All crime and investigation story lovers will probably recognize most if not all the people in the list below. Let’s have a look at the best and most popular fictional detectives in the world.
1. Sherlock Holmes
Well… This one was quite obvious, but it is impossible to make a list of top ten fictional detectives with out the most popular fictional detective in the whole world – Sherlock Holmes. The character of Sherlock Holmes was created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based “consulting detective”, Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to adopt almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve difficult cases.
2. Monsieur Poirot
Second most popular fictional detective in the world most certainly is Monsieur Poirot, created by Agatha Christie. He is one of hers most famous and long-lived characters, appearing in 33 novels and 51 short stories published between 1920 and 1975 and set in the same era.
This is how Agatha Christie describes Poirot in The Murder on the Orient Express in the initial pages:
“By the step leading up into the sleeping-car stood a young Belgian lieutenant, resplendent in uniform, conversing with a small man (Hercule Poirot) muffled up to the ears of whom nothing was visible but a pink-tipped nose and the two points of an upward-curled moustache.”
This is how Agatha Christie describes Poirot in The Murder on the Orient Express in the initial pages:
“By the step leading up into the sleeping-car stood a young Belgian lieutenant, resplendent in uniform, conversing with a small man (Hercule Poirot) muffled up to the ears of whom nothing was visible but a pink-tipped nose and the two points of an upward-curled moustache.”
3. Inspector Jacques Clouseau
Inspector Clouseau is a fictional character in Blake Edwards‘ The Pink Panther series.Clouseau is the bumbling and incompetent police inspector of the French Sûreté, whose investigations are marked with chaos and destruction that he himself largely causes. His clumsy attempts at solving the case frequently lead to misfortune for himself and others. He is one of the most lovable, self absorbed onscreen idiots.
4. Ace Ventura
Ace Ventura is a fictional character, created by screenwriters Jack Bernstein, Tom Shadyac and Steve Oedekerk. Ace was played by Jim Carrey in the films (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, released in 1994, and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, released in 1995.)
Ace Ventura is an eccentric self-styled ‘pet detective’ who forsook regular police work to concentrate on this latter pursuit. Like other fictional detectives, he is notable for extraordinary powers of observation and deduction; and on at least one occasion, he has managed to escape being shot by catching a bullet in his teeth.
Ace Ventura is an eccentric self-styled ‘pet detective’ who forsook regular police work to concentrate on this latter pursuit. Like other fictional detectives, he is notable for extraordinary powers of observation and deduction; and on at least one occasion, he has managed to escape being shot by catching a bullet in his teeth.
5. Harry Callahan
Harold Francis “Dirty Harry” Callahan is a fictional San Francisco police detective in the Dirty Harry film series. He is portrayed by Clint Eastwood in each movie.
From his debut, Callahan became the template for a new kind of movie cop: someone who does not hesitate to cross professional and ethical boundaries in pursuit of his own vision of justice, especially when the law is poorly served by an inept bureaucracy. The “Dirty Harry” archetype does not shy away from killing; all of the Dirty Harry films feature Callahan killing criminals. His rationale for such conduct is that it is done with the greater good in mind: protecting the innocent and victims of crime. Callahan’s methods are rarely endorsed by his superiors, who on various occasions have demoted, suspended or transferred him to other departments.
From his debut, Callahan became the template for a new kind of movie cop: someone who does not hesitate to cross professional and ethical boundaries in pursuit of his own vision of justice, especially when the law is poorly served by an inept bureaucracy. The “Dirty Harry” archetype does not shy away from killing; all of the Dirty Harry films feature Callahan killing criminals. His rationale for such conduct is that it is done with the greater good in mind: protecting the innocent and victims of crime. Callahan’s methods are rarely endorsed by his superiors, who on various occasions have demoted, suspended or transferred him to other departments.
6. Mma Ramotswe
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency is a series of twelve novels by Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith. The agency is located in Gaborone, capital of Botswana. Its founder is a Motswana woman, Mma Precious Ramotswe, who features as the stories’ protagonist and main detective. The episodic novels are as much about the adventures and foibles of different characters as they are about solving mysteries. Each book in the series follows on from the previous book. They have been adapted for radio, television, and internet.
7. Adrian Monk
Adrian Monk is a fictional character portrayed by Tony Shalhoub and the protagonist of the USA Network television series Monk. He is a renowned former homicide detective for the San Francisco Police Department. Monk suffers from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and multiple phobias, all of which intensified after the murder of his wife Trudy, resulting in his suspension from the department. He works as a private police homicide consultant and undergoes therapy with the ultimate goal of overcoming his grief, taking control of his phobias and disorder, and being reinstated as a police detective.
8. Scooby-Doo
Scooby-Doo is an American cartoon series based around several animated television series and related works produced from 1969 to the present day. The original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, was created for Hanna-Barbera Productions by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears in 1969. A group of four teenagers and a great dane solve mysteries involving supposedly supernatural creatures through a series of antics and missteps. The great dane’s role initially was to add some humor to the cartoon and make it less frightening. The name was derived from the Frank Sinatra song “Strangers in the Night”. And so, the legend was born.
9. Shaft
Shaft is a 1971 American blaxploitation film directed by Gordon Parks, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. An action film with elements of film noir, Shaft tells the story of a black private detective, John Shaft, who travels through Harlem and to the Italian mob neighborhoods in order to find the missing daughter of a black mobster.
10. Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew is a fictional character in various mystery series. She was created by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate book packaging firm. The character first appeared in 1930. The books have been ghostwritten by a number of authors and are published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Over the decades the character has evolved in response to changes in American culture and tastes. The books were extensively revised, beginning in 1959, largely to eliminate racist stereotypes, with arguable success. Many scholars agree that in the revision process, the heroine’s original, outspoken character was toned down and made more docile, conventional, and demure.
