You watch them on TV, you read about them in your favourite novels and watch them on the old silver screen, but how do your favourite PIs and detectives fare against the best of the best? Read on:
10) Scooby-Doo and Those Pesky Kids (Fred, Daphne, Velma, and "Shaggy"). First an animated show and then a cultural phenomenon, this is where most of us first learned about detective work. The members of “Mystery, Inc.,” are definitely unlicensed, but few professionals make driving around in an old van and uncovering old crooks dressed as ghosts look so cool.
9) Inspector Jules Maigret. The French do it, too. Georges Simeon’s police inspector was streetwise, kind, and unassuming as he solves Paris’s crimes and worked for the Parisian police.
8) Hercule Poirot. Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective appeared in more than 50 short stories and 30 novels. The very neat detective with the huge moustache and small frame was one of the eccentrics of the private eye world, worrying about his shoes and his stomach with all the fussiness of an old maid. For all that (and maybe because of it) we rather like the old chap.
7) The Shadow. The character created by Walter B. Gibson is pulp hero, appearing in movies, books, comic books, and radio shows. With a mysterious past, the Shadow lurks out of sight, solving crimes.
6) Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade hails from the macho era of hard-boiled detectives. No great sensitivity here, just fedoras and plot twists and turns aplenty. Whether you are reading Hammett’s short stories or watching or reading The Maltese Falcon, it’s hard not to admire Sam. We always did like the strong, silent types.
5) Remington Steele. The title character of the TV show that made Pierce Brosnan a household name wasn’t even part of the show initially. In the show, it is Laura Holt who is a private detective. When she finds that few clients are willing to work with a female detective, she invents an imaginary superior named Remington Steele. The fake name is eventually adopted by Brosnan’s character.
4) Magnum, P.I. In this 80s television show, Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck) was a private investigator working in Hawaii. With a tropical background and that famous, cool moustache, what’s not to love?
3) Jessica Fletcher from Murder, She Wrote was the ultimate in nosey, loveable armchair detectives. Jessica was the one that taught all would-be authors that every book tour for mystery authors ended in a mystery or a murder.
2) Addison and Hayes. Where would we be without those wacky 80s PI shows? In this classic, Blue Moon Detective Agency has two partners, Madolyn 'Maddie' Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) and David Addison (Bruce Willis), who solve crimes each week while bantering.
1) Sherlock Holmes, the fictional character that author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle grew to hate, was the first one to make a deerstalker cap and magnifying glass something besides hopelessly geeky. Maybe his mastermind and cool, scientific reasoning made him more like a Star Trek Captain than a sexy James Bond, but at least Holmes was having fun snorting coke and playing his violin at 221B Baker Street.
There are many great fictional investigators and detectives that have adorned the big screens and television, and who have come alive through books and comics. We surely have overlooked some of your favourites.
Please visit PInow.com (http://www.pinow.com/) and comment on whom you would include on your top 10 and we will follow-up with a reader’s choice article.
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