| Detective | Creator | Debut |
|---|
| Karen Andersen | Louise Burfitt-Dons | The Missing Activist[1] (2018) |
| Angel | Joss Whedon | Angel (TV) (1999) |
| Harry Angel | William Hjortsberg | Falling Angel (1978) |
| Lew Archer | Ross Macdonald | The Moving Target (1949) |
| Bilqees "Bobby" Ahmed | Samar Shaikh | Bobby Jasoos (2014) |
| Jagga Bagchi | Anurag Basu | Jagga Jasoos (2017) |
| Byomkesh Bakshi | Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay | Satyanweshi (1934) |
| Goenda Baradacharan | Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay | Monojder Advut Bari |
| Parashor Barma | Premendra Mitra | Nagchampa (1968) |
| Benoit Blanc | Rian Johnson | Knives Out (2019) |
| Kate Brannigan | Val McDermid | Dead Beat[2] (1992) |
| Nestor Burma | Léo Malet | 120, rue de la Gare (1943) |
| Joe Caneili | Hayford Peirce | Trouble in Tahiti: P.I. Joe Caneili, Discrétion Assurée[3] (2000) |
| Frank Cannon | Edward Hume | Cannon (TV) (1971) |
| Carlotta Carlyle | Linda Barnes | A Trouble of Fools[4] (1987) |
| Rex Carver | Victor Canning | The Whip Hand (1965) |
| Dipak Chatterjee | Swapan Kumar | Adrishya Sanket (1953) |
| Detective Chimp | John Broome and Carmine Infantino | Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #4 (July–August 1952) |
| Emerson Cod | Bryan Fuller | Pushing Daisies (TV) (2007) |
| Elvis Cole | Robert Crais | The Monkey's Raincoat (1987) |
| The Continental Op | Dashiell Hammett | The Tenth Clew[5] (1924) |
| Alexa Crowe | Claire Tonkin | My Life Is Murder (TV) (2019) |
| Clifford Dee | J. Denison Reed | Cliffords War: The Bluegrass Battleground[6] (2021)Cliffords War: Without End[7] (2022) |
| Frankie Drake | Carol Hay and Michelle Ricci | Frankie Drake Mysteries (TV) (2018) |
| Harry Dresden | Jim Butcher | Storm Front (2000)
The Dresden Files (TV) (2007) |
| Nancy Drew | Carolyn Keene | The Secret of the Old Clock (1930) |
| Feluda, or Prodosh Chandra Mitra | Satyajit Ray | Feludar Goendagiri (1965) |
| Phryne Fisher | Kerry Greenwood | Cocaine Blues (1989) |
| Jessica Fletcher | Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link | Murder, She Wrote (TV) (1984) |
| Dan Fortune | Michael Collins | Act of Fear[8] (1967) |
| Josephine Fuller | Lynne Murray | Larger Than Death[9] (1997) |
| Ganesh | Sujatha | Nylon Kayiru (1968) |
| Dirk Gently | Douglas Adams | Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987) |
| J.J. 'Jake' Gittes | Robert Towne | Chinatown (Film) (1974) |
| Lindsay Gordon | Val McDermid | Report for Murder[10] (1987) |
| Bernhard "Bernie" Gunther | Philip Kerr | March Violets (1989) |
| Mike Hammer | Mickey Spillane | I, the Jury[11] (1947) |
| Cliff Hardy | Peter Corris | The Dying Trade[12] (1980) |
| Frank and Joe Hardy | Franklin Dixon | The Tower Treasure (1930) |
| Sherlock Holmes | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | A Study in Scarlet (1887) |
| Jack Irish | Peter Temple | Bad Debts (1996) |
| Jessica Jones | Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos | Alias (Comic Book) (2001)
Jessica Jones (TV) (2015) |
| Kemal Kayankaya | Jakob Arjouni | Happy Birthday, Türke! (1985); English translation: Happy Birthday, Turk! (1994) |
| Arthur Lemming | Monty Python | Monty Python's Flying Circus - "Owl Stretching Time" (TV) (1969) |
| Miss Madelyn Mack | Hugh C. Weir | "The Problem of the Eliminated Bridegroom" (1909)[13] |
Trent Malloy
Carlos Sandoval | Albert S. Ruddy & Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis and Christopher Canaan | Walker, Texas Ranger (TV) (1997) |
| Thomas Magnum | Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson | Magnum, P.I. (TV) (1980) |
| Joe Mannix | Richard Levinson and William Link | Mannix (TV) (1967) |
| Philip Marlowe | Raymond Chandler | The Big Sleep (1939)
Murder, My Sweet (Film) (1944) |
| Miss Jane Marple | Agatha Christie | "The Tuesday Night Club" (1927) |
| Hemlock Marreau | Robert Farrow | Marreau and the Chocolate Policeman[14] (1991) |
Veronica Mars
Keith Mars | Rob Thomas | Veronica Mars (TV) (2004) |
| Mitin Masi | Suchitra Bhattacharya | Pālābāra Patha Nē'i |
| Travis McGee | John D. MacDonald | The Deep Blue Good-by[15] (1964) |
| Kinsey Millhone | Sue Grafton | "A" Is for Alibi[16] (1982) |
| Tess Monaghan | Laura Lippman | Baltimore Blues[17] (1997) |
| Adrian Monk | Andy Breckman | Monk (TV) (2002) |
| Bhaduri Moshai | Nirendranath Chakravarty |
| Tex Murphy | Chris Jones | Mean Streets (Video Game) (2004) |
| Mr. Nadgett | Charles Dickens | Martin Chuzzlewit. He was the first fictional private investigator[18] |
| Nameless Detective | Bill Pronzini | The Snatch[19] (1971) |
| Harry Orwell | Howard Rodman | Harry O (TV) (1974) |
| Hercule Poirot | Agatha Christie | The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) |
| Ellery Queen | Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee | The Roman Hat Mystery (1929) |
| Agatha Raisin | M.C. Beaton | Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (1992) |
| Precious Ramotswe | Alexander McCall Smith | The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency[20] (1998) |
| Jeff Randall | Dennis Spooner | Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (TV) (1969) |
| Sunny Randall | Robert B. Parker | Family Honor[21] (1999) |
| Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins | Walter Mosley | Devil in a Blue Dress (1990) |
| Jim Rockford | Richard T. Heffron | The Rockford Files (TV) (1974) |
| | Kalo Bhramar (1930s) |
| Matthew Scudder | Lawrence Block | The Sins of the Fathers (1976) |
| John Shaft | Ernest Tidyman | Shaft (1970) |
| Eddie Shoestring | | Shoestring (TV) (1979) |
| Sam Spade | Dashiell Hammett | The Maltese Falcon[22] (1930)
The Maltese Falcon (Film) (1931) |
| Shawn Spencer | Steve Franks and Andy Berman | Psych (TV) (2006) |
| Spenser | Robert B. Parker | The Godwulf Manuscript (1973) |
| Larry "Doc" Sportello | Thomas Pynchon | Inherent Vice (2009) |
| Johnny Staccato | Everett Chambers, producer | Johnny Staccato (TV) (1959) |
| Juno Steel | Harley Takagi Kaner and Kevin Vibert | The Penumbra Podcast (2016) |
| Cormoran Strike | Robert Galbraith | "The Cuckoo's Calling" (2013)
"Strike" (TV) (2017) |
| Three Investigators | Robert Arthur Jr. | The Secret of Terror Castle (1964) |
| Tommy and Tuppence | Agatha Christie | The Secret Adversary (1922) |
| Amos Walker | Loren D. Estleman | Motor City Blue[23] (1980) |
| V. I. Warshawski | Sara Paretsky | Indemnity Only[24] (1982) |
| Nero Wolfe | Rex Stout | Fer-de-Lance (1934) | |
