Salon - - Your most unusual detective

Doug Nelson · #1 11-10-2002, 01:25 PM

I've read books or seen movies where the detective was a cat, a dog, a mouse, a young boy, a young girl, an alien, a misanthrope, a mysogynist, an obsessive-compulsive, a drug addict, a housewife, a priest, an elderly gardener, a monk, a schizophrenic, and much more.

What's the most unusual detective you've read or watched?

BigAl · #2 11-11-2002, 12:38 AM

Miss Marples or Sherlock Holmes. Maybe even Poirot.

chris h · #3 11-11-2002, 06:45 AM

I think Cadfael was the most unusual format within the bounds of credibility...

http://www.iw.net/~csonne/

but Sherlock Holmes both in print and especially with the sadly deceased Jeremy Brett in the TV serialisations stands alone.

CJ Swartz · #4 11-11-2002, 04:13 PM

In the "Mr. and Mrs. North" series from the early 50's, Mrs. North was a wife/detective which is already in Doug's list, but what made her "unusual" is that she was so dumb that she should have been killed in the first episode. I haven't seen this show in almost 50 years, but I can remember as a teenager yelling at the screen -- "No, don't go into that vacant building with that man -- he's the murderer!" She ALWAYS went anyway, and looked so surprised when he tried to kill her. She would be saved in the "nick of time" by her husband, who was smart enough to get the police.

I loved the show at the time, and always hoped that she would learn to be more sensible. Don't think that she ever did, but her husband, Richard Denning, was always able to save her. Of course, SHE was the one who solved the crimes, but only at the constant risk of her life.

Doug Nelson · #5 11-11-2002, 05:33 PM

I hadn't heard of Mr. and Mrs. North, but it's interesting to learn the first Mrs. North (in the original movie) was Gracie Allen. This led to another find I wasn't aware of:

"The 1939 movie, The Gracie Allen Murder Case, was especially written for the actress by the creator of Philo Vance, writer S.S. Van Dine."