Forgotten Books: Speed Walker Private Eye -- Chris Hammond

This is the first of two collections of comic strips by Chris Hammond. Anybody remember it? Michael Shonk discussed it in some detail on Steve Lewis's Mystery*File a year or so ago, and you can click the link to read that post. There's even a comment from Chris Hammond.

I'll just add a couple of thoughts. I like the artwork in the strips, and some of the gags are pretty funny. I read the strip in the newspaper we subscribed to 30 years ago, so it must have run in either the Dallas Morning News or one of the Houston papers. I can't remember. Anyway, I must have liked the strip because I picked up this collection. I didn't know there had been a second collection until I read Shonk's essay.

As you can tell from the cover, Speed's not exactly the world's greatest detective. He's more like Maxwell Smart (yes, I know he wasn't a detective) than Mike Hammer. He looks good in his fedora, though. If you're looking for some really light reading and something different from the usual p.i. fare, here it is. Check it out.