MISTER CAUTION–
MISTER CALLAGHAN
Peter Cheyney’s first and best-known creations are the American detective Lemmy Caution and the English Slim Callaghan. Between them they feature in almost half his novels, and nearly all of the film adaptations.

LEMMY CAUTION
Lemmy Caution appeared in This Man is Dangerous in 1936 and his character was set from the first front cover, with John Pisani’s tough-looking ‘G-man’, in slouch hat, single-breasted trench-coat and Tommy-gun.
Left, Eddie Constantine, born in the US to Russian parents, made a career in France and Germany playing Lemmy on screen (see JUST LIKE EDDIE! page)

SLIM CALLAGHAN
Slim Callaghan was created by Cheyney in 1938 when he was irritated by some of the critisism of the Lemmy Caution stories. He said: ‘So they say I can only write Yank gangster stories, eh? Good! I’ll give them an Englishman – better than Lemmy the Yank!’ And it was another perceved slight that helped the character get his name: Cheyney was described by a critic as ‘plump’ in one of his photos, so “Slim” Rupert Patrick Callaghan was created by Reginald Peter Cheyney.
He drank the Rye, ordered another. He came to the conclusion that the Wilbery case needed a little action and that he was not inclined to be too particular as to what form that action took. The thought pleased him.
Callaghan was not prone to theorizing – even to himself – about the technique of the business of being a private detective. he left such things as ‘clues’ (invariably described in the press reports as ‘important’), experiments with test tubes, psychological cross-examinations, deductions which – in the majority of cases – were based on an entirely false premise, and all the rest of the paraphernalia of fictional detectives, to those people who beleived in them. His own method – which incidentally and, whether they admit it or not, constitues the main stock-in-trade of all those individuals whose business it is to inquire into the underneath side of life – was to draw a broad canvas incorporating all the people who came into the picture of a case, or were in some way concerned in it, examine them carefully, and then to create such circumstances as would make people talk. Then all you had to do was listen.

Nikolls filled a good half of the cocktail shaker with Bacardi rum. He aded lemon juice, a spot of gin and some ice. He said:
‘This is a helluva drink. It sorta gets the brain workin’.’

... she found herself looking at him for the first time objectively. She noted the square strength of the broad shoulders outlined by the dark blue sweater, the thinness of the hips, the relaxation of his long arms as they hung down by his side, the easy flexibility of his long fingers. Something in her brain was saying over and over again ... ‘This man is dangerous ... this man is dangerous.’ She felt a little drunk and did not know why.

He stopped the lift at the office floor. Walked along the passage, opened the outer door, went in, sat down at Effie Thompson’s desk. On one corner, acting as a temporary paper weight, was the book she was reading – a Crime Club book. Callaghan grinned. One of his occaisional relaxations was the Crime Club. Where clues were so neat and tidy, where logic was so relentless, where detectives were so apt, where the reader’s brain, one step behind that of the author, fitted together the pieces of the jig-saw puzzle that pictured the mystery, only to discover, in the last chapter, that he had foozled with the main piece; that the author had still something up his sleeve.
If only life were like that. Being a private detective meant only too often that one had nothing up one’s sleeve except one’s arm, which, used only as a last resort, was hardly adequate for bluffing.

he drinks Canadian rye, whisky... coffee and cheese-cake

he smokes Players cigarettes

It Couldn’t Matter Less
Below, Peter Cheyney on set of the film of Uneasy Terms with Moira Lister and Michael Rennie; centre, Michael Rennie; Derrick de Marney alternated the lead role on the stage in Meet Mister Callaghan with his brother, Terrence de Marney; right, Derrick who played Slim in the 1954 film.
the cover art
of John Pisani
filmography &
poster gallery
Just Like Eddie!