| Detective | Creator | Debut |
|---|
| Angel | Joss Whedon | Angel (TV) (1999) |
| Lew Archer | Ross Macdonald | The Moving Target (1949) |
| Byomkesh Bakshi | Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay | Satyanweshi (novel) |
| Kate Brannigan | Val McDermid | Dead Beat[1] (1992) |
| Joe Caneili | Hayford Peirce | P. I. Joe Caneili, Discretion Assuree[2] (2000) |
| Carlotta Carlyle | Linda Barnes | A Trouble of Fools[3] (1987) |
| Rex Carver | Victor Canning | Doubled in Diamonds[4] (1966) |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| Dan Fortune | Michael Collins | Act of Fear[6] (1967) |
| Josephine Fuller | Lynne Murray | Larger Than Death[7] (1997) |
| Dirk Gently | Douglas Adams | Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987) |
| Lindsay Gordon | Val McDermid | Report for Murder[8] (1987) |
| Bernhard Guenther | Philip Kerr | March Violets (1989) |
| Mike Hammer | Mickey Spillane | I, the Jury[9] (1947) |
| Cliff Hardy | Peter Corris | The Dying Trade[10] (1980) |
| Frank and Joe Hardy | Franklin Dixon | The Tower Treasure (1930) |
| Sherlock Holmes | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | A Study in Scarlet (1887) |
| Jessica Jones | Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos | Alias (2001)
Jessica Jones (2015) |
| Arthur Lemming | Monty Python | Monty Python's Flying Circus - "Owl Stretching Time" (1969) |
| Thomas Magnum | Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson | Magnum, P.I. (TV) (1980) |
| Philip Marlowe | Raymond Chandler | The Big Sleep (1939)
Murder, My Sweet (1944) |
| Hemlock Marreau | Robert Farrow | Marreau and the Chocolate Policeman[11] (1991) |
Veronica Mars
Keith Mars | Rob Thomas | Veronica Mars (2004) |
| Travis McGee | John D. MacDonald | The Deep Blue Good-by[12] (1964) |
| Kinsey Millhone | Sue Grafton | A is for Alibi[13] (1982) |
| Tess Monaghan | Laura Lippman | Baltimore Blues"[14] (1997) |
| Tex Murphy | Chris Jones | Mean Streets (2004) |
| Mr. Nadgett | Charles Dickens | Martin Chuzzlewit. He was the first fictional private investigator[15] |
| Nameless Detective | Bill Pronzini | The Snatch[16] (1971) |
| Harry Orwell | Howard Rodman | Harry O (TV) (1974) |
| Hercule Poirot | Agatha Christie | The Mysterious Affair at Styles[17] (1920) |
| Ellery Queen | Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee | The Roman Hat Mystery (1929) |
| Precious Ramotswe | Alexander McCall Smith | The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency[18] (1998) |
| Jeff Randall | Dennis Spooner | Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969) |
| Sunny Randall | Robert B. Parker | Family Honor[19] (1999) |
| Jim Rockford | Richard T. Heffron | The Rockford Files (TV) (1974) |
| Kiriti Roy | Nihar Ranjan Gupta | |
| Shuichi Saihara | Spike Chunsoft | Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony |
| Matthew Scudder | Lawrence Block | The Sins of the Fathers (1976) |
| John Shaft | Ernest Tidyman | Shaft[20] (1971) |
| Sam Spade | Dashiell Hammett | The Maltese Falcon[21] (1930)
The Maltese Falcon (1931) |
| Shawn Spencer | Steve Franks and Andy Berman | Psych (TV) (2006) |
| Spenser | Robert B. Parker | The Godwulf Manuscript[22] (1973) |
| Cormoran Strike | Robert Galbraith | "The Cuckoo's Calling" (2013)
"Strike (TV series)" (2017) |
| Larry "Doc" Sportello | Thomas Pynchon | Inherent Vice (2009) |
| 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) |
|