Famous Private Detectives in
Novels, Movies, and Television--

Agatha Raisin → Portrayed by Ashley Jensen
Based on the mystery novels by Marion Chesney, a former public relations professional in the British TV series Agatha Raisin (Created by Marion Chesney using the pseudonym M. C. Beaton).
•Novels: 1992‑2019 •TV series: 2014‑2020.

Albert Campion → TV portrayal by Peter Davidson
An aristocrat in the early 20th century in several novels and the TV series Campion (Created by Margery Allingham).
•Novels: 1930‑1965 •TV series: 1989‑1990.

Amelia Peabody → No screen presence
A rich Egyptologist in the novels series including The Curse of the Pharaohs (Created by Elizabeth Peters).
•Novels: 1975‑2006.

Arsène Lupin → Portrayed by Georges Descrières
Gentleman thief and master of disguise in books, stage, comics, numerous movies, and several TV series including the French show Arsène Lupin (Created by Mauraice Leblanc ).
•Books: 1907‑2012 •Movies: 1908‑2011  •TV series: 1971‑2007.

Beatrice Adela Bradley → Portrayed by Diana Rigg
A widowed socialite in the novel series and British TV series The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries (Created by Gladys Mitchell).
•Novels: 1929‑1975 •TV series: 1999‑2000.

Beverly Gray → No screen presence
A young woman solving mysteries in various venues Beverly Gray Mystery Stories (Written by Clair Blank).
•Novels: 1034‑1955.

Boston Blackie → Portrayed by Chester Morris
A reformed jewel thief in movies such as Meet Boston Blackie (Written by Jack Boyle).
•Movie: 1918‑1949.

Bulldog Drummond → Portrayed by Ronald Coleman
A gentleman adventurer in novels, short stories, and several movies including Calling Bulldog Drummond (Created by H. C. McNeile).
•Novels: 1920‑1969 •Short stories: 1937  •Movies: 1922‑1969.

Byomkesh Bakshi → Portrayed by Rajit Kapur
An Indian-Bengali fictional detective and refers to himself as a truth-seeker or Satyanweshi in the TV series Byomkesh Bakshi (Created by Basu Chatterjee).
•TV series: 1993‑1997 •Movie: 2015.

Charlie Wild → Portrayed by John McQuade
A private detective in the TV series Charlie Wild, Private Detective (Written by Peter Barry).
•TV series: 1950‑1952.

Cordelia Gray → Portrayed by Helen Baxendale
A shy young woman who inherited a detective agency in two novels and several TV series including An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (Created by P. D. James).
•Novels: 1972, 1982 •TV series: 1997‑2001.

Dan Turner → Portrayed in the 1990 movie by Marc Singer
Known as the Hollywood Detective in the comic book series appearing in in the second issue of the pulp magazine Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective (Created by Robert Leslie Bellem).
•Comic strip: 1942‑1950 •Movie: 1990.

Dan Tanna → Portrayed by Robert Urich
A private detective and Vietnam War vet whose clients include the owner of multiple hotel casinos in Las Vegas in the TV series Vega$ (Created by Michael Mann).
•TV series: 1978‑1981.

David Addison (with Mattie Hayes) → Portrayed by Bruce Willis
A fast-talking P.I. who partners with Mattie in the TV series Moonlighting (Created by Glenn Gordon Caron).
•TV series: 1985‑1989.

Dick Barton → Portrayed by Tony Vogel
An ex-Commando who solved all sorts of crimes in the radio series, movies and the TV series Dick Barton: Special Agent (Produced by Raymond Raikes and others).
•Radio series: 1946‑1951 •Movies: 1948, 1949, 1950  •TV series: 1979.

Don Corey (with partners Jed Sills and Dr. Carl Hyatt) → Portrayed by Anthony George, with partners Doug McClure and Sebastian Cabot
Owner of a detective agency named Checkmate, Inc. in San Francisco in the TV series Checkmate (Created by Eric Ambler).
•TV series: 1960‑1962.

Dr. John Thorndyke → Portrayed in the 1964 TV series by Peter Copley
A medical doctor and forensic specialist in a series of novels and short stories and TV series including The Case of Oscar Brodski (Created by R. Austin Freeman).
•Novels: 1907‑1942.

E. L. ("Early Leroy") "Tenspeed" Turner (with partner Lionel "Brownshoe" Whitney) → Portrayed by Ben Vareen
A hustler who worked as a detective to satisfy his parole requirements in the TV series Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (Created by Stephen M. Cannell).
•TV series: 1980.

Eddie Shoestring → Portrayed by Trevor Eve
A former computer expert in the British TV series Shoestring (Created by Robert Banks Stewart and Richard Harris).
•TV series: 1979‑1980.

Ellery Queen → Portrayed in the 1975 TV series by Jim Hutton
A mystery writer and editor of a magazine in novels, movies, and several TV series including The Adventures of Ellery Queen (Ghost writers as Ellery Queen).
•Novels: 1929‑71 •TV series:1950‑1956, 1975‑1976  •Movies: 1940‑1942.

Elona Holmes → Portrayed by Millie "Bobby" Brown
The sister of Sherlock Holmes in the book series The Enola Holmes Mysteries and the movie Enola Holmes (Created by Nancy Springer).
•Book series: 2006‑2010 •Movie: 2020.

Encyclopedia Brown (Leroy) → Portrayed in the TV series by Scott Bremner
A boy detective in the book series, a comic strip, and the TV HBO series beginning with The Case of the Missing Time Capsule (Books written by Donald J. Sobol).
•Books: 1963‑2012 •TV series: 1989‑1990.

Feluda (aka Prodosh Chandra Mitra) → Portrayed in 1974 movie by Soumitra Chatterjee
An Indian detective of Bengali origin in novels and movies such as Sonar Kella (Created by Satyajit Ray).
•Novels: 1966‑1997 •Movies: 1974‑2014.

Frank and Joe Hardy (The Hardy Boys) → Portrayed by Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy
Teenage brothers and amateur detectives in a series of books and a TV series The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (Created by Edward Stratemeyer).
•Books: 1929‑present •TV series: 1974‑1977.

Garrett (image cropped from the book cover) → No screen presence
A P.I. in a fantasy universe with his partner, the Dead Man, in a series of novels such as Old Tin Sorrows (Created by Glen Cook).
•Novels: 1987‑2013.

Gil Jourdan along with partners Libellule and Crouton → No screen presence
A Belgian dectective handles various cases which sometimes took them to many countries in comics titled Tout Gil Jourdan (Created by Maurice Tillieux).
•Comics: 1956‑1989.

Harry Tenafly → Portrayed by James McEachin
A former policeman in the TV series Tenafly (Written by Richard Levinson and William Link).
•TV series: 1974‑1975.

Hercule Poirot → Portrayed in the British TV series by David Suchet
A dignified and meticulous Belgian detective in novels, short stories, movies and TV including Agatha Christie's Poirot (Created by Agatha Christie).
•Novels: 1926‑1975 •Movies: 1931‑1986  •TV series: 1989‑2013.

Hildegarde Withers → Portrayed by Edna May Oliver and later others.
Spinster school teacher and amateur detective who collaborates, and frequently butts heads, with Inspector Oscar Piper in a series of novels and movies such as Murder on the Blackboard (Created by Stuart Palmer).
•Novels: 1932‑1969 •Movies: 1932‑1972.

Jack Casey → Portrayed by Richard Carlye
A photographer who helps the police solve crimes in books, movies, radio, and the TV series Casey, Crime Photographer (Created by George Harmon Coxe).
•Books: 1942‑1964 •Movies: 1936, 1938  •TV series: 1951‑1952.

Jack Irish → Portrayed by Guy Pearce
A former criminal lawyer turned P.I. in the three Australian TV movies inclucing Jack Irish: Bad Debts (Created by Peter Temple).
•Books: 1996‑2003 •TV movies: 2012, 2013.

Jake Styles → Portrayed by Joe Penny
An investigator working with a fat prosecutor in the TV series Jake and the Fatman (Created by Dean Hargrove and Joel Steiger).
•TV series: 1987‑1992.

Jeff Randall (and his ghost partner Hopkirk) → Portrayed by Mike Pratt. (Hopkirk portrayed by Kenneth Cope)
A womanizing P.I. in the British TV series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (Created by Dennis Spooner).
•TV series: 1969‑1970.

Jessica Fletcher → Portrayed by Angela Lansbury
A widowed writer residing in Cabot Cove, Maine in the TV series Murder She Wrote (Written by William Link and Richard Levin).
•TV series: 1984‑1996.

Jim Rockford → Portrayed by James Garner
A veteran and peace-loving P.I. in the TV series The Rockford Files (Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell).
•TV series: 1974‑1980.

Joe Mannix → Portrayed by Mike Connors
An even tempered P.I. and former POW in the TV series Mannix (Created by Richard Levinson and Willam Link).
•TV series: 1967‑1975.

Johnny Staccato → Portrayed by John Cassavetes
A jazz pianist and private detective in the TV series Johnny Staccato (Produced by Everett Chambers).
•TV series: 1959‑1960.

Jonathan Creek → Portrayed by Alan Davies
A creative consultant to a magician in the British TV series Jonathan Creek (Written by David Renwick).
•TV series: 1997‑2004.

Josef Matula → Portrayed by Claus Theo Gärtner
A former police officer who becomes a private detective working with a defense attorney in the German TV series Ein Fall für zwei (Created by Karl Heinz Willschrei).
•TV series: 1981‑2013.

Kinsey Millhone → No screen presence
A tough-talking former cop, P.I. in the alphabet mysteries series of novels including "H" is for Homicide (Created by Sue Grafton).
•Novels: 1982‑2017.

Lemmy Caution → Portrayed by Eddie Constantine
Witty, crafty womanizing private detective in the book series and French movies such as La môme vert de gris (Created by Peter Cheyney).
•Books: 1936‑1945 •Movies: 1953‑1991.

Lionel "Brownshoe" Whitney (with partner E. L. "Tenspeed" Turner) → Portrayed by Jeff Goldblum
An archetypal accountant in the TV series Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (Created by Stephen M. Cannell).
•TV series: 1980.

Madelyn "Maddie" Hayes (with David Addison) → Portrayed by Cybill Shepherd
A clever former model who owns a detective agency in the TV series Moonlighting (Created by Glenn Gordon Caron).
•TV series: 1985‑1989.

Matt Helm (not like the book or movie versions) → Portrayed by Anthony Franciosa
Retired spy, now a private detective in the TV series Matt Helm (Developed by Sam Rolfe).
•TV series: 1975‑1976.

Matt Kevin (with partner Angie Everett) → Portrayed by Jason Priestley
With his partner, private investigators solving crimes in Toronto in the Canadian TV series Private Eyes (Created by Tim Kilby and Shelley Eriksen).
•TV series: 2016‑2021.

Michael Shayne → Portrayed in the movies by Lloyd Noland
Detective in old style, gathering suspects in one place and naming the murderer, in a series of books, TV series, and several movies such as Michael Shayne, Private Detective (Created by Brett Halliday).
•Books: 1939‑1958 •Movies: 1940‑1946  •TV series: 1960‑1961.

Michael Westen → Portrayed by Jeffery Donovan
An unlicensed freelance private investigator in the TV series Burn Notice (Created by Matt Nix).
•TV series: 2007‑2013.

Miss Marple → Portrayed in movies by Margaret Rutherford
An old spinster is of independent means in a novels series, movies and TV series including 4.50 from Paddington (Created by Agatha Christie).
•Novels: 1930‑1976 •Movies: 1961‑1964  •TV series: 1984‑1992, 2004‑2013.

Nancy Drew → Portrayed by various actors over the years including Sophia Lillis in the 2019 film as seen in image.
A young high school graduate in many books, a TV series and several movies including the 2019 movie Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (Many writers under the ghost name Carolyn Keene ).
•Novels: 1930‑2003 •TV series: 1997, 1995, 2019  •Movies: 1938‑1939, 2002.

Nestor Burma → Portrayed by Guy Marchand
French private detective in a series of books and the TV series Nestor Burma (Created by Léo Malet).
•Books: 1943‑1983 •TV series: 1991.

Nick Ryder (and his partners Cody Allen and Murray Bozinsky) → Portrayed by Joe Penny, Perry King, and Thom Bray
Three buddies and their boat-based detective agency in the TV series Riptide (Created by Frank Lupo and Stephen Cannell).
•TV series: 1983‑1986.

Patrick Jane → Portrayed by Simon Baker
A con artist and police consultant in the TV series The Mentalist (Created by Bruno Heller).
•TV series: 2008‑2015.

Peter Gunn → Portrayed by Craig Stevens
A sophisticated, well-dressed P.I. in the TV series Peter Gunn (Created by Blake Edwards).
•TV series: 1958‑1961.

Philo Vance → Portrayed in the 1933 movie by William Powell
An aristocrat of unusual culture and brilliance in novels and movies including The Kennel Murde Case (Created by S. S. Van Dine).
•Novels:1926‑1939 •Movies: 1929‑1947.

Remington Steele → Portrayed by Pierce Brosnan
A former thief and con man hired to be a front P.I. in the TV series Remmington Steele  (Created by Robert Butler).
•TV series: 1982‑1987.

Richard Diamond → Portrayed by David Janssen
A former police officer and a hard-boiled private detective in the TV series Richard Diamond Private Detective (Written by Blake Edwards).
•TV series: 1957‑1960.

Rick Simon (and brother A.J.) → Portrayed by Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker
Brother detectives with contrasting ways in the TV series Simon & Simon (Created by Philip DeGuere).
•TV series: 1981‑1989.

Sally Lockhart → Portrayed by Billie Piper
A teen-age girl in the novel series and TV shows such as The Shadow in the North (Created by Philip Pullman).
•Novels: 1872‑1882 •Movie: 2006, 2007.

Sarah Keate → Portrayed by Ann Sheridan and others
A nurse in novels and movies such as The Patient in Room 18 (Created by Mignon Eberhart).
•Novels: 1929‑1932 •Movies: 1935‑1938.

Shawn Spencer (with Burton Guster) → Portrayed by James Roday
A wise-cracking sleuth in the TV series Psych  (Created by Steve Franks).
•TV series: 2006‑2014.

Sherlock Holmes-1 → Portrayed in the 1983 movie by Ian Richardson
A renowned detective in four novels, 56 short stories, and many movies including The Hound of the Baskervilles (Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).
•Novels: 1887‑1915 •Short stories: 1891‑1927  •Movies: many  •TV series: many.

Sherlock Holmes-3 (with Joan Watson) → Portrayed by Jonny Lee Miller
A modern-day version of the famous detective in the TV series Elementary  (Created by Robert Doherty).
•TV series: 2012‑2019.

Simon Templar (known as The Saint) → Portrayed by Roger Moore in the TV series
A British amateur detective portrayed in books, radio, movies and TV by various actors over many years; for example, in the TV series The Saint (Originally created by Leslie Charteris).
•Books: 1928‑1963 •Movies: 1938‑1943  •Radio: 1944‑1951  •Comics: 1948‑1961.

Slam Bradley (Samuel Emerson "Slam" Bradley) → No screen presence
A tough private eye who loves working for women but prefers the platonic company of his sidekick "Shorty" Morgan in the comic book series. Detective Comics (Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster).
•Comic books: 1937‑1949, revived in later years.

Stuart Bailey (with partner Jeff Spencer) → Bailey portrayed by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. and Spencer portrayed by Roger Smith
Two private detectives and former government secret agents with an office on Sunset Strip in LA in the TV series 77 Sunset Strip (Created by Roy Huggins).
•TV series: 1958‑1964.

Thomas Magnum (with Higgins in later series) → Portrayed by Tom Selleck and in the later series Jay Hernandez
A private eye living a luxurious life in Hawaii in the TV series Magnum, P.I. (Created by Donald P. Bellisario).
•TV series: 1980‑1988, 2018‑2019.

Tommy and Tuppence Beresford → TV portrayal of Tommy by David Walliams, of Tuppence by Jessica
A typical upper middle class couple in novels, short stories and in the TV series Partners in Crime (Created by Agatha Christie).
•Novels: 1922‑1973 •TV series: 2015.

V. I. Warshawski → Portrayed in the movie by Kathleen Turner
A lean and athletic female P.I. appearing novels, short stories, and the movie V.I. Warshawski (Created by Sara Paretsky).
•Novels: 1982‑2013 •Movie: 1991.

Veronica Mars → Portrayed by Kristin Bell
A school girl whose father is a private detective in the TV series Veronica Mars (Created by Rob Thomas).
•TV series: 2004‑2007 •Movie: 2014.

Victoria and Darby Spencer → Portrayed by Lea Thompson and Stacey Farber
A mother and daughter duo who investigate crimes in their home town in the TV series The Spencer Sisters (Created by Alan McCullough).
•TV Series: 2023.

William of Baskerville (Italian name is Guglielmo da Baskerville) → Portrayed in the miniseries by John Turturro and Sean Connery in the movie.
An enlightened friar in 1337 investigates a series of mysterious deaths at an abbey in The Name of the Rose (The miniseries created by Giacomo Battiato and based on the novel by Umberto Eco).
•Novel: 1980 •Movie: 1986  •TV miniseries: 2019.