The best of the Encyclopedia of Pulp Heroes: Carrie Cashin

Cashin, Carrie. Cashin Carrie was created by Theodore Tinsley (Bulldog Black, Major John T. Lacy, Jerry Tracy) and appeared in forty-four stories in Crime Busters and Street & Smith’s Mystery Magazine from 1937 to 1943, beginning with “White Elephant” (Crime Busters, Nov. 1937). Carrie Cashin is the senior partner in the Cash and Carry Detective Agency. The firm’s junior partner is Cashin’s “stooge” Aleck Burton. Burton is neither as bright nor as brave as Cashin, but he pretends to be the head of the Agency, so that clients with a suspicion against women detectives would be willing to hire the Agency. (This was Cashin’s idea). Burton brings broad shoulders and a handsome face to cases, while Cashin is the one who solves the cases and brings home the money. Cashin is smart, pretty, and brave, although her approach to detection relies on her physical prowess far more than her intellectual ability. Cashin is hard-boiled and willing to break the law if it will help a client.