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

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.

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.

Matthew Scudder → Portrayed in the movie by Liam Neeson
An alcoholic ex-cop in the several novels including A Walk Among the Tombstones (Created by Lawrence Block).
•Novels: 1976‑2019 •Movie: 2014.

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.

Agaton Sax → No screen presence
Owner of a detective agency in an animated movie and animated TV series, based on several Swedish novels including Agaton Sax and the London Computer Plot (Created by Nils Olof Franzén).
•Novels: 1955‑1978 •Movie: 1976  •TV series: 1976.

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.

Barnaby Jones → Portrayed by Buddy Ebsen
A private eye who comes out of retirement after his son is murdered in the TV series Barnaby Jones (Developed by Edward Hume).
•TV series: 1970‑1983.

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

Varg Veum → In movies portrayed by Trond Espen Seim
A Norwegian private detective in a series of novels and several movies such as Bitre Blomster (Created by Gunnar Staalesen).
•Novels: 1977‑2014 •Movies: 2007‑2012.

Rex Randolph with partner Cal Calhoun → Randolph portrayed by Richard Long and Calhoun portrayed by Andrew Duggan
Couple of PIs with an office above the Old Absinthe House in New Orleans' French Quarter in the TV series Bourbon Street Beat (Created by Charles Hoffman).
•TV series: 1959‑1960.

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.

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.

Shell Scott → No screen presence
A 6-foot-2 ex-marine in several novels such as Case of the Vanishing Beauty (Created by Richard S. Prather).
•Novels: 1950‑1987.

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.

Elly Chandler (with partner Dee Tate shown on the right) → Portrayed by Catherine Russell and her co-star Barbara Flynn
Two female private detectives, Elly Chandler and Dee Tate, who run their own private investigation agency in London in the British TV series Chandler & Co. (Created and written by Paula Milne).
•TV series: 1994‑1995.

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.

Dan Adams → Portrayed by Rod Cameron
A former United States Navy intelligence officer turned private detective in the TV series Coronado 9 (Directed by Dann Cahn).
•TV series: 1960‑1961.

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.

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.

Bernie Little (image from 2015 book cover of Bernie's canine companion) → No screen presence
A down-on-his-luck P.I. in the series of novels beginning with Dog on It (Created by Spencer Quinn, aka Peter Abrahams).
•Novels: 2009‑2020.

Joan Watson (with Sherlock Holmes-3) → Portrayed by Lucy Liu
Holmes' former sobriety companion turned detective in the TV series Elementary (Created by Robert Doherty).
•TV series: 2012‑now.

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.

Father Brown → Portrayed by Mark Williams
A Catholic priest in several media including the TV series Father Brown (Created by G. K. Chesterton).
•TV series: 1974, 2013.

Frankie Drake (with partner Trudy Clarke) → Portrayed by Lauren Lee Smith (Trudy is portrayed by Chantel Riley)
The first female private detective in 1920s Toronto, with her crime-solving partner in the Canadian TV series Frankie Drake Mysteries (Created by Carol Hay and Michelle Ricci).
•TV series: 2017‑now.

Harry O → Portrayed by David Janssen
A San Diego cop forced into retirement when he is shot in the back in the TV series Harry O (Created by Howard Rodman).
•TV series: 1974‑1976.

James Hazell → Portrayed by Nicholas Ball.
A cockney private detective in the British TV drama Hazell (Created by Gordon Williams and Terry Venables).
•TV drama: 1978‑1979.

Honey West → Portrayed by Anne Francis
A detective and ocelot owner who communicates with her partner via a radio hidden in her lipstick case in a book series and the TV series Honey West (Created by Gloria and Forest Fickling).
•Books: 1957‑1972 •TV series: 1965‑1966.

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.

Johnny Midnight → Portrayed by Edmond O'Brien
New York City actor turned private detective in the TV series Johnny Midnight (Produced by Jack Chertok).
•TV series: 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Eliza Scarlet → Portrayed by Kate Phillips
A Victorian young woman who continues her father's detective agency after his death Miss Scarlet and the Duke (Created by Rachael New).
•TV series: 2020‑2021.

Adrian Monk → Portrayed by Tony Shalhouby
A brilliant police consultant with obsessive compulsive disorder in the TV series Monk (Created by Andy Breckman).
•TV series: 2002‑2009.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Paul Drake → Portrayed by William Hopper
The private detective working for Parry Mason Perry Mason (Created by Erle Stanley Gardner).
•Novels: 1933‑1973 •Movies: 1934‑1940  •TV series: 1985‑1995, 2020.

Jack Cleary → Portrayed by Michael Woods
An ex-cop working in 1950s L.A. in the TV series Private Eye (Created by Anthony Yerkovich).
•TV series: 1987‑88.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Laura Thyme (with Rosemary Boxer) → Portrayed by Pam Ferris
A gardening detective in the British TV series Rosemary and Thyme (Created by Brian Eastman).
•TV series: 2003‑2007.

Sexton Blake → Portrayed by Laurence Stanley Payne
A bargain basement Sherlock Holmes solving mysteries of all manner. Sexton Blake (Written by Harry Blyth (using the pseudonym Hal Meredeth)).
•Comic strips: 1939‑1979 •Silent movies: 1909‑1928  •Movies: 1935‑1945  •TV series 1967‑1971.

Sherlock Holmes-2 → Portrayed in the 2009 movie by Robert Downey Jr.
A renowned detective in a series of novels and adaptations on stage and radio, in TV series, and movies, including Sherlock Holmes  (Directed by Guy Ritchie).
•Movie: 2009.

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.

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.

Cormoran Strike → Portrayed by Tom Burke
An ex-SIB investigator, and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan in the books and the TV series Strike (Created by J. K. Rowling).
•Novels: 2013‑2020 •TV series: 2017‑2020.

Sydney Kells → Portrayed by Valerie Bertinelli
Daughter of a now-deceased policeman in the TV series Sydney (Created by Michael J. Wilson).
•TV series: 1990.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Philip Marlowe → Portrayed in the 1978 movie by Robert Mitchum
A wisecracking, hard-drinking, tough P.I. in novels, TV series, and movies including The Big Sleep (Created by Raymond Chandler).
•Novels: 1939‑1989 •Movies: 1942‑1978  •TV series: 1959‑1960, 1983‑1986.

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.

Dave Robicheaux → Portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones
Former New Orleans officer and recovering alcoholic in the book series and two movies including The Electric Mist (Created by James Lee Burke).
•Books: 1987‑2013 •Movies: 1996, 2009.

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.

Sam Spade → Portrayed in the 1941 movie by Humphrey Bogart
A hard and shifty P.I. in a novel, short stories, and movies, including The Maltese Falcon (Created by Dashiell Hammett).
•Novel: 1930 •Short stories: 1932  •Movies: 1931‑1978.

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.

Joseph Rouletabille → Portrayed in the 1949 French movie by Serge Reggiani
A journalist in several movies and a novel series starting with The Mystery of th Yellow Room (Created by Gaston Leroux).
•Novels: 1907‑1923 •Movies: 1913‑2005  •TV series: 1965‑1966.

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.

Nick and Nora Charles → Movie portrayal of Nick by William Powell
An alcoholic former private detective and a wealthy heiress in the novel and several movie adaptations such as The Thin Man (Created by Dashiell Hammett).
•Novel: 1934 •Movies: 1934‑1947  •TV series: 1957‑1959.

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.

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.

Sid Halley → Portray on TV by Mike Gwilym
Former British jump racing Champion Jockey in a TV series based on novels such as Whip Hand (Created by Dick Francis).
•Novels: 1965‑1995 •TV series: 1979.