Who are your favorite fictional detectives of literature, film or TV?

DCI Alan Banks. Keeping the mean streets of Sheffield safe.

Morse and Poirot.

Literature - can only be Sherlock & Watson

Film - Peter Sellers Inspector Clouseau for so many classic roles. For a one-off - Jodie Foster as Clarice in the Silence of the Lambs.

TV - Peter Falk as Colombo. Honorable mention to The X Files with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.

Morse, Jim Taggart (Taggart), Andy Sipowicz (NYPD Blue), Olivia Dunham (Fringe).

Frank Drebin and Kinky Friedman.

Right in my wheelhouse here, all books:

The Classics

Lew Archer series by Ross Macdonald - Matt Scudder series by Lawrence Block - Dan Fortune series by Dennis Lynds - Philip Marlowe series by Raymond Chandler - Spenser series by Robert Parker - V.I Warshawski series by Sara Paretsky - Kinsey Milhone series by Sue Grafton - The Three Investigators - Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald

If more Modern and Diverse are your cup of tea:

Milo Milodragovitch series and C.W. Sugrhue series by James Crumely (the dividing line between Classic and Modern hardboiled P.I. writing) - Aaron Gunner series by Gar Anthony Haywood (first Black detective, just beating Easy Rawlins by Walter Mosely to the punch) - Burke series by Andew Vachss (not for the faint of heart) - Blanche White series by Barbara Neely - Claire DeWitt series by Sara Gran (IMO the best and most unique series to come along in the past decade) - Dave Brandstetter series by Joseph Hansen (first gay PI series) - Decker and Lazarus series by Faye Kellerman (if you are interested in Orthodox Judaism) - Cole and Pike series by Robert Crais (just good fun) - Hardman and Hump series by Ralph Dennis (set in Atlanta, recently re-released) - Leaphorn and Chee series by Tony Hillerman (native American, the TV show Darkwinds is based on the books) - Tamara Hayle series by Valerie Wilson Wesley (under appreciated) - Nameless Detective series by Bill Pronzini - Lew Griffin series by James Sallis - Pete Fernandez series by Alex Segurs

Namahage: nice call on Kinky Friedman, we just recently lost him

Yep,met Kinky in a bookshop in London.

He was smoking a Cuban cigar,and when confronted by angry staff,he retorted,"I'm not supporting their economy,I'm burning their crops."

Spenser,Marlowe,Nero Wolfe, chapeaux.

Hercule Poirot, endeavour Morse and Colombo.

sherlock Holmes, of course. And Tintin.

Inspector Jacques Clouseau, the antithesis of a good detective.

Clouseau: Does yer dewg bite?

Inn Keeper: No

Clouseau: Nice Doggy (bends down to pet a dachshund - it snarls and bites him)

I thought you said yer dewg did not bite! Inn Keeper: Zat . . . iz not my dog!

Skippy the "bush Kangaroo" was unbeatable and always correct.

Thanks Skip.

And Gene Hunt ('Life on Mars', 'Ashes to Ashes').

Fire up the Quattro!

Jessica Fletcher from Murder She Wrote. Angela Lansbury was brilliant in this role.

Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple

Miller and Hardy from Broadchurch. David Tennant and Olivia Colman were bloody marvels in this show.

Benson and Stabler from Law & Order: SVU

Jane Rizzoli from Rizzoli & Isles

Beckett and Castle from Castle

While not actual detectives, I did really love The Famous Five's accidental sleuthing and penchant for falling into trouble. I devoured these books as a child.

While not actual detectives, I did really love The Famous Five's accidental sleuthing and penchant for falling into trouble. I devoured these books as a child.

The Famous Five was more famous but it was the Five Find-Outers series which had better mysteries, IMHO. Got me hooked on to Enid Blyton as a kid.

Literature and TV - Poirot. Still recollect the opening tune of Agatha Christie's Poirot starring David Suchet.

Also Sherrif Walt Longmire from Longmire.

Film - Jake Gittes from Chinatown. And Detective William Somerset from Seven.

Years ago I read "The Chill" by Ross MacDonald and was hooked on crime fiction. I am especially fond of so-called ethnic detectives like Earl Derr Biggers' Charlie Chan, Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee, Howard Fast's Nisei detective Masao Masuto, John Burdett's Royal Thai Police Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, Joseph Needham's Inspector Samuel Tay of the Singapore CID and the novels by Qiu Xiaolong featuring Shanghai's Inspector Chen. The Martin Limon novels set in South Korea, featuring two US Army CID investigators, are also highly entertaining.

For television there are only two: Falk as Colombo and Brett as Holmes.

Agreeing with many of the above. Also some Swedish detective series, such as Beck to start with.

books:

Fabio Montale in Jean-Claude Izzo's Marseille Trilogy

Commissario De Luca in Carlo Lucareli's De Luca Trilogy

Jack Carter in Ted Lewis's Jack's Return Home and Jack Carter's Law (but not the third in the trilogy: Mafia Pigeo)

Tony Rome, in the trilogy by Marvin H Albert

James Sader, in Dololres Hitchins 'Sleep with Strangers' and 'Sleep with Slander'

Jacob Asch, in the dozen or so novels by Arthur Lyons

Brock 'the Rock' Callahan, in William Campbell Gault's series featuring same

Berie Gunther, in Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir Trilogy

to name but some....

and no.... I don't have a trilogy fetish （⌒▽⌒）