Dixon Hawke, private detective

See Dixon Hawke Casebooks 1 - finishes after 17; also in the boys story paper Adventure, the Sporting Post newspaper and other publications.

Writers:- not known. Artists:- Various, none known.

Main cast:- Dixon Hawke; Tommy Burke (his assistant in London); Nipper (his assistant in Glasgow).

Time period:- 1940's, 1950's (for the stories re-printed below).

This series of text stories about Dixon Hawke, private detective and his young sidekick Tommy Burke, his assistant in London, was (as far as I know) never published in any of the Thomson picture comics. But the character did appear as text stories in Adventure. This series is slightly off the beaten track for this website. But on the other hand, why not. Hawke and Burke are both out of the Sexton Blake and Tinker moulds.

I have managed to avoid knowing of the existence of Hawke until recently, when I discovered several Dixon Hawke casebooks at a bookfair. Each casebook collects numerous adventures, with most of the stories being standard fare, with one or two being outstanding. It seems no record was kept of who wrote the early adventures of Hawke. (Although Steve Holland has been able to track down with some assistance a couple of the early Hawke writers. Visit his website Bear Alley for further information via his blog's search facility). Although some of the 1960's authors are known. For example, Guy N. Smith. (This from his own website).

I'm not an expert on Hawke, but rooting around on the www I discovered the following information.

According to the Fandom website the character first appeared in 1912, with his last appearance being in 2000. Hawke has appeared in a total of 5,500 stories (give or take a few). Hawke has made more published literary appearances than any other fictional character. Fandom goes on to say about Hawke -

'Dixon Hawke was a Scottish detective living and working in Bath Street, Glasgow. After World War I, he moved to a flat on Dover Street in London, opposite the Ritz Hotel, near Picadilly. He was tall, "aquiline," and around 35 years old, with a "clear cut face." He wore a dressing gown while lounging around his quarters, smoking a "blackened briar." He had a secret room where he kept a variety of clothes and disguises, and there was a secret passage out of his flat, which allowed him to go out unnoticed. He drove a powerful Sunbeam roadster. Hawke was well respected, and well connected, sometimes dining with the Prime Minister. Hawke's adventures took him arouind the world, to hidden civilizations, and pitted him against a wide array of enemies, including mad scientists, voodoo masters and more.'

D.C. Thomson in 2017 published two volumes of re-printed Hawke adventures from the 1940's.

The following adventures of Dixon Hawke are from case books 3; 14 and 16.

***Please note that I am using a standard thumbnail image for all the full size pictures on this page. This is purely being done to save myself sometime.***