# Question for non-Americans: Great detectives in your culture? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473 "2016-05-23T18:49:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/21 "2016-05-24T13:05:51Z")
Though I realize the OP asked about characters who might be based on real people, this still seems to fall into the genre of portrayals on TV or in literature. As such, I think this is best suited to Cafe Society. Relocated from IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/22 "2016-05-24T14:39:06Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Australia - Arthur Upfield’s “Boney” series about an Aboriginal detective in the Queensland Police Force probably has the greatest fame/length of time cross-section. > > Kerry Greenwood’s “Miss Fisher” series, set in Melbourne in the Roaring 20’s is also a solid contender at the moment. The _Cliff Hardy_ books by Peter Corris are also very well known here. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2016, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/23 "2016-05-24T14:46:09Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Also, Agatha Christie was English, not American. I want to believe that the OP thought “Jessica Fletcher”, at which point his fingers automatically typed “Agatha Christie”. ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/24 "2016-05-25T07:16:43Z")
Piet Van der Valk was the hero detective in a great series of procedurals by Nicholas Freeling, that take place mostly in the Netherlands. An American author, Martin Cruz Smith continues to write a series about the exploits of Arkady Renko that take place in Moscow and other parts of the Soviet Union. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/25 "2016-05-25T08:38:23Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > Also from the UK: > > These are all cops: other than Sherlock, I’m struggling to think of any famous PIs. Campion, I suppose, but his heyday was quite a while ago. There’s Hercule Poirot, of course, but also [Sexton Blake,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexton_Blake) who’s probably due a bit of a revival. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/26 "2016-05-25T08:43:52Z")
Russia has Boris Akunin’s wonderful Erast Fandorin novels. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/27 "2016-05-25T08:48:23Z")
Georges Simenon is one of those Belgian authors that people tend to think of as French; his Commissaire Maigret is French. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/28 "2016-05-25T08:48:26Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > I’m an American as well, but a big fan of Wallender books, featuring the eponymous Swedish police inspector. > > BBC has adapted some for TV, which I do enjoy, but nothing like the books. You may prefer the Swedish adaptations. I did. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2016, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/29 "2016-05-25T08:56:33Z")
Speaking of Sweden, that country has The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. ---
**Author:** ![Krav\_Manga](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/krav_manga/32/3153_2.png) [@Krav\_Manga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krav_Manga)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/30 "2016-05-26T03:04:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Australia - Arthur Upfield’s “Boney” series about an Aboriginal detective in the Queensland Police Force probably has the greatest fame/length of time cross-section. > > Kerry Greenwood’s “Miss Fisher” series, set in Melbourne in the Roaring 20’s is also a solid contender at the moment. > [@Shakester](#): > > The _Cliff Hardy_ books by Peter Corris are also very well known here. The Les Norton novels are pretty popular too. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/31 "2016-05-26T07:55:45Z")
**Simenon** ’s _Maigret_ has already been mentioned for Belgium. He’s still relatively popular although I suspect that most Belgians, like me, are familiar with the character but have never read a single book (there are dozens of them). The TV adaptations may be a bit more well-known as there were reruns until fairly recently. > [@Mops](#): > > … > As for German homegrown TV detectives, the classic ones are > > - police detective Herbert Keller from [Der Kommissar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Kommissar_%28TV_series%29) > - police detective Stephan Derrick and assistant Harry Klein from [Derrick](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_%28TV_series%29) > - private detective Josef Matula from [Ein Fall für zwei](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ein_Fall_f%C3%BCr_zwei), played by the same actor from (the actor’s) ages of 37 to 69 years. > … _Derrick_ was on TV on Friday nights for what seemed like forever. I still remember watching it every week in the late 80s-early 90s and… I don’t know why :D. Derrick was absolutely uncool, the fashions were already very dated by the time I watched the series, there was almost no action and yet it was weirdly fascinating. Kind of hypnotic, actually. When they started running out of episodes, they turned to other German series but none of them caught my attention as I found them all boring. Well, Derrick was kind of boring, too but… unique. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/32 "2016-05-26T11:30:39Z")
As Krav Marga etal mentioned, Cliff Hardy [Peter Corris] and Les Norton [Bob Barrett] both adding to their Australian detective franchises from time to time, but none of their recent offerings has set my world alight. Peter Temple’s Jack Irish novels, and the TV adaptations starring Guy Pearce probably make him the default best-known contemporary PI. Quality of both books and adaptations is pretty good, although not nearly as good as his other Melbourne cop series, which includes Fatal Shore. ---
**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:** [May 26, 2016, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/33 "2016-05-26T11:35:36Z")
In ancient Greece, Sophocles’ _Oedipus Rex_ could be the oldest detective story, with Oedipus as detective trying to locate a murderer who turns out to be himself. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/34 "2016-05-26T12:56:39Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > These are all cops: other than Sherlock, I’m struggling to think of any famous PIs. Dirk Gently. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/35 "2016-05-27T00:01:19Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > In the US its everyone from Agatha Christie to Mickey Spillane to a host of tv detectives like MacGuyver, Magnum PI, Kojak, and Columbo to cartoon detectives like Dick Tracy to youth detectives the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. You forgot Batman. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/36 "2016-05-27T04:08:51Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > These are all cops: other than Sherlock, I’m struggling to think of any famous PIs. Campion, I suppose, but his heyday was quite a while ago. Lord Peter Wimsey. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/37 "2016-05-27T15:47:50Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > In ancient Greece, Sophocles’ _Oedipus Rex_ could be the oldest detective story, with Oedipus as detective trying to locate a murderer who turns out to be himself. If you have a Catholic Bible, there are two mystery stories from the Apocrypha. Both _ **Susannah** _ and \*\*\*Bel and the Dragon \*\*\*are mystery stories. _ **Susannah** _ is a sort of Perry Mason mystery in which the prophet Daniel breaks down lying witnesses under cross-examination. And \*\*\*Bel and the Dragon \*\*\* had Daniel trying to figure out what really happens to the sacrifices being offered to the dragon idol. ---
**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:** [May 28, 2016, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473/38 "2016-05-28T10:49:28Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > In ancient Greece, Sophocles’ _Oedipus Rex_ could be the oldest detective story, with Oedipus as detective trying to locate a murderer who turns out to be himself. > [@astorian](#): > > If you have a Catholic Bible, there are two mystery stories from the Apocrypha. Both _ **Susannah** _ and \*\*\*Bel and the Dragon \*\*\*are mystery stories. _ **Susannah** _ is a sort of Perry Mason mystery in which the prophet Daniel breaks down lying witnesses under cross-examination. And \*\*\*Bel and the Dragon \*\*\* had Daniel trying to figure out what really happens to the sacrifices being offered to the dragon idol. Would Sophocles still be older? From when does the Apocrypha date? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-great-detectives-in-your-culture/755473.md?page=1)