Detective Fiction - Famous Fictional Detectives

Famous Fictional Detectives

The full list of fictional detectives is immense. The format is well suited to dramatic presentation, and so there are also many television and film detectives, besides those appearing in adaptations of novels in this genre. Fictional detectives are generally applicable to one of four archetypes:

• the amateur detective (Marple, Jessica Fletcher, Peter Wimsey);
• the private investigator (Dupin, Holmes, Marlowe, Cross, Spade, Garret & The Dead Man, Poirot, Magnum, Simon & Simon);
• the police detective (Dalgliesh, Kojak, Morse, Frost, Barnaby, Clouseau, Columbo);
• the forensic specialists (Scarpetta, Quincy, Cracker, CSI, John Thorndyke).

Notable fictional detectives and their creators include:

Great detectives (non-private)

• Jonathan Ames - Bored to Death
• Sexton Blake - many including Hal Meredeth, John Creasey, Jack Trevor Story and Michael Moorcock
• Encyclopedia Brown – Donald J. Sobol
• Father Brown – G. K. Chesterton
• Amelia Butterworth - Anna Katharine Green
• Max Carrados – Ernest Bramah
• Lord Edward Corinth - David Roberts
• Jonathan Creek – Jonathan Creek
• Alex Delaware – Jonathan Kellerman
• Nancy Drew – Carolyn Keene
• Bulldog Drummond – Sapper
• C. Auguste Dupin – Edgar Allan Poe
• Erast Fandorin – Boris Akunin
• Gideon Fell – John Dickson Carr
• Jessica Fletcher – Created by William Link and Richard Levinson for Murder, She Wrote (TV 1984-96)
• The Hardy Boys – Franklin W. Dixon
• Thorpe Hazell – Victor Whitechurch
• Shinichi Kudo – Gosho Aoyama
• Yusaku Kudo - Gosho Aoyama
• Hattori Heiji - Gosho Aoyama
• Patrick Jane - Created by Bruno Heller for The Mentalist TV series (2008- )
• L Lawliet - Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
• Miss Marple – Agatha Christie
• Perry Mason – Erle Stanley Gardner
• Travis McGee – John D. MacDonald
• Dr. Lancelot Priestly – John Rhode
• Ellery Queen – Ellery Queen
• Tom Swift-Victor Appleton
• Violet Strange - Anna Katharine Green
• Dr. John Thorndyke – R. Austin Freeman
• Philip Trent - Edmund Clerihew Bentley
• Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen - Jacques Futrelle
• Lord Peter Wimsey – Dorothy L. Sayers

Private Investigators

• Angelus/Angel – Created by Joss Whedon for Angel (TV series) (1999-2004)
• Lew Archer – Ross Macdonald
• Byomkesh Bakshi – Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay
• Trueman Bradley – Alexei Maxim Russell
• Vincent Calvino – Christopher G. Moore
• Elvis Cole – Robert Crais
• The Continental Op – Dashiell Hammett
• Carland Cross – Created by Michel Oleffe and Olivier Grenson for the animated Carland Cross (TV series) (1996)
• Tim Diamond – Anthony Horowitz
• Feluda – Satyajit Ray
• Dirk Gently - Douglas Adams
• Colonel Wyckham Gore - Lynn Brock
• Cordelia Gray - P.D. James
• Mike Hammer – Mickey Spillane
• Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Laura Holt – Created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason for Remington Steele TV series (1982–87)
• Thomas Magnum – Created by Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson for Magnum, P.I. TV series (1980–88)
• Philip Marlowe – Raymond Chandler
• Kinsey Millhone- Sue Grafton
• Adrian Monk – Created by Andy Breckman for Monk (TV series) (2002–09)
• Richard Moore - Gosho Aoyama
• Charlie Parker - John Connolly
• Hercule Poirot – Agatha Christie
• Solar Pons - August Derleth
• Easy Rawlins – Walter Mosley
• Jim Rockford ­­– Created by Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell for The Rockford Files TV series (1974–80)
• Michael Shayne – Brett Halliday
• Miss Silver – Patricia Wentworth
• A.J. and Rick Simon - Created by Philip DeGuere for Simon & Simon TV series (1981–89)
• Sam Spade – Dashiell Hammett
• Shawn Spencer – Created by Steve Franks for Psych (TV series) (2006- )
• Spenser – Robert B. Parker
• John Taylor - Simon R. Green
• Amos Walker - Loren D. Estleman
• V.I. Warshawski - Sara Paretsky
• Nero Wolfe – Rex Stout
• Precious Ramotswe – Alexander McCall Smith

Police detectives

• 87th Precinct detectives - Ed McBain
• Roderick Alleyn – Ngaio Marsh
• Inspector Alan Banks – Peter Robinson
• Tom Barnaby – Caroline Graham
• Martin Beck – Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
• Detective Kate Beckett – Andrew W. Marlowe
• Detective Mick Belker - Hill Street Blues
• Harry Bosch – Michael Connelly
• Detective Lennie Briscoe – Dick Wolf
• Charlie Chan – Earl Derr Biggers
• Inspector Clouseau – Pink Panther
• Columbo – Created by William Link and Richard Levinson
• Sergeant Cuff - Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone
• Sonny Crockett – Miami Vice
• Adam Dalgliesh – P. D. James
• Peter Diamond - Peter Lovesey
• Kurt Wallander – Henning Mankell* Colonel Faridi - Ibn-e-Safi
• DCS Christopher Foyle – Foyle's War
• Inspector French – Freeman Wills Crofts
• Joe Friday
• George Gideon – John Creasey
• Det. Bobby Goren – Law & Order: Criminal Intent
• Ebenezer Gryce - Anna Katharine Green
• Captain Hameed - Ibn-e-Safi
• Det. Alexandra Eames – Law & Order: Criminal Intent
• Det. Elliot Stabler – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
• Det. Olivia Benson – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
• Det. Fin Tutuola – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
• Det. John Munch – Homicide: Life on the Street & Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
• Nick Amaro – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
• Amanda Rollins – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
• Adjutant Detective Henk Grijpstra and Detective Sergeant Rinus de Gier - Janwillem van de Wetering
• Chief Inspector Heat - Joseph Conrad, The Secret Agent
• Chief Inspector Japp – Agatha Christie
• Inspector Javert - Victor Hugo
• Lt. Theo Kojak – Kojak (played by Telly Savalas)
• Inspector Lestrade – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Inspector Karl Lohmann – Fritz Lang
• Sarah Lund - The Killing
• Thomas Lynley – The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
• Vic Mackey – The Shield
• Jules Maigret – Georges Simenon
• Inspector Montalbano – Andrea Camilleri
• Inspector Morse – Colin Dexter
• Frank Pembleton - Homicide: Life on the Street
• Cole Phelps - L.A. Noire
• Inspector Rebus – Ian Rankin
• Jackie Reid - Created by Glenn Chandler for the Taggart TV series (1983-2010)
• Arkady Renko - Martin Cruz Smith
• Charlie Resnick – John Harvey
• Robbie Ross - Created by Glenn Chandler for the Taggart TV series (1983-2010)
• Andy Sipowicz - NYPD Blue
• Jesse Stone – Robert B. Parker
• Jim Taggart - Created by Glenn Chandler for the Taggart TV series (1983-2010)
• Jane Tennison – Prime Suspect (UK TV series)
• Dick Tracy - Chester Gould
• Commissaris Simon "Piet" van der Valk - Van der Valk
• Van Veeteren – Håkan Nesser
• Martin Vrenko – Avgust Demšar

Forensic specialists

• Temperance Brennan – Bones
• Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald - Cracker
• Catherine Willows - CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
• Gil Grissom – CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
• Raymond Langston – CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
• Donald "Ducky" Mallard – N.C.I.S.
• Abby Scuito - N.C.I.S.
• Quincy – Quincy, M.E.
• Elizabeth Rodgers – Law & Order
• Kay Scarpetta – Patricia Cornwell
• Mac Taylor – CSI: NY
• Stella Bonasera - CSI: NY
• Jo Danville - CSI: NY
• Calleigh Duquesne - CSI: Miami
• Horatio Caine - CSI: Miami
• Dr. Thorndyke – R. Austin Freeman

Catholic Church detectives

• Father Brown – G. K. Chesterton
• Brother Cadfael – Edith Pargeter
• Father Frank Dowling - Father Dowling Mysteries
• Father John Blackwood "Blackie" Ryan – Andrew Greeley
• William of Baskerville – Umberto Eco

Government agents

• Alex Cross – James Patterson
• Agent Dale Cooper – Twin Peaks
• Fox Mulder and Dana Scully – The X-Files
• Francis York Morgan - Deadly Premonition
• Imran/X-2 - Ibn-e-Safi

Others

• Simon Templar, a.k.a. "The Saint" – Leslie Charteris
• Batman, a.k.a. Bruce Wayne – Bob Kane & Bill Finger
• Karel "Carl" Kolchak – Jeffrey Grant Rice
• L Lawliet – Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
• Ben Matlock – Dean Hargrove
• Detective Chimp – DC Comics
• Naoto Shirogane- Persona 4
• Hershel Layton - Professor Layton series (Nintendo)

For younger readers

• Trixie Belden
• The Boxcar Children
• Inspector Gadget
• Ginny Gordon
• The Three Investigators
• The Happy Hollisters
• Inspector Rex
• Roman Mysteries
• Scooby Doo
• Hardy Boys

Historical

• Brother Cadfael – Edith Pargeter
• Judge Dee – Robert van Gulik
• Sister Fidelma – Peter Tremayne
• Gordianus the Finder – Steven Saylor
• Marcus Didius Falco – Lindsey Davis
• Li Kao – Barry Hughart

Science-fiction and Fantasy

• Elijah Baley – Isaac Asimov
• Dr. Phil D'Amato – Paul Levinson
• Lord Darcy – Randall Garrett
• Rick Deckard – Philip K. Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
• Harry Dresden – Jim Butcher, The Dresden Files
• Garrett – Glen Cook
• Dirk Gently – Douglas Adams
• Gil Hamilton – Larry Niven
• Takeshi Kovacs – Richard Morgan
• Thursday Next – Jasper Fforde
• Sam Vimes – Terry Pratchett
• Miles Vorkosigan – Lois McMaster Bujold