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Famous Fictional Detectives

A List Of Famous Fictional Detectives

Sometimes authors create a detective readers love. In this post, we share a list of famous fictional detectives.

Crime fiction is probably the most popular genre for both readers and writers.

[Must-Read: A Quick Start Guide To Writing Crime Fiction]

If you’re thinking of writing crime fiction it’s a good idea to read some of the classics in that genre.

If an author creates a detective readers love, a long, rewarding career is created for the writer and the detective.

A List Of Famous Fictional Detectives

Here is a selection of famous detectives and their creators:

Detective Author Debut Novel
Brother Cadfael Ellis Peters Brother Cadfael’s Penance
Anita Blake Laurell K. Hamilton Guilty Pleasures
Harry Bosch Michael Connelly The Black Echo
Father Brown G. K. Chesterton The Blue Cross
Elvis Cole Robert Crais The Monkey’s Raincoat
Jerry Cornelius Michael Moorcock The Final Programme
Andrew Dalziel and Peter Pascoe Reginald Hill A Clubbable Woman
Peter Decker Faye Kellerman The Ritual Bath
Alex Delaware Jonathan Kellerman When the Bough Breaks
Nancy Drew Carolyn Keene The Secret of the Old Clock
Mike Hammer Mickey Spillane I, the Jury
Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle A Study in Scarlet
Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers Elizabeth George A Great Deliverance
Philip Marlowe Raymond Chandler The Big Sleep
Miss Marple Agatha Christie The Murder at the Vicarage
Kinsey Millhone Sue Grafton ‘A’ is for Alibi
Inspector Morse Colin Dexter Last Bus to Woodstock
Thursday Next Jasper Fforde The Eyre Affair
Stephanie Plum Janet Evanovich One for the Money
Hercule Poirot Agatha Christie The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Jack Reacher Lee Child Killing Floor
John Rebus Ian Rankin Knots and Crosses
Dave Robicheaux James Lee Burke The Neon Rain
Spenser Robert B. Parker The Godwulf Manuscript
Kurt Wallander Henning Mankell Faceless Killers
V.I. Warshawski Sara Paretsky Indemnity Only
Reginald Wexford Ruth Rendell From Doon with Death
Lord Peter Wimsey Dorothy Sayers Whose Body?
Lincoln Rhyme Jeffery Deaver The Bone Collector
(Source – follow the link to find even more famous fictional detectives.)
Some of these famous detectives appear on a stamp:
A List Of Famous Fictional Detectives

1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8
1. Porfiry Petrovic (Dostoevsky) in Crime and Punishment
2. Inspector Maigret (Georges Simenon)
3. Father Brown (G.K. Chesterton)
4. Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
5. Hercule Poirot (Agatha Christie)
6. Inspector Cardby (David Hume)
7. Lord Peter Wimsey (Dorothy L. Sayers)
8. Reggie Fortune (H.C. Bailey)

Source for Image: Detective Fiction on Stamps


by Amanda Patterson

If you enjoyed this, please read:
  1. 5 Reasons To Write Crime Fiction
  2. Why Revenge is Such a Brilliant Plot for Beginner Writers
  3. 7 Important Crime-Writing Guidelines
  4. 9 Examples of Sub-Genres in Crime Fiction
  5. Crime Writing For Beginners – An Infographic
  6. Why People Read Detective Novels

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Posted on: 9th September 2013
(71,646 views)

2 thoughts on “A List Of Famous Fictional Detectives”

  2. Jo Lofton

    This is a good list but I feel like we are missing a few like Aloysius Pendergast (Relic) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro (A drink before the war) by Dennis Lehane; and Jane Rizzol (The Surgeon) Tess Gerritsen

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