Favorite Fictional Detective?

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Definitely Brother Cadfael…

There is also a new detective series, the “Mike Connolly” series by Joe Hilley, a Christian writer who has written several books in this series now. They are all set in the Mobile, AL area, written with a Christian (if not necessarily Catholic) perspective.
 
PoliSciProf said:
Who is your favorite fictional detective? Sherlock Holmes? Mike Hammer? Monk? Kojak? Nero Wolf? Dirty Harry Callhan? Father Brown? Tempe Brennan? TV/movies/books–they all count. Mine is Columbo! Rumpled, under-estimated, and brilliant!
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Albert Campion and Brother Cadfael
 
snowgarden said:
I liked the Albert Campion series by Margery Allingham…I saw a PBS show with Peter Davison (Doctor Who) playing the character and it got me interested. I understand there were a couple of the stories he did, but my station only showed the one. Have you ever read a book because you liked the tv/movie adaptation?
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Ha ha, snowgarden…the only reason I started reading Allingham’s books was because of the PBS series, and the only reason I watched those at first was because Peter Davison was in them and I was a Dr. Who fan!
 
On TV-- Monk.

In books-- Steve Carella of Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct novels. Actually, I like almost all the characters except perhaps Andy Parker and “Fat Ollie” Weeks. I was so sad the day I heard Evan Hunter (who wrote the 87th Precinct books under the Ed McBain pseudonym) had died. I’ve been reading his books for nearly 30 years.

Also in books, although not detectives in the strictest sense-- Kay Scarpetta (Patricia Cornwell’s medical examiner/sleuth) and Odd Thomas (Dean Koontz’s character who sees the dead and helps solve their murders).
 
  1. The “Dude” from the Cohen Brother’s The Big Lebowski
–This movie bears watching again, especially for Catholics–its a really interesting combination of film noir detective mixed w/ Medieval Mystery Play–and all the archtypes are there–including the Seven Deadly Sins (Walter (John Goodman) as Wrath, Bunny Lebowski (Lust), and of course the Dude (Jeff Bridges) as Sloth) and even Satan (Ben Gazzara playing a porn producer) and God (Sam Elliot, the Stranger)
 
In movies, I love Nick Charles (William Powell) in the old Thin Man movies, Boston Blackie (Chester Morris), The Lone Wolf (Warren William), and Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone). In literature, I love Philip Marlowe, in fact all of Raymond Chandler’s novels. I have a soft spot for Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade as well, book and movie, in The Maltese Falcon…ah, Bogie !! Now there was a man with a plan!😉
 
Philip Marlowe. If Sam Spade had had a longer run of it, he’d probably be #1.

Brother Cadfael is fun too, though. I’ve read a couple of the books and they were pretty good, but I loved Derek Jacobi in the role.
 
Let’s see, I’d have to say:
-Hercule Poirot
-Sherlock Holmes (I especially like him in “The Hound of the Baskervilles”; the movie adaption with Peter Cushing is great!)
-Sergeant Cuff from the book “The Moonstone”
And if you want to go in a less serious tone, Clouseau 🙂
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Haha, I love him in the original Pink Panther movie! Especially the violin scenes…😃
 
Ooooh, I love Columbo!

And Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot (in the books more than the BBC tv shows or movies, although some of those were really good, too.)

Amanda Pepper in the series by Gillian Roberts

Father Dowling (I admit I haven’t read any of the books…must look into it.)

The irritating character on the Law and Order Criminal Intent series… played by an actor with the last name D’Onfrio(sp??). He is soooo annoying getting in the criminals’ faces. Just love it! 👍
 
Dame Frevisse, a medieval nun in Margaret Frazer’s series.

Also love Elvis Cole mysteries by Robert Crais, like a modern Philip Marlowe, only funnier.
 
Good detective: Sherlock Holmes. Anyone who knows Holmes knows why Holmes.
Has anyone ever read the Neil Gaiman rewrite of “A Study in Scarlet”? It will explode your skull.

Evil detective: Damon Gant from the first Ace Attorney game. Besides all of the fan-baggage surrounding him, which makes me lol, he’s also fun in himself: at first the kind of loud friendliness that makes you smile rather than roll your eyes because you don’t think it’s fake, but then when you start to get close to solving the mystery… rawr.
 
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