- Title origin: Definitely the obvious source - the slang for a Private Detective used to be "private dick", which is a tad embarrassing these days (to me), but one could also interpret it as a combination of "Darkwing Duck" and "Private Eye". *shrug*

- Here it is, folks, my firstest DW fanfic ever! This one was done in 1992, I think, either while DW was still airing on ABC Saturday mornings, or just after it was cancelled - I can't recall. Being as it is 11 years old now, it is hideous by almost all standards, but considering that I was all of 13 years old when I wrote it it's not all bad. The narrative is clumsy and the story is cliche, sure, but at the same time with a lot of tweaking and whatnot I could actually see it as an episode. The characters are pretty one-note, but they're the notes that were seen on the show, so make what you will. Man, looking over the story I wish I could just do a running commentary on the whole thing, like a DVD commentary. Those things are so cool, and I have something to say about practically everything in this... *sigh*

- This fic actually was my second attempt at a DW fanfic - before I even knew what they really were - coming after an aborted attempt at writing a script for an episode. It was going to involve Bushroot and the rainforest; part of why I let it go was because I got horribly, horribly stuck on it after about two scenes (some of it showed up in "Sea of Green", though - like, one or two lines), and the other reason for abandoning it was because that plot showed up - briefly - on the show itself, in "A Star Is Scorned". (Incidentally, that happened to me a second time, with a story I was going to do about DW apparently "dying" thanks to a plot by Jambolaya Jake, and then his ghost coming back to help everyone bring him back. Even had Morgana in it. Then about a month later "Dead Duck" aired and, well... *g*) Anyway, after another few weeks or months or something - time at that point in my life went at a wholly different rate so I honestly don't know how long it was - I got the idea for this story, and wrote it in about a week.

- Incidentally, unless I'm remembering myself wrong, more than one element in this story came from a weird episode of "Married... With Children".

- There are one or two little tiny rewrites I made as I coded this in HTML, but for the most part it's intact as the 1995 rewrite I made, thanks to Kim McFarland. I don't have a saved copy of the original version, and I'm glad of it. ;)

- "Shamrock Bones, Private Eye" - part of me thinks that's a nod to "Rescue Rangers", since I can't actually remember the play they made on Sherlock Holmes's name for the detective books that Chip was all hung up on. However, another part of me thinks that's not it. *shrug* I probably stole it from somewhere; I have a real failing when it comes to thinking of names and titles. *G*

- "It was a dark and stormy night" - believe it or not, this is NOT a reference to (or knock-off of) any of Kim's fics. I wrote it about two or three years before I even met her. But coincidentally, it's her opening phrase of choice for DW fics. *lol*

- As if it weren't obvious, "Phalse" is not an Irish name. It's just a goofy name - y'know, as if Gerald Sham weren't an obvious enough fake name, the guy who never even existed is named False Sham. Heh.

- There are a couple of things I'm not sure translated right in the narrative. "However, he also had a large brown moustache, a battered black derby, and small, almost sinister-looking eyes. He seemed sincere enough, and I figured I had nothing to lose" - this is a joke, or is intended as one anyway - the point being Gerald is obviously NOT sincere, and the audience can tell, and DW even describes him as "sinister" then turns around and says "he seems sincere". I don't think it worked. <;)

- Morgana as the femme fatale is just so obvious a choice. I love it, though. ;) Funny thing is that I don't think I've ever managed to write her as in-character in any other fic as I did here; probably because here I just wrote her as she was in "Fungus Amongus" and stuck with that. Works for me. ^_~

- *giggles* The plot in this story is so lame. WHY would a private eye murder a rich man he's never heard of, then come in and murder his nephew? But the world it takes place in sort of accepts it. It's so cartoony it almost works. ALMOST - I still think I could've done better, but eh. I think this might have been the plot in that "Married...With Children" episode I mentioned.

- Stupid as it is, that scene with LP and the police still cracks me up. They're just THAT stupid. To the point where DW even realizes that they SHOULD do the work to catch him, and yet, they don't. They don't search the whole office, they don't take LP in for questioning, they even apologize for busting in on him. And LP knew they would do this, not because of any great plan, but because he's equally as dumb as they are. *giggles*

- It's been so long since I saw the original version of this that I can't remember how I ended it, but it seems to me that I redid the ending - the bit with the ghosts either wasn't originally in there, or it was different somehow. I do know that the line, "murderer... liar... cheapskate" came in the rewrite. *cracks up* Kinda just sneaks by you, doesn't it? ;)

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