My Favorite Fictional Detectives

 

I've always loved detective stories.  As a child, I read every "Happy Hollisters," "Hardy Boys," and "Nancy Drew" book I could get my hands on.  I always tried to figure out the mystery before the end of the book.  Sometimes I was successful, but most of the time I was completely mystified until the detective revealed the truth.  Then (finally) I was old enough to read classic mystery stories written for adults.  I devoured stacks of mystery books and discovered three detectives that became favorites (and remain favorites to this day): Father Brown, Lord Peter Wimsey, and Miss Marple.

Note: In the selection of those three detectives as my favorites, I have no ill-will towards Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot.  I have also read and enjoyed books featuring those detectives (and spent considerable time researching to figure out how to say Poirot's name...it's pronounced "air-KYOOL pwa-ROH").  

Father Brown

“But, as a matter of fact, another part of my trade, too, made me sure you weren’t a priest.” “What?” asked the thief, almost gaping. “You attacked reason,” said Father Brown. “It’s bad theology.” 

(G.K. Chesterton, The Blue Cross)

 Father Brown is, first and foremost, a Catholic priest with a firm grasp of theology and a great zeal for the conversion of sinners.  But he's also an expert at solving mysterious crimes.  From his dealings with vast numbers of people in various states of sin and repentance, Father Brown has learned a lot about human nature.  His secret to solving crimes is that he can put himself in the criminal's shoes; he knows just what he would do if he were the man stealing the diamonds.  And he's not as interested in bringing criminals to justice as he is in getting them to see where they've done wrong. 

 

Father Brown also has a sense of humor.  For instance, in The Blue Cross, he leaves a trail of ridiculous things behind him for the French detective Valentin to follow...mixing up apples and oranges, putting salt in a sugar bowl, and paying for a windowpane first and breaking it afterwards!

Father Brown is incredibly humble and innocent.  He will capture a criminal and then slip away before anyone gets a chance to thank him.  The criminals that he confronts don't know what to make of him; he's nothing like any detective they've ever seen.  One of them, Flambeau, repents after he's caught and becomes fast friends with Father Brown, helping him solve more crimes.

G.K. Chesterton did a marvelous job with Father Brown's character!  The only thing I'm sad about is that I've read all the Father Brown stories...I wish there were more!

Lord Peter Wimsey

“But to Lord Peter the world presented itself as an entertaining labyrinth of side-issues.”

(Dorothy L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness)

British aristocrat.  Bibliophile.  Master of Arts from Oxford.  John Donne enthusiast.  Champion cricket player.  Expert pianist.  Crime solver.  Lord Peter Wimsey is the Renaissance man of detectives.  Everything interests him, and no detail is too small for him to notice.  With his butler, Bunter (a man much like P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves), he continually finds himself getting involved in detective cases.  Those around him say indulgently that it's a hobby he has.  Lord Peter knows better...he doesn't solve crimes because he likes to.  He solves crimes because he knows how to do it and people ask him to help them.  

Lord Peter is a human character, despite his nearly superhuman powers of observation.  He has difficulties with his brother and sister-in-law, who don't like his detective work.  He has nervous breakdowns caused by PTSD from World War I.  He is madly in love with Harriet Vane, whom he saved from the gallows and who continually maintains she will never marry him. (He proposes to her at intervals...on April Fool's Day, on her birthday, or in the middle of a group of police...sometimes very seriously, sometimes jocosely.) 

Lord Peter is also full of quotations.  In Have His Carcase, he says, "I always have a quotation for everything--it saves original thinking."  I always love it when book characters quote other books I've read!  He talked so much about Kai Lung and about John Donne's poetry that I went and checked out both books from the library.  (I was not disappointed.)  

Some say that Dorothy Sayers must have been in love with the character of Lord Peter Wimsey while she was writing those books.  I believe it!  His character is incredibly well-done.

Miss Marple

“Miss Marple is a white-haired old lady with a gentle appealing manner- Miss Wetherby is a mixture of vinegar and gush. Of the two Miss Marple is the more dangerous.”  

(Agatha Christie, Murder at the Vicarage)

No one who didn't know Miss Marple would ever think she had anything to do with solving crimes.  She's an elderly lady with a meek, kindly attitude and a propensity for listening to village gossip.  And she's lived in the same village for almost all of her long life.  But she has an uncanny knack for spotting a criminal.

Miss Marple's secret lies in her knowledge of the people in her own village.  According to her, “Everybody is very much alike, really. But fortunately, perhaps, they don't realise it." When a crime is committed, Miss Marple can remember a similar situation from when she was young.  By remembering the sort of person who committed the similar crime long ago, she can figure out who must have committed this crime.  

She doesn't stay at home trying to solve crimes, either.  She travels around, poking her nose into all kinds of situations to find out what's going on.  People tell her things because they don't have any idea she's doing detective work.  Sometimes her work is dangerous and she has to flee, but she remains determined to figure out the truth.  She has more bravery and perseverance than someone a quarter of her age.  And through it all, she stays sweet and kind.  Agatha Christie invented a fantastic character in Miss Marple!