The greatest sleuths, as seen on TV

Fans of mystery fiction would agree with me: Some of the greatest private eyes in fiction are not found in books. They are, or were, in TV screens, solving one complex, controversial crime after another, week after week. My favorites through the years have been the offbeat ones: Columbo, Morse, and Adrian Monk:

Image Source: 20minutes.fr

 Lieutenant Columbo. This detective, whose first name remains a mystery, deserves a spot here; after all, he's one of TV's foremost detectives, and the show itself presented a groundbreaking take on the whodunit at that time: Each episode began with audiences already knowing the culprit. It made viewers witnesses to how the crime was committed and how Columbo, in his disheveled disguise and feigned dimwittedness, would outsmart even the sharpest-witted murderer.  

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Inspector Morse. Like Columbo, this lead character of the successful British series is the exact opposite of the prototype fictional detective. Unlike Magnum, Crockett, and Starsky and Hutch, Morse isn't young and brawny, doesn't possess hip and suave looks, and doesn't drive fancy cars. Instead, he is a cranky, high-brow, art-loving fella. But such characteristics came in handy as he solved crimes in aristocratic Britain: In one episode, when valuable erotic paintings were stolen from a mansion, he searched for and found answers by using his knowledge of how the minds of the rich and famous work.  

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Adrian Monk. At first glance, and TIME's Lily Rothman would agree, this neurotic detective is an odd candidate. But to me, it's their quirks that make great P.I.s tick, and Monk, with his obsessive-compulsive and phobic tendencies, fits the bill quite well. These same propensities, coupled with his sharp memory, would help him stumble upon the answers to mysteries behind the crimes he handled. But more than his ability to solve crimes, his accidentally funny behavior endeared him to legions of audiences, me included.  

I am Zachary Wood, Orlando resident and a fan of fictional mystery that arrests my imagination. Visit this blog for more about the best of crime fiction.