Jim "Solid Ivory" Tierney was a fictional detective in The Big Good-Bye, a novel in the Dixon Hill series of crime stories. Tierney had set up residence in the Northern Valley, a region in New Jersey. Tierney was licensed by the state as a crime investigator. Paddy Fallon, a friend of Tierney's, asked him if he considered moving to a more lively place than the Valley where his saved money could work for him. Perhaps, according to Fallon, Tierney could set up shop selling fishing tackle in the Sahara Desert.