Top Ten Fictional Detectives

The greatest fictional detectives/investigators of all time.
The Top Ten
1 Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes is a fictional private detective created by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, forensic science, and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs... read more

Sherlock Holmes is basically shorthand for "brilliant detective" at this point. He's one of the most frequently adapted characters in all of fiction, and for good reason: he's a pretty good detective (and also never craps, according to something my brother used to say to me a lot). He's a mostly emotionless, calculating, analytical, deduction-obsessed super genius who solves crimes out of no sense of justice, but more or less to prove how brilliant he is. Practically every fictional detective has drawn upon Sherlock Holmes as an influence since. Modern audiences have THREE separate Sherlock Holmes being made - CBS's Elementary, BBC's Sherlock, and the Sherlock Holmes Shirtless Karate movies. But there's apparently one detective even greater than Sherlock. It's...

2 Batman Batman aka Bruce Wayne is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and first appeared in Detective Comics #27. In film, he has been portrayed by Lewis Wilson, Robert Lowery, Adam West, Michael... read more

"The World's Greatest Detective" is appropriately the world's greatest detective. He solves his crimes through a variety of ways: headbutting, using his cave's supercomputer, punching, kicking, dangling thugs off of roofs, punching more, and occasionally throwing things. Well, usually at least. Sometimes he actually does do detective work - trying to determine the true identity of the Holiday Killer, the identity of Hush, and... Well, there's more, but even the times he did do detective work, it was a lot of punching and gadgets solving things for him. Still, the results speak for themselves - he's put away more criminals than pretty much any other detective in history. Sure, most of them escape regularly, but that's really more of an Arkham Asylum security issue.

3 L Lawliet L Lawliet, exclusively known by the mononym L, is a fictional character in the manga series Death Note, created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata .

L took a case where the murder weapon was unknown to man (not to mention also one of the deadliest fictional weapons ever), the killer himself was a brilliant sociopath with influence over the police, and that anyone in the entire WORLD was a possible suspect, and he still figured out who the killer was in less than a year. Meanwhile, Sherlock Holmes was struggling to catch a dog with paint on his face and Batman couldn't figure out who was the Holiday Killer, even though that could've been solved quite easily if he would just preform basic forensics on Alberto Falcone's "corpse". Enough said.

4 Hercule Poirot

He is the best fictional detective of all time.
He can solve a case without leaving the room.
No one can beat the gray cells of hercule poirot

His stories are so great and creative. Poirot is a very funny but smart character, and he deserves to be in the top 3

No one comes close to the greatest detective of all time with the little grey cells!

5 Inspector Gadget
6 Miss Marple
7 Shinichi Kudo Jimmy Kudo, known in Japan and internationally as Shinichi Kudo, is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the manga series Case Closed and its adaptations, created by Gosho Aoyama.

Who thinks John Constantine is better than him!?
If I would like to choose :-
5. Batman
4. Hercule Poirot
3. L Lawliet
2. Shinichi Kudo
.
.
.
1. Sherlock Holmes

Who thinks Batman have more intelligence than Kudo...
Where is Yusaku Kudo / Booker Kudo he is slightly smarter than his son...

One of the best detective
Should be second
Sherlock is his idol he deserves first spot

8 Rorschach Rorschach is a fictional anti-hero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. He first debuted in the graphic novel Watchmen, published from 1986-1987. Rorschach was created by writer Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

Rorschach solved a lot of mysteries - who was behind the murder of costumed heroes, what was the secret behind Dr. Manhattan's supposed cancer victims, who was locked up in here with whom, etc. But his greatest achievement was (probably) solving the mystery of how to ruin world peace. Pretty impressive for a guy who calls blood "human bean juice."

He was able to price together a murder and was also able to expose who killed 4 million people

9 Adrian Monk

Adrian Monk is definitely in the top 5. He is considered to be like Sherlock Holmes in the show. He solves so many impossible cases. He is one of the most famous detectives.

10 Columbo Columbo or Lieutenant Columbo is the eponymous main character in the American detective crime drama series Columbo. The character is a shrewd but inelegant blue-collar homicide detective whose trademarks include his shambling manner, rumpled beige raincoat and off-putting, relentless investigative approach... read more

He is always smarter than the average crook, pretends to be dumb just to mess with everybody's mind, and has an awesome voice. Peter Falk is the best! Oh, and just one more thing...I like the way he says "Oh, and just one more thing..."

20 what? Are you joking? He should be at the top on this list!

The Contenders
11 John Constantine
12 Tintin

Totally tintin he boss he cool and smart for a kid!

13 Scooby-Doo Scooby Doo is a famous fictional dog character from the show Scooby-Doo Where Are You? He is the protagonist of his series .

The other comment says it all. Has busted literally THOUSAND of criminals. Saved millions of dollars from schemes and plots. Is able to deduce who someone is using a single obscure detail. Oh yeah, and he's a DOG. Suck on that Batman

14 Inspector Clouseau

Would have been really disappointed if Jacques didn't receive mention. Gotta go pump up the parrot and take a long walk off a short pier.

Just for the memes. But this man is secretly a genius, despite how idiotic he appears. He may be clumsy but he sure has talent

15 The Doctor
16 Jessica Fletcher
17 Philip Marlowe
18 Bruce Wayne Bruce Wayne is a fictional character appearing in the American comic books published by DC Comics. He is a wealthy American playboy, philanthropist, and owner of Wayne Enterprises. After witnessing the murder of his parents Dr. Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne as a child, Bruce swore vengeance against... read more
19 C. Auguste Dupin

Who doesn't agree Dupin must take the first place never read his stories. He beats Sherlock Holmes any day.

20 Lord Peter Wimsey
21 Watson
22 Kyoko Kirigiri Kyoko Kirigiri, a character from Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, is a student of Class 78 in Hope's Peak Academy, who also participates in Monokuma's Killing School Life. She is the Ultimate Detective.
23 Inspector Morse
24 Fox Mulder
25 Professor Layton Professor Hershel Layton is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Professor Layton fictional universe, created by Level-5.
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