Phony American private eye? (6)

I believe the answer is:

shamus

'private eye?' is the definition.
(I know that PI can be written as shamus)

'phony american' is the wordplay.
'phony' becomes 'sham' (I've seen this in another clue).
'american' becomes 'us' (abbreviation for United States).
'sham'+'us'='SHAMUS'

(Another definition for shamus that I've seen is " Busy American".)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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