existent.
