So I’m prepared to be shouted down…
ahem.
Batman
(Somewhat defensively) Alright, wiseacre, tell me WHY he’s not as [smart, cool, whatever] as Holmes, Poirot, et al.
Oh, I also like Lije Bailey.
Dang! One of my favorites. Too bad there aren’t any new ones.
My vote is for Phillip Marlowe and Sherlock Holmes.
For reading, Holmes is my fave. Wimsey comes in second. So far I just haven’t cared for anyone else.
Movies or tv, Holmes is still my fave. But I also enjoy many which have already been mentioned, such as Poirot, Morse, and Wimsey.
Nobody’s mentioned Inspector Dalgliesh yet, so here he is.
When I was growing up, on weekends in Chicago WGN frequently showed Rathbone’s Holmes movies. I think this was my earliest introduction to Holmes.
I also have a soft spot for Charlie Chan, who also showed up on WGN. “Charlie Chan At The Opera” is probably the best Chan movie. Who could resist Boris Karloff as a crazed operatic baritone? (Admittedly, there are racial stereotypes in those movies that make me cringe.)
Sheesh. I forgot Decker from Bladerunner. Now, I love Inspector Morse from the tips of his weathered brogues to the dent on his jag’s fender, but I think we all know who’d win that particular fistfight.
Unless - and bear with me on this - Morse finally slips back into John Thaw’s previous incarnation from The Sweeney. Merrily roaring swearwords as he boots council flat doors open to find roomfuls of criminals and one inexplicably topless woman, once per episode. Now that’s what Morse has needed for years. Wagner? I’ll give you Wagner, sunshine (grabs local grass by the neck and breaks LP over forehead)…
Sorry to post yet again, but I forgot the all-time greatest: Mycroft Holmes. Remember him? Sherlock’s elder (I think) brother, and far his superior in intellect, as declared by Sherlock himself (and Mycroft, I expect). Holmes usually has to seek him out and convince him to lend a hand, because his mind is so brilliant that he’s kept on a kind of permanent retainer by the British Government, who use him to sort out virtually any problem that comes up. What really impressed me was that after several paragraphs explaining why Mycroft himself didn’t take up crime-fighting (the wrong temperament; a physical aversion, etc), it all basically boiled down to the fact that he was a big fat guy who couldn’t be bothered.
I appreciate this dude!
Lots of replies so far that I agree with. Also lots of good authors I haven’t read yet for me to check out. One detective I haven’t seen mentioned yet that I enjoy is Brother Cadfael by Ellis Peters. On a slightly different track, I also like Escott and Jack Fleming from the Vampire Chronciles by P.N. Elrod. Kind of an interesting twist, detective stories where one of the main characters is a recently dead vampire, all set in gangster-era Chicago.
i too am partial to trav, and spenser, but have any of you read the bony books? written from the 30s to the 50s, arthur upfield’s books about a half caste aborigine detective inspector named napoleon bonaparte are brilliant, and wonderful anthropological glimpses into australia as well. they kick ass, give em a try.
Sherlock Holmes.
But I also enjoy:
Adam Dalgliesh
Cordelia Gray. (Of P.D. Jame, as well, though i’ve only read one novel starring her, i admired her and her ability to make swift, if unorthodox, decisions)
Throw in another vote for Sam Spade, with Philip Marlowe and Spenser bringing up the second and third places.
I think my favorites are Hercule Poirot, Adam Dalgliesh and Cadfael. Cadfael is the most interesting, an inspector monk in the English middle ages.
elementary my dear Poirot it has to be Sherlock Holmes - the master
I don’t know as how Fletch would count, seeing as how he’s a reporter/writer rather than a detective. If he does count, he’d probably be second on my list.
Who says he’s not? Batman is (in his universe) the world’s greatest detective, after all.
Hardboiled–Lew Archer (by Ross Macdonald) and I guess V.I. Warshalski and of course Block’s Matthew Scudder.
Classical- Lord Peter Whimsey and Christie’s Harley Quinn and I also love Charlie Chan.
As couples–Mr and Mrs. North and obviously there is Terry and Tuppence Beresford, by Christie.
I’m not sure how to classify him but (Block’s) Bernie Rhodenbarr is great too. I also have to admit I have a crush on Kinsey Milhone. How can you not love a detective that drives a Volkswagon bug?
All these come from books. I’m not too well versed in comics or television, I’m afraid. I read.
Lord Peter’s tops with me, closely followed by Father Brown and Poirot. Sherlock’s the Grand Master, of course…and I rather like Mary Russell Holmes.
Really hard to pick favorites from the extensive menu.
Roderick Alleyn (another aristocratic British tec I was halfway in love with in my teens [Lord Peter was firmly taken, alas.]) Adam Dalgliesh. Brother Cadfael.
V.I. Warshawski. Sharon McCone. And then there’s Kathy Mallory… upon whose bad side you would not wish to get.
…gonna stop before this becomes a bookstore shopping list.
I pulled out my Raymond Chandler anthology last night as a result of this thread. The writing is so lean. Super good stuff. I also watched TMF (again), I could be fast approaching 500 viewings. Its the stuff that dreams are made of.
Sounds like we got another Rex Stout reader here, in embryo.
Ross, go get yourself a Nero Wolfe novel (preferably one from the 1930s)…the hero’s a big fat guy who drinks BEER all day, and spends four hours every day with his ORCHIDS.
A couple of previous posters have wandered into science fiction/fantasy detectives, so I will add Lord D’Arcy by Randall Garrett. He lives in an alternative universe where old Richard the Lion-Hearted recovers from his wound and decides to stay home and run the kingdom, thereby creating a long-lived (up to the present) Plantagenet dynasty ruling a combined England and France.
Though set in the present time, the technological development is roughly late Victorian England, with trains and “telesons” (telephones). Magic works, but is carefully codified (The Law of Contagian, etc.) in a nicely-consistant way. Lord D’Arcy (a consciously Sherlockian character) is an investigator for the Duke of Normandy and is accompanied by his tubby Irish sorcerer sidekick, Sean O’Lachlann. Intelligent and highly recommended.