Favorite Detective

[brycec]

Kind of bored here, after the recent events that occurred, and so I decided to start this thread.

 

Who is your favorite detective in either crime or detective fiction?

 

So, that people will not need to ask, I am not limiting this to any particular medium, so anime and manga characters welcome.

 

For me, while a few of the manga coming out today have fairly interesting sleuths, amateurs or otherwise, I think that my favorite detective would be Hercule Poirot (post Mysterious Affair at Styles).

 

Poirot comes off as rather interesting and pay attention to not only the so-called solid proof, but actually analyzes people and takes many things into account, especially since on of the works he is featured in is solved more through building a psychological profile based off games than things that he suddenly drudges up.

 

He might use trickery sometimes, just like Sherlock and many other detectives, but many of his cases come off as much more satisfying.

[Kohloo]

I don't know of any detectives other than Sherlock. So I guess that would make him my favourite

[ItsSammy]

Sherlock! Definitely Sherlock!

[zoop]

Poirot, by far, specifically as portrayed in the 1989 series, Agatha Christie's Poirot, which @Cy~ was gracious enough to introduce me to some time back. I've found the series an absolute joy to work my way through with her.

 

Beyond that, I would have to put Columbo in second place. I know he's not a classic detective in the same sense as Poirot or Holmes, but I find the way that he works to get under the skin of those that he's investigating to be downright beautiful.

 

Third place for me would go to Holmes, as portrayed in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, played by Jeremy Brett. The modern BBC series is okay, but it never did quite hit me in the same way as the older one, if I'm to be completely honest.

[Cy~]

I have a hard time picking favorite detectives, so I'll give my top three - all of whom are basically tied in first for me.

 

Sherlock Holmes

 

All you need to know is that my personality is more or less the same as his. He's my favorite detective because I find him to be the most relatable. He's a misanthropic character at first glance (maybe even sociopathic), but he works tirelessly to solve even the most obscure cases. He doesn't take payment for his services (typically) and can sometimes show mercy to those that don't really deserve it.

 

I think that Holmes and his stories are a timeless legend, like Robin Hood and other similar historical figures. As time goes on, it seems like every generation has their own portrayal of the character and his story. It's like an echo throughout history.

 

@Kohloo If you only know one detective, then Holmes is the one to know.

 

Hercule Poirot

 

@brycec I was surprised to see you say Poirot. You know, a lot of people don't know who he is, hahaha. Sometimes, I say "Poirot" and people are like, "Wait, wait, who?"

 

I think that you nailed the reasons that Poirot is my favorite. Basically, while Holmes works based on cold, deductive reasoning, Poirot works based on messy inductive reasoning and an understanding of people. Poirot makes mistakes, gets angry, and sometimes flails magnificently.

 

I find that Poirot's deep dives into human psychology are actually really interesting to read/watch. If you haven't had a chance to watch, the Poirot TV Series starring David Suchet is a serious treat. @zoop and I are actually slowly working our way through them, on and off. It'll be my 5th full watch-through.

 

Lenny Briscoe

 

I think that Lenny was one of the longest running characters on Law and Order. I wasn't expecting to like any character from that series in the way that I liked this guy. He's not particularly brilliant and doesn't do any miraculous deductions. In fact, I found that he could sometimes fuck things up ROYALLY for himself and others.

 

However, in a series that focused, hard, on the messy procedural realities of detection, Briscoe humanized things. His mistakes were the kind that a lot of people have made. His flaws were simple - alcohol, bad relationships with women, and a messy past. However, he rises above these flaws and becomes a little larger than life through simple police work, dogged determination, and a brilliantly snide sense of humor.

 

A lot of folks will probably cite classic detectives as a favorite, but I actually dislike how a lot of classic detectives disparage the police as lower level stooges. In real life, there aren't many deductions and inductions. Sometimes, it's just the combination of old fashioned police work, being an ass, and lots and lots of grunt work that gets the job done.

[zoop]

Lenny Briscoe

 

Good call on that. A lot of the early L&O crew were really great, tbh.

[brycec]

I actually dislike how a lot of classic detectives disparage the police as lower level stooges. In real life, there aren't many deductions and inductions.

 

It's funny that you bring this up, because you are not the only one that noticed this disprency, since there is somebody online work used to work for the police and secret service, and his post was talking about how it tends to be common because making things closer to reality would make it to hard for characters like Lupin and Sherlock to shine.

 

I myself kind of agree that having incompetent police is pretty annoying.

[HisuiChan]

Reid from Criminal Minds! Wait.. he is a detective right? Hmm .-.

[ItsSammy]

It's funny that you bring this up, because you are not the only one that noticed this disprency, since there is somebody online work used to work for the police and secret service, and his post was talking about how it tends to be common because making things closer to reality would make it to hard for characters like Lupin and Sherlock to shine.

 

I myself kind of agree that having incompetent police is pretty annoying.

 

Well, the police in the Sherlock bbc show aren't shown as being completely incompetent since Sherlock only takes cases he finds interesting and lets the police figure out the other ones.

In reality, the police are as smart as police tend to be, but when putting normal humans beside Sherlock it instantly makes them look dumber just because Sherlock is so smart.

[brycec]

Well, the police in the Sherlock bbc show aren't shown as being completely incompetent since Sherlock only takes cases he finds interesting and lets the police figure out the other ones.

In reality, the police are as smart as police tend to be, but when putting normal humans beside Sherlock it instantly makes them look dumber just because Sherlock is so smart.

 

I see. That is fairly is interesting to know.

 

What we were getting at is that the detectives seem to always be at the scene, and if the police were portrayed correctly, there were would awfully good reason to be at the scene and the criminal would need to be smarter

 

It might be a difference between classical and modern detective or crime fiction.

 

Thanks for letting us know.

[Kitty]

I would probably have to go with Sherlock mostly because I can't think of any other ones off the top of my head ;3;

[brycec]

I would probably have to go with Sherlock mostly because I can't think of any other ones off the top of my head ;3;

 

Not a bad choice. There are tons out there anywhere, such as:

 

Sherlock Holmes

Hercule Poirot

Columbo

Continental Op

Sam Spade

Ms. Marple

Father Brown

Kogoro Akechi

Shinichi/Jimmy Kudo

Touma Sou

Shinra Sakaki

 

Everyone up to Kudo I have learned of thanks to Detective Conan or looking through things. Everyone after Kudo I found out about reading their own series.

[Sidney B. Gone]

Sherlock Holmes and like everyone else here. He is all I really know lol

I am a big fan of detective shows/crime shows.

 

But yeah looking into actual detectives, as far as a knowledge base is concerned.

Isn't really my cup of tea.

 

I'd rather dig into the cases themselves, then the person solving it.

Edited July 13, 2017 by Guest

[brycec]

Sherlock Holmes and like everyone else here. He is all I really know lol

I am a big fan of detective shows/crime shows.

 

But yeah looking into actual detectives, as far as a knowledge base is concerned.

Isn't really my cup of tea.

 

I'd rather dig into the cases themselves, then the person solving it.

 

I am pretty much the same as you in wanting a good case, but some detectives and the authors who created them just do not work out too well, or their style is not to the person's liking. I use the mystery library profiles in Detective Conan to actually find those interesting cases out there, as I do not want another work like either Mysterious Affair at Styles or Crooked House.

[KimmyKins83]

I've always loved Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot

 

Really cannot wait for Kenneth Branagh's movie version of Murder On The Orient Express to come out in cinemas later on this year in November because it looks absolutely fantastic