Pete and Pete

I simple Ashcan Pete deck designed for both clue gathering AND combat. Great in both solo and two player, and workable into three and four (depending on the group), this deck is solid at a lot of different tasks.

For investigating, Duke (of course) is your best friend, but the Magnifying Glass and Flashlight allow Pete to hold his own after Duke is exhausted. Rabbit's Foot should generate card draw, and Burglary should make you money. And you should regularly dump all that money into your Fire Axe. As good as Duke is at fighting, Pete with a little cash and a fire axe can outclass him easily.

Peter Sylvestre should be there to help make your evade easier, and soak up sanity hits, which can hit Pete hard. He should also be one of the first things (if not your first) to upgrade.

In this deck, you should regularly be running on little to no money. But just in case, Dynamite Blast can act both as an emergency button, and a quick way to get rid of money (paving the way for the axe to hit harder).