High & Low is the original campaign for New York Noir created by Jesse Reichler.

The protagonist of High & Low is Jack Deverell, who gets his start in the NYPD Financial Crimes division in the late 1920s, and whose father was a well-known homicide detective, who was accused of wrong-doing and kicked off the force before Jack became a police officer.

There are a set of about a dozen "contacts" that Jack has access to, which are currently described here: google doc

This sheet of contact info can also be found in the High & Low cases starting with The Wrong Book, though they aren't fully used until the case Foxtrot East.

Cases in the campaign so far (listed chronologically):

  • The Past is a Crooked Game (1915) - Short introductory demo case. Jack gets his start as a kid visiting his father's workplace.
  • Possible Suicide in Financial District (1929) - Jack is put on loan to homicide to help solve a case at Baskins Transport [Unpublished chapters]
  • Death by Design (1932) - Case written by Lux
  • Foxtrot East (1941) - Suspicious death on a bus. Makes use of events, fingerprints, contacts, etc. Long & difficult. Jack as a homicide cop.
  • The Wrong Book (1948) - Hired to find a missing book. Medium length & difficulty. Jack as a private investigator.

HIGH & LOW / JACK DEVERELL TIMELINE CANON

  • June 1915 - Jack is 14 years old; his father is homicide cop in NYPD in good standing [past is crooked]
  • 1919 - Jack's father fired from NYPD (aged 62) accused of mishandling documents [fd suicide implies]
  • 1922 - Jack's father dead at age 66 from drink and heart attack [fd suicide implies]
  • 1926 - Jack is working for Financial Crimes in NYPD and is 25 years old (Jewel is financial crimes secretary) [fd suicide]
  • Nov 1929 - Jack is on loan to homicide to work a suicide case in Financial District (28 years old). [fd suicide]
  • June 1935 - Jack reminisces that his father would be 78 years old if alive [past is crooked]
  • Dec 1941 - Jack is working at Homicide (jewel is his private secretary) [wrong book]
  • March 1949 - Jack is a private investigator (jewel is his private secretary) foxtrot

Other details

  • Jack smoke's briar pipe (he is a fan of Sherlock Holmes)
  • Jack's father (Sam) smoked cigars
  • Jack's boss in homicide may change frequently (kind of like a running joke) to avoid continuity issues
  • Jack's boss in homicide is probably best written as an ADVERSARY to Jack (see Hallie Ephron's Book "Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel"); that is, he is someone who is often standing in Jack's way, trying to make him do things by the book, worrying about complaints from the public or higher ups. He is like a foil to Jack to help make jack's actions have more weight and consequence.