Gentleman Detective - Modern Examples

Modern Examples

Several modern day fictional characters may be considered examples of gentlemen detectives.

These include Adam Dalgliesh, created by P. D. James, and Inspector Morse, created by Colin Dexter. Like Alleyn but unlike earlier gifted amateurs such as Wimsey, Campion or Miss Marple, both Dalgliesh and Morse are professional policemen.

Dalgliesh flourishes in the Metropolitan Police, despite being definitely gentry where such a background may be a disadvantage. Like the earlier Miss Marple, Dalgliesh is the child of an Anglican clergyman. He is somewhat of a recluse and, more eccentrically, a successful poet. However, Morse works in Oxford and is (or was) upwardly mobile: he apparently won a scholarship to Oxford but subsequently failed. Like Alleyn and Wimsey, Morse served in the British army before joining the police; unlike them, he served not as a commissioned officer in a prestigious regiment but as a non-commissioned officer in the Royal Military Police. Morse's snobbery is intellectual rather than a question of breeding or social advantage.

Detective Inspector Lynley is another truly aristocratic member of the Police, being an Earl. Much of the plot of the novels by Elizabeth George revolve around his working relationship with Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, who is of lower-class origins. Both show greater loyalty to each other than to official regulations and accepted attitudes to their relative stations, and both are capable of self-sacrificing actions of noblesse oblige.

Carmen Sandiego (character), the "The World's Greatest Thief", was original ACME Crimenet's most intelligent and distinguished gentleman detective who always solved the case. She got so bored, she changed careers as a gentleman thief and became leader of V.I.L.E., all just for the challenge.

Professor Layton from the video game series named after him.