# Fictional detectives: the cream of the cream. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 11, 2008, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059 "2008-07-11T00:04:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/41 "2008-07-11T04:23:42Z")
And how about the monk detective in Umberto Eco’s _The Name of the Rose_? I would have loved to have read more stories with him in it. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgonzola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e480ec/32.png) [@Gorgonzola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgonzola)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/42 "2008-07-11T04:42:28Z")
I have to put in a word for Ross Spencer’s [Chance Purdue](http://novelspot.net/node/1584), who could make anyone laugh. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/43 "2008-07-11T04:49:15Z")
How could you leave out Batman? ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/44 "2008-07-11T05:02:54Z")
My favourite is John Marshall Tanner, but no one else seems to have ever heard of him. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/45 "2008-07-11T05:07:26Z")
Mycroft Holmes deserves to be on this list. Oh, and maybe Jupiter Jones after he’s had a few more years to refine his skills. ---
**Author:** ![eulalia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eulalia/32/457_2.png) [@eulalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eulalia)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/46 "2008-07-11T05:25:19Z")
How about G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown? ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/47 "2008-07-11T05:29:33Z")
[QUOTE=aldiboronti] This guy is much earlier. [Marcus Didius Falco](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsey_Davis) [/QUOTE] _shakes fist_ Can I go with Tracer Bullet instead? ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/48 "2008-07-11T05:49:18Z")
What, no mention of Spenser? ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/49 "2008-07-11T05:50:51Z")
[QUOTE=AtomicDog] How could you leave out Batman? [/QUOTE] Look closely. He’s been mentioned. And if Batman gets on the list, then Ralph Dibny probably deserves to be on it as well. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/50 "2008-07-11T05:51:25Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] And how about the monk detective in Umberto Eco’s _The Name of the Rose_? I would have loved to have read more stories with him in it. [/QUOTE] Ditto. And I also love Cadfael on PBS. (I just gotta look up those books.) ---
**Author:** ![chicken\_wire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@chicken\_wire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicken_wire)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/51 "2008-07-11T07:48:54Z")
[QUOTE=ivan astikov] Dave Robicheaux, from James Lee Burkes wonderful books. [/QUOTE] Seconded. Of course Dave Robicheaux considers his old partner Clete Purcell a much better investigator than himself. 🆒 I’d add **Arkady Renko** (chief protagonist from _Gorky Park_ and the subsequent novels by Martin Cruz Smith). ---
**Author:** ![puppygod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@puppygod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puppygod)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/52 "2008-07-11T09:45:45Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] [Conan Edogawa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_Closed) is written targeting children, but he is probably the most profitable (in terms of sales) detective character ever. [/QUOTE] Beat me to it. You can as well add Hattori Heiji, who is probably as good detective as Conan. But I disagree that this series is targeting children. It isn’t. Although some main characters are children (or appear children), themes, humor and plots are certainly addressed to more mature audience. I’d call it ‘targeting family’, but in US (and Europe) ‘family friendly’ usually exclude multiple brutal murders. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/53 "2008-07-11T10:02:52Z")
I guess we need Ironside too. Maybe Starsky and Hutch. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/54 "2008-07-11T10:18:43Z")
How’s your Glaswegian? Taggart! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/55 "2008-07-11T12:37:20Z")
The top five: Travis McGee Matt Scudder The Continental Op (Dashiell Hammett) Philip Marlowe Sherlock Holmes and if we’ve gotta include TV, give an honorable mention to Rita Lee Lance ([Mitzi Kapture](http://img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/medias/nmedia/18/65/29/10/18843819.jpg)) of _Silk Stalkings_, who gets cuteness points. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/56 "2008-07-11T12:41:06Z")
[QUOTE=chicken wire?] Seconded. Of course Dave Robicheaux considers his old partner Clete Purcell a much better investigator than himself. 🆒 I’d add **Arkady Renko** (chief protagonist from _Gorky Park_ and the subsequent novels by Martin Cruz Smith). [/QUOTE] Hee! I still need to read “Wolves Eat Dogs” and “Stalin’s Ghost” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/57 "2008-07-11T12:44:05Z")
Kinky, Kinky, Kinky. Friedman that is. Between cases he can break into country western songs like “They Ain’t Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore” and “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed.” ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/58 "2008-07-11T13:04:51Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I guess we need Ironside too. Maybe Starsky and Hutch. [/QUOTE] Were Husky and Starch really that brilliant as detectives, though? I was rather young when they were on the air, but my impression is that their show was known more for action and drama rather than crime-solving brilliance. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/59 "2008-07-11T13:12:02Z")
With apologies if I missed these two, but Jim Rockford and Thomas Magnum have to in the mix here somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059/60 "2008-07-11T14:42:25Z")
I’m putting a vote in for [Kurt Wallander](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Wallander), because I like Henning Mankell’s books. Oh, and [Sir Seaton Begg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Metatemporal_Detective), purely because I get to use the word ‘metatemporal’ in a post (plus Sir Seaton’s a good friend of mine). OB [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-detectives-the-cream-of-the-cream/456059.md?page=4)