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This page lists novels that feature the private detective C.W. Sughrue.

The Last Good Kiss

James Crumley

1978

A C.W. Sughrue novel

"Meet Private Detective C. W. Sughrue. Private detectives are supposed to find missing persons and solve crimes. But more often than not Sughrue is the one committing the crimes – everything from grand theft auto to criminal stupidity. All washed down with a hearty dose of whiskey and regret. At the end of a three-week hunt for a runaway bestselling author, Sughrue winds up in a ramshackle bar, with an alcoholic bulldog. The landlady’s daughter vanished a decade ago and now she wants Sughrue to find her. His search will take him to the deepest, darkest depths of San Francisco’s underbelly, a place as fascinating, frightening and flawed as he is."

The Mexican Tree Duck

James Crumley

1993

A C.W. Sughrue novel

"Never the most conventional of private detectives, C. W. Sughrue is called in to solve a far from traditional missing persons case. A beautiful woman has vanished, and Sughrue is set to be the next in a long line of people who have tried to find her: the FBI, her well-connected Republican husband, and – most worryingly – a group of South American drug dealers. And his only clue is a hollowed-out sculpture of a duck. From Montana to the Mexican border, Sughrue embarks on a wild ride, as he finds himself in and out of trouble – and the beds of one or two women. And, as he runs from his memories of Vietnam, he ponders the meaning of loyalty and revenge. This is a journey like no other from the pen of James Crumley, the master of a generation of crime writers."

Bordersnakes

James Crumley

1996

A limited signed edition in a slipcase was published by Dennis McMillan Publications. The regular first edition hardback was published by Mysterious Press.

A Milo Milodragovitch and C.W. Sughrue novel.

"James Crumley is the king of hard-boiled noir, credited with inspiring the next generation of crime writers and best known for his two private detectives, Milo Milodragovitch and C. W. Sughrue. He brought them together for one wild, pulse-pounding ride. This is that story. Someone shot Sughrue and left him for dead, and someone stole Milo’s $3million inheritance. And they’re not the kind of men to let it go. They’ve joined forces in El Paso and they’re set for a wild ride across America. They’re out for revenge."

The Right Madness

James Crumley

2005

A C.W. Sughrue novel

"Things are never straightforward for private detective C. W. Sughrue. A long-time recovering Vietnam veteran and prone to trouble, he’s finally enjoying a slower pace of life. Until, that is, his old friend - psychiatrist William Mackinderick - enlists his help in shadowing some of his patients. Mackinderick suspects one of them may have taken highly confidential files from his office and he’s desperate to know who. But soon Sughrue’s not tracking them alive but dead, as one after the other they meet a gruesome end. Sughrue thought he’d seen it all before but he’s been proved wrong - madness knows no bounds."