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16 Beloved Detectives to Add to Your Reading Capers
And we want to know, who's your favorite fictional detective? Tell us in the comments. Don’t forget to add new favorites to your Want-to-Read shelf!
Gig: Hard-boiled detective
Beat: A very noir 1940s Los Angeles
Opening Line: "It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars."
Beat: A very noir 1940s Los Angeles
Opening Line: "It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars."
Gig: War veteran-turned-detective
Beat: London
Opening Line: "The buzz in the street was like the humming of flies. Photographers stood massed behind barriers patrolled by police, their long-snouted cameras poised, their breath rising like steam."
Beat: London
Opening Line: "The buzz in the street was like the humming of flies. Photographers stood massed behind barriers patrolled by police, their long-snouted cameras poised, their breath rising like steam."
Gig: Amateur consulting detective
Beat: St. Mary Mead
Opening Line: "It is difficult to know quite where to begin this story, but I have fixed my choice on a certain Wednesday at luncheon at the Vicarage. The conversation, though in the main irrelevant to the matter in hand, yet contained one or two suggestive incidents which influenced later developments."
Beat: St. Mary Mead
Opening Line: "It is difficult to know quite where to begin this story, but I have fixed my choice on a certain Wednesday at luncheon at the Vicarage. The conversation, though in the main irrelevant to the matter in hand, yet contained one or two suggestive incidents which influenced later developments."
Gig: Police detective
Beat: New York City in 2058
Opening Line: "She woke in the dark. Through the slats on the window shades, the first murky hint of dawn slipped, slanting shadowy bars over the bed. It was like waking in a cell."
Beat: New York City in 2058
Opening Line: "She woke in the dark. Through the slats on the window shades, the first murky hint of dawn slipped, slanting shadowy bars over the bed. It was like waking in a cell."
Gig: Mustachioed Belgian private investigator
Beat: Throughout 1920s Europe
Opening Line: "The intense interest aroused in the public by what was known at the time as "The Styles Case" has now somewhat subsided. Nevertheless, in view of the world-wide notoriety which attended it, I have been asked, both by my friend Poirot and the family themselves to write an account of the whole story."
Beat: Throughout 1920s Europe
Opening Line: "The intense interest aroused in the public by what was known at the time as "The Styles Case" has now somewhat subsided. Nevertheless, in view of the world-wide notoriety which attended it, I have been asked, both by my friend Poirot and the family themselves to write an account of the whole story."
Gig: "Holistic detective"
Beat: London with a paranormal twist
Opening Line: "This time there would be no witnesses. This time there was just the dead earth, a rumble of thunder, and the onset of that interminable light drizzle from the northeast by which so many of the world's most momentous events seem to be accompanied."
Beat: London with a paranormal twist
Opening Line: "This time there would be no witnesses. This time there was just the dead earth, a rumble of thunder, and the onset of that interminable light drizzle from the northeast by which so many of the world's most momentous events seem to be accompanied."
Gig: Detective
Beat: Botswana
Opening Line: "Mma Ramotswe had a detective agency in Africa, at the foot of the Kgale Hill. These were its assets: a tiny white van, two desks, two chairs, a telephone, and an old typewriter."
Beat: Botswana
Opening Line: "Mma Ramotswe had a detective agency in Africa, at the foot of the Kgale Hill. These were its assets: a tiny white van, two desks, two chairs, a telephone, and an old typewriter."
Gig: Chief inspector of Sûreté du Québec, the provincial police force for Quebec
Beat: Sleepy, yet murderous, Canadian villages
Opening Line: "Miss Jane Neal met her maker in the early morning mist of Thanksgiving Sunday. It was pretty much a surprise all around."
Beat: Sleepy, yet murderous, Canadian villages
Opening Line: "Miss Jane Neal met her maker in the early morning mist of Thanksgiving Sunday. It was pretty much a surprise all around."
Gig: World War II veteran-turned-private investigator
Beat: Los Angeles' Watts neighborhood from the 1940s to the 1960s
Opening Line: "I was surprised to see a white man walk into Joppy's bar. It's not just that he was white but he wore an off-white linen suit and shirt with a Panama straw hat and bone shoes over flashing white silk socks."
Beat: Los Angeles' Watts neighborhood from the 1940s to the 1960s
Opening Line: "I was surprised to see a white man walk into Joppy's bar. It's not just that he was white but he wore an off-white linen suit and shirt with a Panama straw hat and bone shoes over flashing white silk socks."
Gig: Los Angeles police detective
Beat: Hollywood
Opening Line: "The boy couldn't see in the dark, but he didn't need to. Experience and long practice told him it was good."
Beat: Hollywood
Opening Line: "The boy couldn't see in the dark, but he didn't need to. Experience and long practice told him it was good."
Gig: Police officer-turned-private investigator
Beat: The fictional California town of Santa Teresa
Opening Line:"My name is Kinsey Millhone. I'm a private investigator, licensed by the state of California. I'm thirty-two years old, twice divorced, no kids."
Beat: The fictional California town of Santa Teresa
Opening Line:"My name is Kinsey Millhone. I'm a private investigator, licensed by the state of California. I'm thirty-two years old, twice divorced, no kids."
Gig: Federal police investigator
Beat: Remote parts of Australia
Opening Line: "Even those who didn't darken the door of the church from one Christmas to the next could tell there would be more mourners than seats."
Beat: Remote parts of Australia
Opening Line: "Even those who didn't darken the door of the church from one Christmas to the next could tell there would be more mourners than seats."
Gig: Detective
Beat: New Orleans, Lousiana
Opening Line: "The evening sky was streaked with purple, the color of torn plums, and a light rain has started to fall when I came to the end of the blacktop road that cut through twenty miles of thick, almost impenetrable scrub oak and pine and stopped at the front gate of Angola penitentiary."
Beat: New Orleans, Lousiana
Opening Line: "The evening sky was streaked with purple, the color of torn plums, and a light rain has started to fall when I came to the end of the blacktop road that cut through twenty miles of thick, almost impenetrable scrub oak and pine and stopped at the front gate of Angola penitentiary."
Gig: Consulting detective
Beat: London
Opening Line: "In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army. Having completed my studies there, I was duly attached to the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers as Assistant Surgeon."
Beat: London
Opening Line: "In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army. Having completed my studies there, I was duly attached to the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers as Assistant Surgeon."
Who are your favorite fictional detectives? Let us know in the comments!
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Comments Showing 101-136 of 136 (136 new)
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Linda
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Nov 16, 2018 01:30AM
Commissario Guido Brunetti in the Donna Leon books. Can't believe he's not in the top 16
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Perry Mason created by Erle Stanley Gardner, Tweed created by Colin Forbes and also Goon of Enid Blyton.
I would like to add some of the more Victorian detectives like Martin Hewitt ( a Sherlock Holmes type of detective,) by Arthur Morrison Max Carrados ( one of the first blind detectives in mystery fiction ) by Ernest Bramah, Professor C V Van Deusen ( a k a The Thinking Machine) by Jacques Futrelle and last by not least Baynard Kendricks, Captain Duncan McClain ( another blind detective, who lost his sight in World War I)
Spenser!! Virgil Flowers
Kate Burkholder
Jack Reacher
My new reading goal: Read at least one of all the detectives listed in these comments!
Well, you missed two of the best: Jack Reacher (Lee Child) and Lucas Davenport/ Virgil Flowers (John Sandford). Read every one of both authors.
I honestly can't believe that Kurt Wallander (books by Henning Mankell) was left off this list! Those books are phenomenal and not only are they good suspense but a very interesting insight to Swedish culture in the 1990s.
Elizabeth Peters' Egyptologist Amelia Peabody and, for laughing out loud, Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum.
Inspector Thomas Lynley & Barbara Havers from Elizabeth George!Beautiful serie, human suspense.
My favorites are Eve Dallas, Hercule Poirot, Ian Rutledge and Vanessa Michael Munroe.
I love this list! And have read through its entirety to find that no one mentions Nevada Barr's "Anna Pigeon". A wonderful series that visits many national parks.
I love and laugh at: Stuart MacBride's series with : Logan and SteeleGreat mysteries and laugh out loud dialogue between these two Scots.
Joanne
Julie wrote: "Erlendur - the Icelandic detective !"Yes Julie - I have read most of of the Indrigason books that have been translated. I do love all the scandanavian noir anyway.
Lets have a Canadian Peter Robinson's Banks and Cabot. There are lots of ideas from all the submissionsJohn Morris
I'm surprised Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie hasn't made the list. Darkly humorous crime!
Piet Van der valk (Nicolas Freeling) Freeling died in the late 70's the books are likely out of print and circulation.Inspector Grant (Josephine Tey) great stuff reissued a few years ago as trade peper backs John
Surprised nobody mentioned Ross MacDonald and the Lew Archer mysteries along with John D MacDonald and Travis McGee
Harry Bosch & Cormoran Strike - agree with both of those.Other top picks:
Logan McRae (Stuart Macbride's amazing Aberdeen books - also Ash Henderson); Tom Thorne (author Mark Billingham); Dave Gurney (John Verdon); .Bill Hodges (Stephen King's Mr Mercedes trilogy)
Not quite as far up the list, but also enjoyable:
Roy Grace (Peter James' Brighton books); Peter Grant (Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series).
Poirot and Marple got me into crime fiction.
I love Joe Pike and Maisie Dobbs - they should be on the list as well.
I love Sherlock Holmes BUT only together with his wife Mary Russell!
Chief Bruno Courreges from Martin Walker's Bruno series!
Wendy wrote: "Chief Bruno Courreges from Martin Walker's Bruno series!"Yes, I had forgotten Bruno
I would like to add to the list the books by Arthur Upfield. His detective is Inspector Napoleon (Bony) Bonaparte, a half caste aborigine detective of the Queensland Police Force. There are 37 books in the series and really analyze the Australian culture with a rare expertise.
For female detectives: Alex Morrow series by Denise MinaJames Patterson's Women's Club series
Lynda LaPlante author Anna Travis English detective
Karen Slaughter author, Will Trent series
My favorites will always be Harry Bosh, Lucas Davenport and Kate Burkhart
Brian Freeman author, Jonathan Stride series
Love Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Also, I enjoy Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series, beginning with "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" by Laurie R. King. Recently, I have been reading Dorothy L. Sayers's series character, Lord Peter Wimsey. Sayers revels in wit, humor, and silliness. Sayers' makes her main character rather bookish, poetry-quoting, yet set on making others laugh. He finds crime and murder abhorrent yet feels responsible for helping others due to his privileged position. Being the Duke of Denver's younger son he had the luxury of attending Oxford University where he took a degree in history.
Kurt Wallander, Trixie Belden, Encyclopedia Brown
Thank you all for sharing these suggestions. I'm running out of good detective authors and you've helped a lot.I also like courtroom type of dramas with strong lawyer roles so I've been turning to those while waiting for more detective novels to peak my interest.
Nice article for all detective professionalsdetective agencies in Delhi
Address:46/2B Anand Parbat, Karol Bagh, New Delhi, Delhi 110005
Phone: 099580 45226
Adrian McKinty's Sean Duffy, set in Belfast during the Troubles... When a policeman's lot was not a happy one. One of the best.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/7528...
