Casey was featured in the pulp magazine, Black Mask, novels, comic books, radio, film, television and legitimate theatre.

With the help of reporter Ann Williams, he solved crimes and recounted his stories to Ethelbert the bartender (portrayed by John Gibson) and other friends at the Blue Note Cafe, their favorite tavern and jazz club where the Archie Bleyer Orchestra[4] and the Teddy Wilson Trio were featured.

The role of Ann Williams was portrayed throughout most of the run of the series (as well as the Casey, Crime Photographer television series) by Jan Miner, perhaps best remembered as "Madge" the manicurist on Palmolive's television soap commercials from the 1960s and 1970s.

"Flashgun" Casey was featured in 21 short stories in Black Mask,[8] a popular pulp magazine of the time.

In 1951 the popular series moved to television: McGavin commented, "The cast of Crime Photographer didn’t go down fighting.