Genre Readers looking to expand discussion

What's a good mystery without a good detective? This challenge celebrates the detectives that help bring the mystery to life.

This Challenge will run from May 1st to September 30th.

There are several famous detectives out there but most fall into a specific "type" of detective so in this challenge we are going to see how many different types of detectives you can be.

Here is a list of famous detectives and a description of them, pick however many different ones you want to read and either read a book with that detective in it or a book with the same type of detective that you have selected.

Feel free to branch out and add your own type if I don't have your favorite detective listed.

Post here what you read as well as any thoughts and ideas on the mystery genre or your favorite detective.

SAM SPADE: A hard-boiled detective, runs a detective agency, not afraid of fights or firearms, appears to be cynical but has a sense of duty, usually has some type of femme fatale in the story with him.

DETECTIVE CHIEF INSPECTOR RODERICK ALLEYN: British detective, an example of a gentleman detective (younger son of a baronet), works for Scotland Yard, solves mysteries where the murder method is generally interesting or different.

MISS MARPLE: A spinster with a remarkable talent as an amateur sleuth, intuition and psychology are important to her, annoys police detectives

SHERLOCK HOLMES: solves mysteries with logical reasoning, believes in the science of deduction, he is eccentric, brilliant, has an assistant that may not be as smart but is extremely useful

CONSTANTINE: chain smoking, cynical, occasionally embittered detective of the occult and magicians

INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU: totally incompetent but baselessly confident detective. He solves cases usually on accident and almost always with the help of others

FOX MULDER: believes in aliens, monsters and every other type of paranormal activity; solves bizarre cases & tackles conspiracy theories

THE SCOOBY DOO GANG: Group of teens who investigate ghost and ghoolies, they never find a real one though.

RORSCHAD: antihero, vigilante detective, ruthless crime fighter, believes in good or evil- no shades of grey, seeks to punish evil at all cost

HERCULE POIROT: conventional, clue based detective; tends to hide his ideas until the end with a big reveal, solves complicated mysteries through talking to people to get them to reveal there natures.


What kind of Detective will you be?

Amateur Sleuth: 1-3 books/detectives
Private Eye: 3-6 books/detectives
Professional Sleuth: 6 or more

I think I am going to give this a try and start with possibly being an Amateur Sleuth.

Has anyone tackled this one?

I forgot I said I was going to try this. I am going to see if I can still tackle this when I get back from vacation.

I keep meaning to and get sidetracked by other books. Detective novels aren't really a genre I read a lot of.

I got one today at the library.

Lea wrote: "I got one today at the library. "

So far I am really loving this book. I don't usually read mysteries, so this is new for me.

Okay, I finished The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. When I first started reading it I thought the "detective", eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, was very much like Sherlock Holmes. She is intelligent, dabbles in chemistry, and is very analytical with the clues. Then I thought she was also like Poirot because she spends a lot of time talking with people to get information. A lot of these people divulge information unwittingly because they are talking to a young girl, so then I thought maybe that makes her more like a Miss Marple kind of character. I still can't quite decide. I liked this book, but I've certainly enjoyed other mysteries more than this one.

I'm going to try another kind of detective story soon.

I went for a bit of Stephanie Plum in . She definatly falls into the Inspector Clouseau category.

The Plum series are books I like to pick up when I just need some silliness to read, she makes me laugh out loud with all the insane things she gets into and her books are a fun way to spend some down time.

I recently finished Top O' the Mournin'. I'd say this unlikely sleuth (real job is a travel guide) falls into the Miss Marple category in that she finds herself surrounded by a mystery and sort of takes it upon herself to analyze clues and figure it all out.

Melissa, I think this may be a book I got from you at some point. Do you remember it?

I don't remember reading it but it sounds like a book I would have.

I read Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Deathwhich according to the cover is "a glorious cross between Miss Marple, Auntie Mame, and Lucile Ball, with a tad of pit bull tossed in."

This is the seventh book in a series and I think I might have appreciated Miss Raisin if I had met her 7 books ago as in this one she seems to be having personal issues and I found her to be more moody and bitchy than I did anything.

I think I would have enjoyed one of her other books more or if I had been in a different mood when I read this one. I wasn't in the right frame of mind to deal with a moody main character.

Interesting mystery and what I think may be an interesting character in other books.

But I am still counting her towards my Miss Marple detective.