# Which fictional detective is the most personally miserable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 26, 2018, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301 "2018-08-26T14:46:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/121 "2018-09-01T00:17:35Z")
> [@blob](#): > > I don’t think it would be… It was their “witty repartee” that was the show, wasn’t it? (I don’t remember an awful lot, I was a kid, but I did see it on tv) They were cute together. I read that SSJ personally did not like The Rock, but she was professional enough not to let it show in the episodes. I’m a big fan - I think the episodes hold up well. I rewatch them. There are a couple bad ones, but then, aren’t there always? ---
**Author:** ![blob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blob/32/489_2.png) [@blob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blob)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/122 "2018-09-01T00:33:49Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > They were cute together. Yes, very much a “team” from what I remember. Like that other show with Robert Wagner and Stephanie whatshername. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/123 "2018-09-01T01:02:45Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Wallander, Morse and Rebus? > > I don’t think you are allowed to be a male fictional detective and be chirpy. Peter Wimsey and Tom Barnaby are pretty happy fellows. OK, Peter still has nightmares from WWI, but for the most part he’s got a fantastic sense of humor. ---
**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 1, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/124 "2018-09-01T01:29:55Z")
I have another candidate, Commissario Ricciardi. He is a detective in Naples in the early 30’s, so among other things he has to deal with the politics of Fascism as a public official. But what makes him unhappy is that He sees dead people. Specifically, he sees the ghosts of people who were murdered constantly re-enacting the moment of their death, at the place of their death, and the ghosts say the last things on their minds as they died. This can occasionally be useful to a detective on a murder case, but virtually all of the time, the thoughts are opaque rather than useful. Also, since Italians are (in this universe) superstitious and paranoid, he can’t share this curse with anyone, and he has to maintain a solitary and sterile existence, with his only solace being his old nurse who takes care of his household. There are two women who love him but can’t have him. Because he is so completely upright and incorruptible, the other cops can’t stand him. He is truly alone. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2018, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/125 "2018-09-02T06:44:04Z")
> [@blob](#): > > I think having a disorder that affects every aspect of your life would be pretty hard to deal with. Somebody without that type of illness can try to come to terms with whatever has come their way in life. But does “pretty hard to deal with” equal “most personally miserable”? I’m not seeing it. I’m not saying Monk doesn’t hurt, I just think there are some even more miserable buggers out there. ---
**Author:** ![blob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blob/32/489_2.png) [@blob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blob)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/126 "2018-09-02T06:49:48Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > But does “pretty hard to deal with” equal “most personally miserable”? Well, I don’t think you can say who is “most” anything because it’s never a comparison of exactly the same thing, but there are lots of scenes that show just how much and how badly it affects him personally, I think it’d be pretty hard to live like that. He’s irritating, yes, but he’s also suffering, day in and day out. There’s no respite from all of his compulsions. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/127 "2018-09-04T16:10:34Z")
> [@blob](#): > > Well, I don’t think you can say who is “most” anything because it’s never a comparison of exactly the same thing, but there are lots of scenes that show just how much and how badly it affects him personally, I think it’d be pretty hard to live like that. He’s irritating, yes, but he’s also suffering, day in and day out. There’s no respite from all of his compulsions. Don’t forget, he did get respite. “Now” in the story timeline, Monk had gotten a lot better. Near the end, he resolved his claustrophobia by being locked in the car trunk with Harold. And after solving Trudy’s murder, in the last scene we see Monk in, going on to a new murder scene, he looks genuinely happy. Like a huge weight has been lifted. He made big progress from the pilot episode, or before, when he never even left his apartment for six years. I wouldn’t be surprised if getting closure made a lot of his OCD recede. ---
**Author:** ![blob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blob/32/489_2.png) [@blob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blob)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/128 "2018-09-04T22:19:20Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Don’t forget, he did get respite. Yes, I know, but I don’t give out spoilers because there are always people who haven’t seen a show or read a book yet. ---
**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:** [September 5, 2018, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/129 "2018-09-05T05:22:41Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Don’t forget, he did get respite. “Now” in the story timeline, Monk had gotten a lot better. Near the end, he resolved his claustrophobia by being locked in the car trunk with Harold. And after solving Trudy’s murder, in the last scene we see Monk in, going on to a new murder scene, he looks genuinely happy. Like a huge weight has been lifted. > > He made big progress from the pilot episode, or before, when he never even left his apartment for six years. I wouldn’t be surprised if getting closure made a lot of his OCD recede. Indeed. Considering Monk as suffering “the worst” is nothing short of ludicrous. ---
**Author:** ![blob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blob/32/489_2.png) [@blob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blob)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/130 "2018-09-05T06:06:58Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > is nothing short of ludicrous. Sure, healthy people are WAY better off than somebody with a chronic and intractable illness. You are so CLEVER! (hint: the “people” being discussed are fictional… :D) ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/131 "2018-09-05T11:59:51Z")
I change my nomination to Ian Rutledge, recommended by **Roderick Femm**. A WWI vet, Rutledge is still deeply troubled by the war and he regularly hears the voice of a sergeant he killed for cowardice. In the first book, he suspects Scotland Yard assigned him the case intending for him to fail because of his condition. He resolves never to go back to the clinic, and it’s implied that he’ll kill himself first. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/132 "2018-09-05T13:07:48Z")
I’ve been watching The Tunnel lately with a practically chirpy Stannis Baraetheon and his miserable partner, Elyse Wasserman. I like the switching of roles here- Elyse is beautiful (played by Clemence Posey) and a total mess. Her twin died, she’s a bundle of raw nerves about it every second of every day but she is of course a brilliant detective. ---
**Author:** ![Snake\_Plissken\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Snake\_Plissken\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snake_Plissken_1)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/133 "2019-09-04T11:27:26Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Two nominees: > > [Rust Cohle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_Cohle), from True Detective Season One, never said anything except bleak aphorisms that made you want to slit your wrists. Great show, but Jesus Christ, man. > > [Bernie Gunther](http://www.thrillingdetective.com/gunther.html), from Phillip Kerr’s eponymous series, lived through the Third Reich by going along to get along. He never commits atrocities, indeed investigates and even stops some atrocities, but also never forgives himself for being part of the evil of Nazi Germany. His gallows humor covers up a bone-deep self-loathing. " I’d consider myself a realist, all right? But in philosophical terms I’m what’s called a pessimist… I think human consciousness is a tragic misstep in evolution. We became too self-aware. Nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself. We are creatures that should not exist by natural law… We are things that labor under the illusion of having a self, that accretion of sensory experience and feelings, programmed with total assurance that we are each somebody, when in fact everybody’s nobody… I think the honorable thing for our species to do is to deny our programming. Stop reproducing, walk hand in hand into extinction; one last midnight, brothers and sisters opting out of a raw deal." Rust Cohl Yeah, Jesus! ---
**Author:** ![Snake\_Plissken\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Snake\_Plissken\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snake_Plissken_1)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/134 "2019-09-04T11:31:39Z")
If Rust Cohl ('True Detective, Season 1) is first, Jimmy McNulty (‘The Wire’) is a close second. “What the fuck did I do?” ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/135 "2019-09-04T17:57:16Z")
I’ll put in a vote for detective Riggs from Lethal Weapon. His idea of fun was crying in his crappy trailer with a gun in his mouth while staring at pictures of his dead wife. He was so suicidal on the job that he was dangerous to be around. Then when he finally started to have feelings for another woman, she was murdered too. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/136 "2019-09-04T18:23:36Z")
Mick “Brew” Axbrewder is pretty miserable. He’s an alcoholic. While drunk he killed his own brother, who happened to be a cop. He caused his partner’s arm to get blown off. He lost his PI license. He loses a lot of fights, despite being huge. He gets shot more regularly than I’d like to. IIRC he’s homeless at some point, too, sleeping on his partner’s couch when she’ll let him. His car is a piece of shit (although not a sky blue Cadillac convertible; go figure). I’m still hoping that Mr. Donaldson writes the 5th book he’s promised, but I know there aren’t many wanting to hold him to that promise. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/137 "2019-09-04T18:39:38Z")
We found a Belgian series on PBS that I never noticed when/if it was originally broadcast…it’s shown at odd hours with episodes out of order now. It’s called _Professor T_ and at first I thought it was a Monk rip-off, because he has a lot of Monk’s OCD quirks. But it’s played a bit differently, and I just enjoy the way the series is done. He’s pretty miserable because as a young kid (7?) he found his father’s body after the father had hung himself. Fairly traumatic. However, the most recent episode shows Professor T checking himself into a mental clinic for treatment, so I guess there’s hope there. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/138 "2019-09-04T18:47:28Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > How do you figure? Near as I can tell, he seems to genuinely like his job — and he seems genuinely fond of his wife, and of his favorite restaurant, and of his dog, and of the music he listens to, and so on; and he doesn’t seem to drink to dull the pain, but because _he just enjoys it,_ same way he just enjoys ice cream. Or reminiscing about old times. Or watching a good film. Or hearing a good joke. > > Most of the time, he just strikes me as an upbeat guy. I agree 110%. His real sense of enjoyment obviously comes from watching the murderer squirm and sweat as he narrows in on him. Compared to hounding the suspect, slapping the cuffs on him is just the icing on the cake. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/139 "2019-09-04T19:16:36Z")
Morse. In the main series named after him, he’s the typical miserable older detective with an alcohol problem and a classic car. He gets joy from classical music, so he’s not without hope. But he clearly wants a life partner, and never gets one. He never gets the promotion he wants, he was sent down from Oxford for unfair reasons, he’s not well liked, he’s clearly very lonely, and he dies relatively young, with only a few colleagues to mourn him. Then Endeavour shows that that was basically the pattern for his entire life. Other characters like Wallander had marriages and kids and seem to have had at least a few years of happiness when they were younger, but Morse tried to get that, worked hard for it, and never got it. > [@Tapiotar](#): > > I think that Columbo is very happy. He loves his job, he loves his car, his dog, his wife. And especially his raincoat. He’s one of the happiest of detectives. I think he might actually be the only lead detective in a major TV show who seems to be happy and have an OK home life. Poirot is sort of happy. He’s fulfilled, anyway. He had a lost love but not one that haunted him. He gained major acclaim and really enjoyed it. The only really sad part of his story, for him, was the way he died. (I don’t think that’s a spoiler). > [@LVBoPeep](#): > > I’ve been watching The Tunnel lately with a practically chirpy Stannis Baraetheon and his miserable partner, Elyse Wasserman. I like the switching of roles here- Elyse is beautiful (played by Clemence Posey) and a total mess. Her twin died, she’s a bundle of raw nerves about it every second of every day but she is of course a brilliant detective. I LOVE that show. It does not get the recognition it deserves. Elyse might be a good suggestion, actually - especially given how things turned out for her, and how young she was when that happened. Most detectives have a past story that implies some periods of happiness, but her age means it’s even more unlikely that she had any prolonged good times. Stephen Dillane’s character has some _really_ extreme reasons for sadness that we actually see happen on screen, as opposed to us usually being told about them. But he also has good things going on and seems to be coping. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301/140 "2019-09-04T19:26:55Z")
> [@LVBoPeep](#): > > I’ve been watching The Tunnel lately with a practically chirpy Stannis Baraetheon and his miserable partner, Elyse Wasserman. I like the switching of roles here- Elyse is beautiful (played by Clemence Posey) and a total mess. Her twin died, she’s a bundle of raw nerves about it every second of every day but she is of course a brilliant detective. I saw that show when it aired on PBS and Elyse seemed to be on the autism spectrum or have Asperger syndrome [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-fictional-detective-is-the-most-personally-miserable/820301.md?page=8)