# People other than Police who Solve Murders **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 17, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697 "2014-09-17T00:42:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/1 "2014-09-17T00:42:10Z")
This started out as a post in the random silliness thread, but it keeps getting longer and longer, so I thought to bring the conversation here People other than Police who Solve Murders:[ul][_]Private Detectives[_]Defense Attorneys[_]Reporters[_]Pathologists[_]Insurance Investigators[_]Mystery Writers[_]Gentleman Amateurs[_]Nosy Little Old Ladies[_]Precocious Kids[_]The Post-Murder Cleaning Crew[_]Psychics[_]Criminology ProfessorsGhost of the victim(s)[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/2 "2014-09-17T01:04:34Z")
Wealthy childless couples (Nick and Nora Charles, Jonathan and Jennifer Hart). ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/3 "2014-09-17T01:19:56Z")
[quote=“Lumpy, post:1, topic:698697”] [li]Precocious Kids[/li][/QUOTE] Subset: Sleuths who were regressed to childhood by a plot device. > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Wealthy childless couples (Nick and Nora Charles, Jonathan and Jennifer Hart). Playboy bachelors with lingering childhood trauma. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/4 "2014-09-17T01:36:02Z")
Cats (Lilian Braun’s “The Cat Who…”) Drunk ex-cops (Lawrence Block’s Scudder) Fake psychics and cab drivers (Hitchcock’s FAMILY PLOT) Musicians (Hitchcock’s THE LADY VANISHED) Family doctor (Hitchcock’s 2nd version of THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/5 "2014-09-17T01:52:34Z")
Religious Ministers ([Father Brown](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Brown), Rabbi David Small) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/6 "2014-09-17T01:57:37Z")
Book dealers (The Club Dumas) Thieves (The Burke Series by Andrew Vachss) Wealthy Playboys (Batman, Iron Man, Zorro, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/7 "2014-09-17T01:58:48Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Religious Ministers ([Father Brown](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Brown), Rabbi David Small) And nuns. Scroll down this [page](http://www.detecs.org/intro.html) for a list, including [Sister Mary Teresa](http://www.detecs.org/teresa.html), who featured in 10 novels (with nun-punny names) by the same author as the Father Dowling mysteries. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/8 "2014-09-17T02:03:36Z")
The world’s greatest waiter. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/9 "2014-09-17T02:06:01Z")
Nameless old men in coffee shops ([The Old Man in the Corner](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Man_in_the_Corner)) Thieves([Arsene Lupin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ars%C3%A8ne_Lupin), Raffles, [Nick Velvet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_D._Hoch#Nick_Velvet)) Geniuses ([The Thinking Machine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_S._F._X._Van_Dusen)) ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/10 "2014-09-17T02:16:37Z")
- Morticians (Hitchcock Sewell series) - Bounty hunters (Stephanie Plum) - Assassins - Insurance adjusters - Reporters (see Hiaasen, Carl) - Ethnomusicologists ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/11 "2014-09-17T02:24:06Z")
Don’t forget the subset of detectives with disabilities: - Wheelchair use - Blind - Deaf - Obsessive compulsive - Too old - Too fat ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/12 "2014-09-17T02:29:22Z")
Judges-- Judge Deborah Knott by Margaret Maron ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/13 "2014-09-17T02:35:03Z")
Harvard Symbologists ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/14 "2014-09-17T02:57:00Z")
Aliens (I assume the alien cop in Alienation solved some murders) Cyborgs- Robocop and the old DC character Robotman ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/15 "2014-09-17T02:59:18Z")
A group of people who are all somehow connected but have no idea why they were invited to this dinner in this creepy mansion. (Clue) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/16 "2014-09-17T04:47:04Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Wealthy childless couples (Nick and Nora Charles, Jonathan and Jennifer Hart). And Mr. and Mrs. North (tv series from the early 50’s, middle class more than wealthy). ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/17 "2014-09-17T05:25:31Z")
Teenagers – Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew. I understand this may fall under “Precocious Kids” for some but I think of kids as being pre-teens. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/18 "2014-09-17T05:27:49Z")
Interfering Bible Bashers ---- Uncle Abner. Lexicographers, Dr. Gideon Fell & Baronets, Sir Henry Merrivale : Dickson Carr. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/19 "2014-09-17T05:34:12Z")
Ham radio operators who intercept an errant signal ([High Frequency](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095940/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)) ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697/20 "2014-09-17T05:44:08Z")
The Perpetrators (I think there are a few plots, especially Sci-Fi, where the murderer kills someone and then gets amnesia, figures it out, and then is wracked with guilt. But I can’t recall any examples) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-other-than-police-who-solve-murders/698697.md?page=2)