# Literary betectives by locale **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2004, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182 "2004-06-07T21:52:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182/41 "2004-06-09T02:31:36Z")
> [@rexnervous](#): > > Carl Houseman: Nation County, IA Don Harstad, the author of the _Carl Houseman_ detective stories, is a former deputy sheriff from Clayton County, Iowa. Clayton County is the next county east of my home. It is bounded on the East by the Mississippi River and is in the second tier of counties south of Minnesota. It’s not hilly but it has enough gullies (out west they would be called canyons) so as to not make much difference. Don was a pretty good cop of the good old boy variety, in the best sense of the term. National is a little crossroad hamlet where the county fair grounds sits and is the site of a two day trail ride in October that draws as many as 1000 horsemen. National County is Clayton County with a little bit of Fayette, Allamakee and Winnesheik Counties thrown in for good measure. It is a strange place with river rats, a fair number of just plain Hill Billies, Irish and German Catholics, Yankees and, at Postville just across the line in Allamakee County, a substantial Mexican and Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Jewish community working at a couple packing plants, one kosher. Harstad writes a good story but he has also caught the flavor and spirit of this end of the State. ---
**Author:** ![Old\_Goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/5daacb/32.png) [@Old\_Goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Old_Goat)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182/42 "2004-06-09T05:21:11Z")
Lew Griffin - New Orleans Napoleon Bonaparte - Australian Countryside 87 th Precinct - Isola (NYC) Patrick Kenzie & Angela Gennaro - Boston Inspector Lynley - London Leo Waterman - Seattle JP Beaumont - Seattle Amos Walker - Detroit Hoke Moseley - Miami Kathy Mallory - NYC Nick Stefanos & Derek Strange Washington DC Karl Alberg - Sechelt BC Richard Jury - London Jane Whitefeild - Deganwida NY (Buffalo) Lydia Chin & Bill Smith - NYC Inspector Morse - Oxford V I Warshawski - Chicago Nameless - SF ? Who is that crippled ex-cop walks with a cane, based in Florida, has a black girl friend? ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182/43 "2004-06-09T05:22:15Z")
Precious Ramotswe–Gaborone, Botswana Peter Decker–Los Angeles Amelia Peabody–Cairo and Luxor ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182/44 "2004-06-09T06:32:13Z")
Inspector Maigret - Paris ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182/45 "2004-06-09T06:51:00Z")
Eve Dallas - New York, New York ala 2059 (Countess) Madame Karitska - Trafton (I think WA but I could be wrong) I had others but they slipped my mind. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182/46 "2004-06-09T06:52:45Z")
Alex Delaware - Los Angeles, CA Trixie Belden - Upstate NY, can’t remember the name of the town. Gregor Demarkian - Philadelphia, PA Anita Blake - St. Louis, MO StG ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182/47 "2004-06-09T10:31:25Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Marcus Didius Falco-Rome > Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger-Rome Aargh, you and **Dillbo** beat me to Marcus Didius and Gordianus. /hijack/ Who’s the Metellus toff, then? I haven’t heard of him. As I do love sceming Roman mysteries I’d be grateful if you could tell me who the author is and whether you’d recommend the books. Thanks. /end of hijack/ ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182/48 "2004-06-09T10:39:56Z")
Joanna Brady-Bisbee, Arizona ---
**Author:** ![august9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7993a0/32.png) [@august9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/august9)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182/49 "2004-06-09T10:44:26Z")
Mrs. Ariadne Oliver, London, UK Albert Campion, London, UK Andy Dalziel & Peter Pascoe, Yorkshire, UK M. Pinaud, France ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182/50 "2004-06-09T10:46:19Z")
The only other detective I can think of is Dirk Gently, from London. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182/51 "2004-06-09T10:50:53Z")
Sunny Randall: Boston, MA (AKA Spen **s** er with boobs. They’re so alike, it makes me wonder why Parker even bothers.) Jackson “Tres” Navarre: San Antonio, Texas Tres Navarre is the detective protagonist in an excellent series set in and around San Antonio and the Hill Country by Rick Riordan. He’s a PhD in literature and teaches grad-level Medieval Lit at UT-San Antonio. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182/52 "2004-06-09T14:04:12Z")
Hmm. Inspector John Rebus, Edinburgh. Piet van der Valk, Amsterdam. Father Brown, of the parish of Cobhole in Essex, but found all over the UK, and sometimes in France or the US. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182/53 "2004-06-09T14:11:17Z")
Alex Tanner, Notting Hill, London, UK. Inspector Bill Slider, London. Sharon McCone, umm … somewhere in California … San Francisco? ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182/54 "2004-06-09T14:38:38Z")
John Putnam Thatcher–New York City Reuben Frost–ditto ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182/55 "2004-06-09T14:47:20Z")
Moroni Traveler – Salt Lake City (John Irvine series) ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182/56 "2004-06-09T15:51:14Z")
Doc Marion Ford–Dinkins Bay, Florida ---
**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:** [June 10, 2004, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182/57 "2004-06-10T12:14:15Z")
Alvira Meehan–New York City [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/literary-betectives-by-locale/249182.md?page=2)