Kane, Calvin. Calvin Kane was created by Bruno Fischer and appeared in stories in Dime Mystery in the late 1930s. Kane is the most famous of the "defective detectives," being deformed--he had a withered right leg and a twisted body--and forced to crawl along the floor, hence his nickname "The Crab Detective."

Kay, Bromley. Bromley Kay was created by the Australian writer J.M. Walsh and appeared in a number of novels, beginning with The White Mask (1925). Bromley Kay is an Assistant Commissioner with the C.I.B. in Melbourne, and solves crimes in Australia and England. He is assisted by Detective Holland.

Ka-Zar. Ka-Zar was one of many Tarzan imitators, although in one respect he outlasted nearly all of the others. Created by Martin Goodman and Robert Byrd and published in an eponymous pulp by the "Manvis Publications, Inc." in October 1936, Ka-Zar was actually David Rand, the son of John and Constance Rand of New York City, America. They were flying over the "heart of the Congo" when the plane lost power and crashed. The parents were killed and three-year-old David was adopted and raised by "Zar the lion." By the time he is a young man he has learned the "languages of the beasts of the jungle." As a young man he is a bronzed god, wearing only the (requisite for Tarzan copies) loin-cloth and carrying only a knife and a bow. In his first adventure he killed Paul DeKraft, the man responsible for the death of his father, and in later novels he brought down a tyrannical Arab despot and discovered a lost empire.

I mentioned Ka-Zar's longevity. While his pulp magazine did not last very long, Goodman, no fool when it came to recycling material, brought Ka-Zar back in Marvel Comics #1, the first comic book published by Timely Comics, which later became Marvel Comics. Ka-Zar had a good run in Marvel Comics (later Marvel Mystery Comics), for 27 issues, before being pulled. Then, in the 1960s, Stan Lee brought Ka-Zar back in Marvel Comics (okay, it wasn't the exact same Ka-Zar, but it's close enough), and he is active as a character at Marvel to this day. Not bad for a cheap copy of the true Lord of the Jungle.

Pulp Heroes: Ka-Zar
Believe or not, someone has spent the time and the effort to not only write an essay summarizing his creation and type up the e-text of the origin story, but to also mount them on a site. Don't you think that effort should be rewarded by you visiting the site?

Keate, Sarah. Sarah Keate was created by Mignon G. Eberhart and a number of novels and movies beginning with The Patient in Room 18 (1929). Keate is a waspish twenty-something nurse, red-haired and freckled, who, in true Had-I-But-Known School fashion, stumbles on corpses and crimes almost through happenstance and then helps solve the cases. She works at St. Ann's Hospital and is assisted by Lance O'Leary, a wealthy young police detective.

Keen, Hal. Hal Keen was created by Percy Fitzhugh (as "Hugh Lloyd") and appeared in the ten-volume "Hal Keen Mystery Stories" series, which ran from 1931 to 1934 and began with The Hermit of Gordon's Creek. Keen was a chunky Stud Blondcake type who solved mysteries (often involving violent criminals)  in the U.S. (coast of Maine, American West) and abroad (in the Amazon and Sahara).

Keen, Jack. This gentleman consulting detective was created by Alfred Edgar. He appeared in Kinema Comic and Film Fun starting with Kinema Comic #582, 20 June 1931. He had an assistant, Bob Trotter, who was a child of the streets, not unlike Sexton Blake's Tinker and  Nelson Lee's Nipper, although Trotter seemed to misbehave somewhat more than Tinker or Nipper.

Keen, Jax. Created by Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of Perry Mason, Jax Keen appeared in Double Detective in 1939 and 1940. Keen, the narrator of his own stories, was a trouble shooter for a studio and reported to its head, Abie Blitzmont. Keen was in the Marlowe mode, a tough, jaded man who was extremely cynical about the movie industry and everyone in it, especially as they always involved him in murder and blackmail cases. The least dirty thing he had to deal with was thinking up lies and spin for the press when Blitzmont's stars did something wrong or illegal.

Keen, Mister. Mister Keen was created by Frank and Anne Hummert and appeared as the title character in the radio show "Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons," which ran from 1937 through 1955. Mr. Keen was an older man, a much-feared but rather kindly (except when dealing with violent criminals, when he became hard and cold) master detective. Assisted by his Irish stereotype partner, Mike Clancy, Mister Keen began as a tracer of lost persons but eventually began taking on all sorts of crimes. In the words of one critic, Keen and Clancy "seemed to have vast powers of arrest: they barged into homes without search warrants, ignored official procedure, shunned due process, and cared little for the rules of evidence." (Also, see the Westrel Keen entry below)

Keen, Westrel. Westrel Keen was created by Robert Chambers and appeared in The Tracer of Lost Persons (1906), and if he isn't the source for the much-better-known Mister Keen (see above), the main character in the "Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons" radio show, I'll eat my hat. It's fairly obvious, I suppose, except that I've never seen anything in print or on the 'Net about Chambers' work being the source for the radio show.

Westrel Keen is a "sleepy-looking elderly gentleman" who runs Keen & Co., the "Tracers of Lost Persons" agency. They "are prepared to locate the whereabouts of anybody on earth." And they do mean anybody; not only will they look for and find someone's ideal woman (or man), they will also find the human version of someone's idealized woman (in one story they help the creator of a Gibson Girl-like creation find the human equivalent), and will even help one lovestruck adventurer restore a centuries-comatose Egyptian woman to life. Keen & Co. are a well-staffed company full of clever young women and informants on every level of society and in every country in the world. Their files are incredibly detailed, and it seems that there is no one that Keen & Co. do not have information on or cannot get information about.

Mr. Keen himself is suspiciously intelligent and well-informed; in one story he casually reveals that he is an expert Egyptologist and in another he off-handedly mentions that he has cracked hundreds of the most difficult cyphers, leaving the impression that there are many other fields in which he is an expert, but that he is not usually called upon to reveal his knowledge. He has reduced the "superficial muscular phenomena and facial symptomatic aspect" of people to a system so that he can automatically tell what a person is feeling and when they are in love. Mr. Keen is also well-educated in the occult, although he is clearly interested only in those things that can help people; he is not fazed by the idea of two soul-mates connecting psychically before they ever meet physically, and in fact helps identify the other soul-mate and then arrange the meeting. Likewise, when confronted by the long-slumbering Pharaonic Egyptian woman, Keen has little difficulty in finding the incantation that will awaken her. He is so capable and so imperturbable, in fact, that he strikes me as being the obverse and more benign version of Chesterton's The Man Who Was Sunday.

Keene, Kitty. Kitty Keene, created by Day Keene and Wally Norman, appeared in "Kitty Keene, Inc.," a CBS & Mutual soap opera that ran from 1937 to 1941. Kitty was a former performer for the Ziegfield Follies who quit her job and opened her own detective agency. Her opponents were strictly run-of-the-mill--kidnapers, murderers, etc. Kitty herself was "tough but tender," and she was, near the end of her show, a grandmother, though still spritely and firm. Her background was mysterious; besides her job with the Follies, no one--not even her own daughter Jill--knew much else about her.

Keene, Oliver. Oliver Keene was created by James Morgan Walsh and appeared in a dozen novels, beginning with Island of Spies (1937). Keene was a tough, hard-bitten British "Secret Service" Agent who fought fascists and communists before the war and Germans and Japanese during the war, from the Pacific to the Canary Islands to Turkey to the Home Islands.

Kelly, Jack. Jack Kelly was a Secret Service agent in an eponymous serial written by Victor Maxwell and appearing in The Popular Magazine in the 1910s. His bete noir was Arabia Marston, a female smuggler (and a darned clever one).

Ken. Ken was created by Basil Miller and appeared in the seventeen-book "Ken" series, which began in 1941 with Ken Rides the Range. Ken was a teenager who had adventures in America's West, finding lost Indian treasure, fighting cattle smugglers, and even going to the Pampas of Argentina.

Kennedy. See the Steve MacBride entry.

Kennedy, Craig. The "American Sherlock Holmes" was the creation of Arthur Reeve (1880-1936). Reeve was an American who began as a journalist and ended up as a writer, penning both mysteries (most but not all about Kennedy) and then silent film serials. He introduced Kennedy in the December 1910 issue of Cosmopolitan and then brought him back for great numbers of short stories in magazines as various as The Popular Magazine and Wild Man-Hunters, and in 26 novels, Reeve continuing to write them until his death; the Kennedy stories were enormously popular in their day, although they are little read today.

Craig Kennedy, a professor at Columbia University, is a scientific detective in the vein of Dr. Thorndyke. He is a chemist and uses his knowledge of chemistry to solve cases, but there are any number of other scientific "miracles" in his stories, things like lie detectors, gyroscopes, and portable seismographs that can differentiate between the footsteps of different individuals. He uses psychoanalytical techniques in his work as a consulting detective. Naturally, he makes use of the other, more traditional detective skills--a good left hook, mastery of disguise, an enthusiasm for action, etc--but the science and technology are the main thing, even to the exclusion of the gathering of proper evidence. (Actually, this changed in later years, and by the late 1920s Kennedy is more of a proper detective) He is called on to help by Inspector Barney O'Connor of the NYPD, and Walter Jameson, Kennedy's roommate and a reporter for the Star, chronicles the stories.

Kennedy is tall and handsome, although there are very few physical descriptions of him in the stories apart from the standard things: firm chin, lean, very strong, etc. This lack of description is somewhat typical of Kennedy's work, unfortunately; description and character development were not his strengths, and in some ways the attraction of the stories is sure to elude the modern reader.

"The Problem of the Steel Door"
An e-text of one of the Kennedy stories. From the good folks at the Gaslight site.

Arthur B. Reeve
Typically insightful essay on Reeve and Kennedy from Michael E. Grost.

Kennedy, Nick. Nick Kennedy appeared in Bullseye beginning with its first issue on 24 January 1931. He was the ranking officer in the River Police and waged a never-ending war, with the Night Patrol, against Fang Wu and the infamous Red Shadow Tong, a war which stretched from London's Limehouse all the way to the Yangtse-Kiang River in China itself.

Kent, Addison. Addison Kent was the creation of "Hopkins Moorhouse" (the pseudonym of Arthur H.J. Moorhouse) and appeared in Gauntlet of Alceste (1921) and Golden Scarab (1926). Kent is a "well-known author of popular detective stories" who is drawn, more-or-less against his will, into solving crimes. (He's dragged in by his friends, you see, he can't help it) He doesn't take much seriously, certainly not his stories, but they do well anyhow, and so he is a man of some means and no small repute. He's clever and well-informed, but not particularly exceptional as a detective--just as good as he needs to be, and no more. He relies on deduction and evidence more than induction, but is well-versed in detective fiction and realistic about how easy fictional detectives have it as opposed to real detectives and policemen. Kent is quite willing to assist the police, in the person of the somewhat abrasive Lieutenant Fargey, and to give them as much credit as possible.

Kent, Blackstone. Blackstone Kent was created by "Ralph Milne Farley," the pen-name of Roger Sherman Hoar, and debuted in "The Flashlight Brigade," in the June 1930 issue of Amazing Detective Tales. Kent is an investigator of the scientific detective school. He is a lawyer, but somehow his law practice never slows him down while he is on the trail of a criminal. In addition to his knowledge of the law he is very canny about science, although what he knows are ordinary, "real" things like paraffin used to disguise looks. In the Radio Man series he appears once, helping his daughter and the Radio Man to stop an alien invasion.

Kent, Dick. Dick Kent was created by “Milton Richards,” the pen-name of Milo Milton Oblinger, and appeared in the ten-volume “Dick Kent Series” starting with Dick Kent with the Mounted Police (1927) and running through 1934. Dick  and his best chum Sandy are Americans who are visiting Dick’s grandparents somewhere in Canada’s northwest when they discover a criminal conspiracy. Dick and Sandy end up befriending Toma, a local “Indian” boy their own age, and together they turn capture the criminals and turn them over to the Royal North West Mounted Police. Over the course of the next nine novels Dick, Sandy, and Toma take on criminal “Eskimos,” a murderous fur trapper, and other Canadian-type bad guys.

Kent, Herb. Herb Kent was created by Graham M. Dean and appeared in the two-volume "Herb Kent at West Point Series," which appeared in 1936 and began with Herb Kent, West Point Cadet. Kent was "husky" and "likable," with a "football physique with a brain attached." While at West Point he achieves academic and gridiron glory as well as solving a mystery.

Kestner, James. James Kestner was created by Arthur Stringer and appeared in The Hand of Peril (1915), which was made into a movie in 1916. Kestner is a secret agent for the U.S. government assigned to a gang of counterfeiters. Kestner is also an inventor, and uses a wide array of technologically-advanced gadgets to help him capture them, including an x-ray device that makes walls transparent.

Khaki Boys. The Khaki Boys were created by Josephine Chase under the pen-name of "Captain Gordon Bates" and appeared in the six-book "Khaki Boys Series," which ran from 1918 to 1920 and began with The Khaki Boys at Camp Sterling, or, Training for the Big Fight in France. The Boys (I don't know their names, sorry) were patriotic young American soldiers who responded to the call by enlisting and fighting the good fight overseas, "doing their bit" in the trenches, in the Navy's ships, and in fierce fighting along the Rhine.

Khaki Girls. The Khaki Girls were created by Edna Brooks and appeared in the four-volume "Khaki Girls" series, which began in 1918 with The Khaki Girls of the Motor Corps, or, Finding Their Places in the Big War (1918). The books were about "how two young girls donned the khaki and made good in the Motor Corps."

Khlit. Khlit, the Wolf, Khlit of the Curved Saber, Khlit the crafty Cossack, was created by Harold Lamb and debuted in Adventure in 1917; he appeared there through 1926. Khlit is active near the end of the 16th century, along the western border of Russia. He lives and tells his tales from an island in the Dnieper River where the Cossack war encampment, the Zaporogian Siech, is placed. He’s an older man, tall and broad, with a single scalp lock, a long gray mustache, and light blue eyes. His most prized possession is his saber, a Damascus-forged Turkish blade with unknown writing inscribed on it. (It was the blade of the Khan of the Kallmark Tatars, descendants of Genghis Khan)  Khlit is devoted to the saber, constantly polishing it. It has served him well for the long years he’s been alive. It is his only lover, for Khlit despises women.

In his youth, he rode through Asia, adventuring among the Cossacks, Tatars, Chinese, Afghans, and Indians. He sees to the death of many of his enemies, directly and indirectly. He succeeds at destroying the stronghold of the Old Man of the Mountains and of the Assassins. He helps find and loot the lost tomb of Genghis Khan, then helps destroy a Chinese army with an army of Tatar cavalry. He helps the Jun-gar Tatars defeat a Chinese army and is elected to the role of Kha Khan, showing that he is a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. (This doesn’t last, as they discover that he’s a Christian and force him to surrender his title). Khlit rescues the Chinese emperor from treasonous imprisonment. With his grandson, years later, he puts paid to the evil Russian Prince Vladimir. He helps loot the city of Urgench after a 2000 mile ride, and then, finally, kills a false Czar who betrayed the Cossacks.

Khlit is a mighty warrior, though in his dotage he is not nearly so strong as he used to be. But his mighty brain, full of plots and guile, never flags, nor grows duller with age. Khlit, unlettered, is a foe to be feared. If he vows that he will ride unarmed through an enemy’s camp in exchange for the release of a hostage, he will do that—in the middle of a stampede of wild horses. If he is trapped among enemies, he will volunteer himself to be the subject of a hunt, all the while knowing that no one can outride a Cossack.

Khlit is variously accompanied by Chagan, an enormous Tatar swordsman and hereditary bearer of the Khan’s sword; by Arslan, a minstrel and wondrous archer; and by Abdul Dost.

Khlit
A very nice recap of the character and his history. From the Harold Lamb site.

Ki-Gor. Ki-Gor was published in Jungle Stories from the Winter 1939 issue to the January 1954 issue and was written by John M. Reynolds. Ki-Gor was one of the most popular of the Tarzan imitations. Ki-Gor was actually Robert Kilgour, the son of a Scottish missionary who was killed in the jungles of Africa. Ki-Gor lived alone in the wilds and raised himself. In the first novel he saves Helene Vaughn, a society girl and pilot, whose plane crashed in Ki-Gor's jungle. She, red-haired and beautiful, acts as his Jane, but eventually he helps her return to civilization. She returns the favor by marrying him, and they return to the jungle together to keep the peace between various warring tribes. Ki-Gor fought everything from hostile natives to giant sea serpents to dinosaurs to talking gorillas to Arab slavers to zombies. Ki-Gor had two close friends besides Helene. The first was Timbu George, aka George Spelvin, an enormous African-American who was a former ship's cook but ended up becoming the chief of the M'Bala tribe in the "East Congo." Ki-Gor's other friend was N'Geeso, chief of the "Kamazila Pigmies;" N'Geeso was only four feet tall but was a ferocious fighter. Ki-Gor is blond with gray eyes and darkly tanned skin. Of course, Ki-Gor also has a little monkey pal and occasionally rides on a friendly elephant.

Jungle Stories
A Jungle Stories cover image, starring Ki-Gor.

Killigen, Barney. Created by Erle Stanley Gardner and appearing in Clues in 1938, Barney Killigen was a criminal lawyer who worked around the law when he couldn't use it. "I'm a great respecter of the law, but when the spirit of the law conflicts with the letter of the law, I'm a man of spirit rather than of letters." He had a wide variety of contacts in unusual places and made use of all of them. He was actually somewhat happy-go-lucky and devil-may-care and other lighthearted clichés. Among the things he didn't care about was what was going to happen to him in a few days; where his money was going; what appointments he had to keep; and when he was due back in his office. He was assisted by Charlotte "Wiggy" Ray, his secretary and bookkeeper and de facto mother (he needed on). Killigen talked as he thought, finding it conducive to deeper insights.

Kimo. Kimo was created by Jean F. Webb and appeared in Thrilling Detective in 1940 and 1941. Kimo (or "Jim") was a native Hawaiian who worked at various odd jobs on the beaches and helping tourists. When crime presented itself, however, he went into action, usually helping Lt. Steve Mitchell of the Honolulu Police Department. Kimo was a bronze god, lean and muscular, who could swim like a dolphin and had a "steel-muscled, panther-like body, strong copper arms, and...acute hearing."

King of the Royal Mounted. Created by the one and only Zane Grey, King of the Royal Mounted was introduced on 17 February 1935 and lasted through 1954. Sergeant King (his first name was never disclosed), a mountie in Northwest Canada, was one of the toughest, most effective cops of any kind and in any climate of the 1930s. He always got his man, always kept after a criminal no matter what environment King had to track him through, always kept a stern demeanor regardless of the situation. King went after fur thieves, cattle rustlers, train robbers, Chicago gangsters come to Canada for "easy pickins," German spies, and any number of other wrongdoers. He also, on occasion, caught crazed costumed villain types, including a deranged doctor who wore a winged suit and called himself the "Black Bat" and a distaff version of Robin Hood. King's boy sidekick was Kid Blake, his girlfriend was Betty Bake, and his constant companion and pilot was Jerry Laroux, a stereotypical French Canadian.

King, Ken. Ken King was created by Charles Hamilton himself, in his identity as "Frank Richards," and appeared in Modern Boy beginning with its first issue, in January 1928, and running through at least the early 1960s. Ken was "King of the Islands" a trader in the South Seas and the skipper of the ketch Dawn. Ken traded and adventured across the Pacific, encountering cannibals, pearl thieves, ruthless whites (like the bloodthirsty Wolf Williams) who enslave whole islands, rascally traders and thieves like Jabez Wild and Dandy Peters, cursed pearls of Gola, and so on. The two-fisted, square-jawed the-sun-never-sets-on-the-Empire Ken was assisted by his Aussie first mate Kit Hudson, his Kanaka bo'sun Kaio-lalulalong, aka "Koko," and the racist stereotype Danny, the cook. (It should be noted that this entire series was deeply racist.)

Kingozi. Kingozi was created by Stewart Edward White and appeared in The Leopard Woman (1916). Kingozi was not a series character, and so I wouldn't ordinarily put him here, but he's so much of a type that I decided to include him. Kingozi (real name Culbertson, but Kingozi is how he is known in Africa) is a Great White Hunter, perhaps quintessentially so. In The Leopard Woman (which, I should note, is deeply racist and sexist; benignly so, rather than viciously, but racist and sexist nonetheless, and a perfect time capsule of attitudes from the 1910s) he is a 25-year veteran of Africa, widely experienced and respected, who takes on a job for the English government, to make an alliance with M'tela, the African chief of a mighty, heretofore unknown kingdom somewhere in the vast veldt. Naturally, the Germans are after M'tela as well, and they send the lovely and headstrong Countess Miklos to delay Kingozi. But Kingozi triumphs, despite the onset of glaucoma, lion attacks, betrayal by Miklos (the "Leopard Woman" of the title, from her spotted silk lingerie), lack of water during safaris, and so on. The English get their alliance, Kingozi marries the Countess, everyone lives happily ever after.

Kinney, Dr. Jason. Dr. Jason Kinney and his three friends Smith, Van Emmon, and Jackson, were created by Homer Eon Flint and appeared in All-Story and Argoy-All-Story from 1919 through 1921. Kinney, along with his friends, decide to explore the solar system. Kinney is a general scientist, Smith is an engineer and inventor, Van Emmon is a geologist, and Jackson (a woman in disguise) an architect. Kinney and Smith combine to create a "space car" that is powered by antigravity. They go to Mercury, which is barren and airless, but which contains evidence of a former civilization, including the recorded autobiographical statement of Strokor, Mercury's last ruler; they go to Venus, which is occupied by thin, feeble humanoids who have encased the planet in a glass sphere and who live in a state of anarchy; the quartet use a Venusian telepathic machine to mentally visit another planet, "Capellette," which is ruled by a paternalistic, exploitive oligarchy; and they mentally travel to a planet orbiting Arcturus, which is inhabited by intelligent bees who use humans as slaves.

Kioga. Yet another of the Tarzan copies, Kioga "the Snow Hawk" was created by William L. Chester and appeared in a seven part serial that ran from April through October 1935 in Blue Book Magazine. Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln Rand are boating off the coast of Alaska with their "Indian friend" Mokuyi when a current pulls them into the Arctic Circle, to a strange land north of Siberia. This land is surrounded by a ring of volcanoes, and the volcanoes and the current warm the land so that it is inhabitable. The Rands land and are met by the Shoni tribe, a friendly group of natives who are descended from Native Americans. (The Shoni call the land "Nato'wa") The Rands stay there for a while until they are killed during an attack by a hostile tribe. The infant Daniel is adopted by Mokuyi and his wife Awena and given the name "Kioga." Unfortunately, Kioga is driven from the tribe when he is only six because of anti-white prejudice. Kioga survives in the wild, accompanied only by Aki, his pet bear, and the rest of Aki's clan. Later on Kioga befriends Mika, a silver-coated Arctic puma. (Don't ask) Kioga eventually becomes king of the forest bears and "war chief of the Shoni tribe" after they have welcomed him back. Of course, he also saves a woman from hostile mutineers; this woman, Beth La Salle, naturally falls in love with him.

Kirk, Don. Don Kirk was created by Edward Mott Woolley and appeared in the two-volume “Donald Kirk Series” starting with Donald Kirk, the Morning Record Copy Boy (1912) and running through 1913. Don was a Horatio Alger-like figure who began as a street urchin and worked his way up to first copy boy and then Correspondent (reporter) for the Morning Record, a NYC paper. He investigated and uncovered crime, of course.

Kituk. Kituk was created by Roy Snell and appeared in the three-volume "Kituk Series," which ran from 1917 to 1920 and began with An Eskimo Robinson Crusoe. Kituk is an Inuit who has various adventures around the Arctic Circle and northern Canada, along with his dog and his younger brother Soolook.

Klaw, Moris. Moris Klaw was created by Sax Rohmer (better known as the creator of Fu Manchu) and appeared in a series of stories in 1915 in the All-Story Cavalier Weekly and which were later collected in The Dream Detective (1920). Klaw is something of an occult detective, ala Dr. Silence and Carnacki, but most of his cases dealt more in psychic than in overtly magical phenomena. Klaw is a tall man, stooped and gaunt with age, usually wearing threadbare clothing and looking unkempt. He lives in a poor part of London, not far from Wapping Old Stairs, in a "decayed curio shop" of most unpleasant seeming. It is also inhabited by a parrot, which shrieks "Moris Klaw, Moris Klaw, the Devil's come for you" when someone enters the store. Klaw is an antiquarian, full of oddball information, but his true advantage, and the thing that is of most use to the police (who are welcoming of his help), is his clairvoyance, which is heightened when he sleeps. It is not uncommon for Klaw to sleep at a crime scene. When asleep, he is more receptive to psychic impressions; when he sleeps, Klaw takes in all sorts of information, and uses it to explain things to both the other characters and the readers. Klaw is full of self-regard, and his speech of is full of self-satisfaction and affectations.

Klaw is helped by three other characters. Searles, the narrator, hangs around Klaw and…well, doesn’t do much else. Detective-Inspector Grimsby of New Scotland Yard works as Klaw’s contact with the police. And Isis, Klaw’s daughter, lithe, dark, and mysterious, aids him; she is the one with access to Klaw’s notebooks, and her French accent and smoking of cigarettes indicates what other aid she might be able to give in the service of Klaw.

The Weird Review: The Dream Detective
An excellent essay on Klaw.

Klump, Willie. Willie Klump was created by Joe Archibald and appeared in Popular Detective starting in 1938. Klump was an ugly, worn-down private eye, shabby in appearance and mournful in personality. He’d formerly been a plainclothes detective but had quit to form his own agency, the Hawkeye Detective Agency, becoming known as the “Hawkeye Hawkshaw.” Although he was not extremely intelligent, he was successful, but sometimes went weeks without collecting (his clients were often as much deadbeats as the people he went after). He was friends with Satchelfoot Kelly, who viewed Klump with amused and affectionate contempt. Klump’s girlfriend was Gertie Mudgett, an attractive blonde who worked as his secretary, among other things, and who was tougher and more intelligent than Klump.

Knight, Richard. Richard Knight was created by Donald Keyhoe and appeared in Flying Aces in the mid-1930s. Knight was a flier in the mid-1930s. He was a WW1 veteran who had been rendered blind during the war. Somehow (I haven’t been able to find out how) he gained the power to see at night, and he made use of this ability to have adventures around the world, from China (where he fought against the Japanese) to America (where he took on much more prosaic gangsters).

Knight, Steve. Steve Knight was created by Theodore Copp and appeared in the three-book "Steve Knight Flying" series, which began in 1941 with The Mystery of Devil's Hand. Steve Knight was an American air ace fighting the Axis during WW2.

Koa, Komako. Komako Koa was created by Max Freedom Long and appeared in three books, beginning with Murder Between Dark and Dark (1939). Koa is a native Hawaiian who works as a plantation cop; John Ball describes him as "a magnificent person--big, rugged, kindly, slow to anger, and deeply committed to his own heritage and culture. He far transcends the stories in which he appears, all of which are set in his native Hawaii in surroundings that are far from the Honolulu where Charlie Chan was in command of the situation."

Kogoro Akechi. Kogoro Akechi was the creation of the Japanese mystery writer "Edogawa Rampo" (Hirai Tare) and appeared in a number of Rampo's and short stories in the 1920s and 1930s. He is a Holmes-influenced private eye who was very influential on mystery fiction in Japan, like Rampo himself. He is, like Holmes, good at judo and disguises as well as aided by a group of urchins, called the Boy Detectives Club. Kogoro smokes Egyptian cigarettes to help him think. His arch-enemy is the Fiend With Twenty Faces. Kogoro is active in Tokyo early in the 20^th century and is very much the elegant dandy, although his rooms (above a tobacconist's shop) are filled with books rather than clothes. His m.o. is based more on psychological analysis than on deductive reasoning, although he's quite capable of that, too. His investigations often have a supernatural atmosphere to them, although as far as I know he never was involved in genuinely occult cases.

Saikaweng
About the most information I've found on the Web about Kogoro.

Koloska, Detective. Detective Koloska was created by the German author Felicitas von Reznicek and appeared in Shiva und die Nacht der 12 (Shiva and the Night of the 12, 1943). Koloska is a Berlin police detective who pursues a group of a dozen corrupt industrialists across Europe, starting in Berlin and finishing in Copenhagen. Known as "Shiva" for the persona he assumes during interrogations (to scare criminals), he is so full of eccentricities that other officers compare him to Dupin. He is physically similar to Sherlock Holmes, but is irate when people mistake him for the "miracle detective."

Kowa. Kowa was introduced in Charles Foley's Kowa the Mysterious (1909), a novel I haven't yet read but am working on finding. Kowa is a vast, domed Chinese city in the caves underneath San Francisco. The inhabitants plot against the white surface dwellers, intending to conquer them. At the end of the novel the dome collapses, crushing Kowa and causing the San Francisco earthquake.

Krag, Asbjorn. Asbjorn Krag was created by "Stein Riverton," aka Sven Elvestad, and first appeared in 1904, going on to star in a number of stories novels, including The Iron Carriage (1909), The Man Who Plundered the City (1915) and Mystery of the Abbe Montrose (1917). Krag (also spelled "Osborne Crag") was a Danish detective, like his creator. Asbjørn Krag began as an older, experienced policeman who described his adventures to a younger reporter. Within a short time Elvestad began writing novels about Krag, and in the novels Krag was younger. He was a former policeman who left the force to become a consulting detective. Despite this he was very respected by the police, who were always more than happy to provide him with whatever help he needed to crack a case or track down a criminal. Krag, in his "younger" adventures, was around 40 ("middle aged, late 30s, early 40s," although as T.B. Hansen, who provided most of the information in this entry (thanks!) notes, Elvestad later admited that he was much older than he looked), gray-haired with a balding forehead, mustached, given to wearing a pince-nez and possessed of "hypnotizing" eyes. At his best/worst he was "diabolical," both in the depths of his cunning and in his sheer psychological force. Some of the later Krag stories were simply republications of Knut Gribb stories. Interestingly, Krag's last appearance was in the early/mid-1920s, but in 1928 Elvestad notified the Oslo newspapers that Krag had just passed away, so the Oslo newspapers went ahead and gave Krag in memoriam notices.

Stein Riverton
A good short biography of "Riverton."

Kramm, Doctor Cornélius. Dr. Cornelius Kramm was introduced in Gustave LeRouge's Le Mystérieux Docteur Cornélius (1913) and appeared in the 17 sequels. I haven't been able to actually lay hands on a reading copy of Le Mystérieux Docteur Cornélius or any of its sequels, so I'm working on limited knowledge. Kramm is a mad scientist and surgeon and Fu Manchu homage who is trying to take over the world. He is opposed by the "easygoing plant-lover" Prosper Bondonnat. Their struggle ranged across the globe and took place on every continent and sea, with Prosper, of course, eventually gaining the upper hand.

Once again, Jean-Marc Lofficier has come up with far more information than I was able to, so, again, I'll quote him and remind you that you should buy his French Science Fiction:

A worthy and more famous literary successor of Dr. Caresco was Dr. Cornelius Kramm, the star of Le Mystérieux Dr. Cornélius (The Mysterious Dr. Cornelius), a sprawling saga serialized in eighteen volumes during 1912 and 1913 and written by another prolific writer of adventure stories, Gustave Le Rouge. Cornélius Kramm and his brother, Fritz, ruled an international crime empire called the "Red Hand." Cornélius was a mad surgeon nicknamed the "Sculptor Of Human Flesh" -- he could alter people's likenesses, and did so to further his evil ends, and even "cloned" them. He was eventually defeated by a vast alliance of heroes after a world-spanning battle.

Dr. Cornelius Kramm
Jean-Marc Lofficier's excellent illustrated site on Dr. Kramm.

Krechet, Anton. Anton Krechet, creator unknown, appeared in the St. Petersburg newspaper Kopeika in over 800 stories from 1909 through 1916. He is similar in some ways to Vasilii Churkin, but in temperament is almost completely different. Krechet has the same extreme physical strength of Churkin, but is much more cultured, is a natural aristocrat who has very blue blood, and is much more of an outright hero than the brutal and bloodthirsty Churkin. Krechet, in the stories, was formerly a bandit but had renounced his ways and only wanted peace and quiet and a Happily Ever After life with his love. Unfortunately, bandits, secret policemen, detectives, anti-Semitic stereotypes, and spies hound him and force him into crime, with a number of dead bodies (all bad guys) resulting. Krechet only kills in self-defense, however, and often fights genuine criminals. Initially he and his gang work from his hideaway, the Wolf's Lair, but eventually he begins adventuring abroad. In his wanderings he travels across Western Europe, the entire Russian empire, and on the front lines of the Russo-Japanese War; he volunteered in search of an official pardon, and after outwitting the Japanese Army (and strangling a Siberian Tiger with his bare hands) he gains the pardon, returns home a hero, and establishes himself and his band of friends on an estate in central Russia, where he rules fairly and justly over the peasants. He also encounters a Captain Nemo-like mad scientist who he aids in developing a maneuverable airship.

Krishnavati. Krishnavati (the film character, not the quite-possibly-apocryphal ‘historical' character) was created by J.B.H. Wadia and appeared in the Indian film Hunterwali(Girl Hunter, aka The Lady With The Whip, 1935). Princess Krishnavati is the devout and demure daughter of the King of an unnamed Indian kingdom. Unfortunately, Prime Minister Ranamal has it in for the family, and he kills Krishnavati's brother and drives Krishnavati and her infant son Jaswant out into a thunderstorm. 20 years later Jaswant is grown and Krishnavati, still a beauty, attracts the lust-filled gaze of Ranamal, who imprisons the King. Krishnavati has finally had enough and becomes the "protector of the poor and punisher of evildoers," roaming the countryside stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. She fights soldiers–20 at once–and does the Robin Hood bit, falling in love with a peasant boy and finally freeing the King.

Kwa of the Jungle. Kwa, a Tarzan copy, appeared in Thrilling Adventures in 1932 and 1933. His father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Rahan, who was pregnant with Nathaniel, were flying across Africa when they crossed over a large, round valley ringed with mountains. Unfortunately, the plane crashed into this valley, the Valley of Mu. The father died on impact and the mother survived only long enough to give birth to Nathaniel, who was then adopted and raised by apes and given the name Kwa by an old chimp, Kek, who teaches him to speak with the animals of the jungle. He grows up to be Tarzan, essentially, although his background is much less haughty than Lord Greystoke’s. Kwa’s grandfather lives on a small estate at the edge of the African jungle, and Kwa regularly passes through as he begins the transition to American society. There’s plenty of action, though, and Kwa continues to find the city of Ophir and befriend the other apes and to fight the “Beast Men.”
 

Introduction
A. The Abbey Girls to Dusty Ayres
B. Bagley to Scott Burton
C. Orhan Cakiroglu to Dr. Theodore Cunliffe
D-E. Dana Girls to Don Everhard
F. Ralph Fairbanks to Miss Fury
G. The Gadget Man to G-8
H-I. Dr. Hackensaw to Baron Ixell
J. Jack, Doc & Reggie to Justice Syndicate
K. Calvin Kane to Kwa of the Jungle
L. Major John T. Lacy to Langhorne Lyte
M. Professor Maboul to Mr. Mystic
N. Lee Nace to Nyoka
O. Fergus O'Breen to Ozar the Aztec
P.  Penny Packer to Judge Pursuivant
Q.  Oliver Quade to Sebastian Quin
R. Ed Race to Captain Rybnikov
S. The Safety First Club to Tom Swift
T-U. Tahara to Godfrey Usher
V. Lieutenant Valcour to Norton Vyse
W. Inspector Wade to Dr. Xavier Wycherley
X-Z. X Bar X Boys to Zorro
Links.