[QUOTE=aldiboronti]
This guy is much earlier.
Marcus Didius Falco
[/QUOTE]
You beat me to it. Best one all round and funny too.
Sister Fidelma (author: Peter Tremayne)
A rather obscure one, and less a detective than a general problem-solver, and sometimes simply an observer who unravels a mystery but leaves things exactly as he found them: Avram Davidson’s Doctor Eszterhazy, of the Triune Monarchy of Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania.
[QUOTE=aldiboronti]
This guy is much earlier.
Marcus Didius Falco
[/QUOTE]
To which I feel obliged to add: Decius Caecilius Metellus and Gordianus the Finder.
And did anybody mention the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew yet? No??? Tsk, tsk. :mad:
[QUOTE=zamboniracer]
With apologies if I missed these two, but Jim Rockford and Thomas Magnum have to in the mix here somewhere.
[/QUOTE]
Damn zamboniracer, you beat me to Rockford. I loved that show.
[QUOTE=The New and Improved Superman]
And did anybody mention the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew yet? No??? Tsk, tsk. :mad:
[/QUOTE]
Ah, poor gumshoeing. Post 25. 
[QUOTE=Leaffan]
Damn zamboniracer, you beat me to Rockford. I loved that show.
[/QUOTE]
Thirded.
The two greatest TV detectives were Columbo and Rockford.
[QUOTE=Siam Sam]
The wife’s and my favorite: Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo Tribal Police in Tony Hillerman’s excellent series. (With Sergeant Jim Chee of the same force a close second.)
[/QUOTE]
Oh, yes, the Legendary Lieutenant. Some of the best detective stories in print. I don’t know how recognizable he’d be for the purpose, though.
[aside] Have you read *Finding Moon?[/*aside]
[QUOTE=thirdwarning]
[aside] Have you read *Finding Moon?[/*aside]
[/QUOTE]
Sure have. Got it in hardback. Very good. 
[QUOTE=Oslo Ostragoth]
What, no mention of Spenser?
[/QUOTE]
Only if he brings Hawk with him.
Morse and now Lewis
Steve Carella,but now fading fast
Frost
Sister Fidelma also starting to fade now
While technically not a detective, Johnny Smith of The Dead Zone is good at solving crimes. And Anthony Michael Hall is so cute.
What, no Elvis Cole? And the ineffable Joe Pike?
[QUOTE=Mangetout]
My list currently includes:
-Philip Marlowe (in fact, as a genre, as much as a specific character)
-Sherlock Holmes
-Hercule Poirot
-Columbo
-Clouseau
-Morse
-Frost (maybe)
[/quote]
Since your goal is to present the characters as a performance, I would suggest detectives that have the greatest differences in presentation between each other. Holmes is incisive and coldly logical; Poirot is polite and diffident; Columbo appears absent-minded and has the habit of asking “oh, just one more thing.” Marlowe is the quintessential noir detective. Clouseau has the ridiculous faux-French accent going on.
But the point is, they all sound different. That’s important. So far, you have a good start on that.
If you’re feeling up to it, another detective duo you can add to your list are Shaggy and Scooby. They certainly have a distinctive sound.
And I second the nomination of Charlie Chan.
Come on, no Inspector Clouseau?
[QUOTE=rayh]
Come on, no Inspector Clouseau?
[/QUOTE]
See both the OP and the post immediately before yours
I love these “List the greatest…” threads, it’s so easy to miss one item on a two page list. 
My current favorite: Aloysius Pendergast.
The crime-solving Rabbi Small.
Precious Ramotswe from the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.
[QUOTE=Raguleader]
I love these “List the greatest…” threads, it’s so easy to miss one item on a two page list.
[/QUOTE]
I can’t believe nobody’s mentioned ___________________!