Finish This Book: Sleuth Research

One of the things I really enjoy about Keri Smith's Finish This Book is the fact that you never know what's going to come next in it. It's good fun.

After solving the code and finding the secret website I was expecting more code cracking. That was not what I found at all. Instead I was asked whether I was starting to form a bond with the book (which I guess I kind of am, I carry it around with me all over the place).

And then it asked me to investigate fictional sleuths.

Thankfully Wikipedia helped me out with a massive list of detectives and other clever crime-solving people. I'd not actually heard of many of them, so I worked through the list for the ones I was most familiar with (in no particular order).

It's not a fantastic photo, so to save you squinting:

1. Sherlock Holmes (& assistant Dr. Watson)
2. Father Brown (priest who solves mysteries)
3. Jonathan Creek (consultant magician, usually has female assistant)
4. C. Auguste Dupin (the first fictional detective)
5. Jessica Fletcher (mystery writer who solves crimes)
6. Miss Marple (consulting detective)
7. Brother Cadfael (a crime-solving monk from the 12th century)
8. Hercule Poirot (a Belgian detective)
9. Columbo (an American homicide detective)
10. Inspector Morse (usually works with Lewis, British police detective)
11. Detective Inspector John Rebus (a Scottish police detective)
12. Temperance Brennan (an American forensic anthropologist)
13. Patrick Jane (a former conman turned consultant to the police)

These sleuths use a variety of methods to solve crimes from deduction (like Holmes & Jane) to knowledge of how humans behave (Father Brown & Miss Marple). Others rely on help from other people as well.

It was interesting to investigate different fictional detectives and see what their similarities or differences were. It's also interesting to see just how many of them aren't actually employed as detectives.

If you had to make a list of your favourite fictional detectives, who would you include?