The article first appeared in The Scroll on February 17, 2024
Terence O’Reilly was a quintessential thriller hero. First introduced by writer Lawrence Blochman in 1936 in the short story The Zarapore Beat, he was described as a towering New York policeman with big shoulders and big feet. Smarts he had in plenty. Deputed to a visiting Indian prince as a “marshal of personal safety”, he accompanied his charge to Zarapore, a fictional kingdom in north India, and saved the day with his quick thinking.