# Who's the best genre detective? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 10, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373 "2009-06-10T19:44:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**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:** [June 13, 2009, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/81 "2009-06-13T11:50:56Z")
> [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Another vote for Sherlock Holmes, but only because Nero Wolfe would have never left his house for a famous sleuth’s convention. Famous chefs, yes. An orchid show, yes. But mere detectives? No way. > > He would if the convention was going to honor Archie. After all, he went to picnic where Fritz was going to be honored. That said, who needs Nero to leave the house? Archie’s pretty much been in the situation laid out in the first post: a rich eccentric gets offed at her country estate, with suspicious hangers-on and well-connected relatives in abundance – and our hero phones Wolfe, who immediately deduces the killer’s identity and could prove it with a few well-placed words. But since the above is the plot that kicks off In The Best Families . . . -EXCEEDINGLY MINOR SPOILERS- . . . our heroes first spend two hundred pages wrapping up some preexisting bits of business: Nero gathers enough evidence for thirty federal counts against a mobster sure as Archie gets nine offers to come and work for the FBI, and a girl unjustly accused of industrial espionage gets cleared along the way, plus a hit-and-run driver gets what’s coming to him, and there’s a jewel heist that gets cracked and a crooked bookie who gets found, but we keep returning to the main case until we’re finally at the last five pages of the book and Wolfe patiently explains what he’s known since that call on the night of the murder. Adrian Monk does it once in a while, but it’s Nero Wolfe’s strong suit. ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/82 "2009-06-13T11:59:01Z")
Henry and Dupin would solve the case immediately, but would not be in any rush to tell anybody unless asked. In the meantime, the detectives searching for clues (including Holmes and Batman) are at a disadvantage because the intuitive detectives will already have solved it while they search. Of the intuitive detectives, Columbo will hang around the culprit but not quite be ready to accuse him. So who solves it first? My money is on Father Brown. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/83 "2009-06-13T13:34:12Z")
I’d go with Toby what’s-his-name, the telepathic paramedic who solves crimes and missing person’s cases in the new (and almost certainly doomed to be axed) drama **The Listener**. The dude has no formal training in law enforcement, but his ability to read people’s thoughts gives him an infallible access to secret truths. Plus, he’s cute as the dickens. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![diablevert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@diablevert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diablevert)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/84 "2009-06-14T04:46:56Z")
I think you’d have to give it to old Hercule, when he’s already solved this case not once but three times, first as [The Mysterious Affair at Styles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Affair_at_Styles) and once as [The Murder of Roger Ackroyd](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murder_of_Roger_Ackroyd) before it was a Christmas Murder. Just take a gander at the list of characters. Christie is the most responsible for the country house conventions calcifying into cliches. Holmes went out to the sticks on occassion, but he also bounced around lLondon eft right and center, disguising himself as a Chinese opium-den operator here, lollgagging as a longshoreman there, hobnobbing with the toffs at the Minstry of Defense the other way. Marlowe and Nick and Nora are a reaction to and a rejection of the staid ol’ tweedy drawing murders of La Dame; the rest are either twists and riffs on her or varieties of superhero, which is another whole ball 'o wax. It’s like asking who you’d call for your world-saving needs, given all of DC and Marvel to choose from; in the end you have to go with Supes because he’s the Ur. For a country house mystery, Hercule’s the one. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/85 "2009-06-15T02:50:19Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Assuming that Sherlock Holmes still has all his faculties (being that he is still alive in the age of Perry Mason - not to mention the Scooby Doo gang :D), I’d go with Holmes. No clue would go undiscovered and all evidence would be correctly assimilated and analyzed. Unlike his grandson (as so ably assisted by Watson’s grandson) in [The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076770/), which also covers this same scenario - although the denouement is somewhat unsatisfactory for all concerned … aside from Moriarty’s descendant. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/86 "2009-06-15T15:47:38Z")
I think you need to call in Kinky Friedman. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/87 "2009-06-15T17:47:13Z")
I think it would be the unmentioned Pee-Wee Herman from his Playhouse down the road because… He would make a wish to Jambi to know who did it and Jambi would tell him! Gotta love Genies! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/88 "2009-06-15T18:24:02Z")
If there’s someone who knows the truth but needs a beating to get it out, Mike Hammer’s the guy. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/89 "2009-06-15T22:10:51Z")
My top 3: 1. Philip Marlowe. Reasoning: Lateral thinking and ability to adjust to changing paradigms and assimilate new information, not to mention the interpersonal skills to cajole information from less than likely informants. 2. Columbo. Reasoning: Uncanny ability to grasp the slightest incongruity in a scenario. Even more impressive, no one disposes of red herrings like Columbo. As Holmes (who I would NOT choose as his worldview was far too static) would say: “When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” 3. Batman. Reasoning: For God’s sake, it’s Batman. ---
**Author:** ![Hipoint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@Hipoint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hipoint)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/90 "2009-06-16T02:01:00Z")
Lucas Davenport… AND he’d kill the killer. ---
**Author:** ![foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9a140/32.png) [@foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolscap)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/91 "2009-06-16T05:38:33Z")
being an Asimov fan, my vote would go to Henry Who solved the crime? everybody knows the butler did it. If you have never read “tales of the black widowers” that joke just isn’t funny. ---
**Author:** ![Levolor\_the\_Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc8723/32.png) [@Levolor\_the\_Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Levolor_the_Blind)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/92 "2009-06-16T07:19:37Z")
Proceeding from the assumption that this takes place in the UK, I’ll put my money on either Inspector Morse or Adam Dalgliesh, since either one could have jurisdiction and kick the rest of them to the curb. But if it gets to trial, Horace Rumpole will get the butler (whose name is Timmons) acquitted and point the finger of guilt at the real killer. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/93 "2009-06-16T07:39:17Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > You folks are severely underestimating the abilities of one Jupiter Jones. Go three investigators! We all know that House would stop by to use the bathroom on his way to a Jazz concert with Wilson. He’d peek into the room, lift the blanket over the body and explain that the deceased had died from _Acute Onset Skin Failure_. Natural causes. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/94 "2009-06-16T14:34:10Z")
Not lupus? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/95 "2009-06-16T14:58:28Z")
Why is Batman even considered a detective? He has the same half dozen opponents almost every time, and they’re always wearing clown suits and broadcasting threats to destroy the city. You hardly need great deductive powers to figure out Gotham’s criminals. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/96 "2009-06-16T18:12:58Z")
> [@Rocketeer](#): > > Not lupus? It’s never lupus. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/97 "2009-06-16T18:23:05Z")
There’s only one rabbit that could’ve pulled it off anyway, and it’s long dead by now. I hope. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/98 "2009-06-16T18:53:35Z")
No Charlie Chan? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![HeavyDuty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@HeavyDuty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeavyDuty)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/99 "2009-06-16T19:53:32Z")
Sherlock Holmes personally, and by extension Bobby Goren. Most brilliant and quirky for sure. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373/100 "2009-06-16T20:27:22Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > Spenser would show up and sort it all out. and sleep with the daughter! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-best-genre-detective/499373.md?page=6)