|
Mysteries - Private Investigators Definition: A person not a member of a police force who is licensed to do detective work (as in investigation of suspected wrongdoing or searching for missing persons). Synonyms: dick, gumshoe, hawkshaw, investigator, operative, private detective, private eye, shamus, sherlock, sleuth, sleuthhound. Click on the link in each series to find titles in publication order.
|
Mysteries - Private Investigators
|
|
Linda BarnesFind HInsdale materials here.
|
Carlotta Carlyle series.An ex-cop, now a cab driver in Boston, Carlotta has a wry sense of humor and a self-deprecating style . She gradually grows into the role of PI while encountering a cast of outrageous characters.
|
M.C. BeatonFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Agatha Raisin series.Agatha is a frustrated, yet endearing, middle-aged public relations agent who moved from London to the Cotswolds after she took early retirement and sold her public relations firm. She solves murders in each of the earlier books, but in the fifteenth book she sets up her own detective agency. The police, and even some of her acquaintances are convinced that she solves crimes through accident and luck .
|
Cara BlackFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Aimee Leduc Investigation series.A private investigator in Paris, Aimee is sharp, fashionable, computer-savvy, and headstrong in her pursuits. A cast of oddball characters assist her with her investigations.
|
Lawrence BlockFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Matthew Scudder series.Scudder, a recovering alcoholic and ex-cop, works as an unlicensed private investigator in New York City. Starting out by doing "favors for friends," he continues to work on cases while trying to atone for past transgressions .
|
Rhys BowenFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
. Molly Murphy series.An independent and clever young woman (with a secret), Molly has a knack for solving mysteries. The Irish immigrant becomes known as the "lady detective" in 1900s New York City .
|
C.J. BoxFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Joe Pickett series.Joe is an honest man who lives with his wife and three daughters near the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming. As a game keeper, and far from law enforcement, he must rely on his wits to deal with any situation. The first book in the series won the coveted Gumshoe Award.
|
Gyles BrandrethFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Oscar Wilde series.The Victorian author and playwright Oscar Wilde makes for a suave sleuth as he solves crimes. He is assisted by historical figures: Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, and the poet Robert Sherard, who “narrate” the stories .
|
Ken BruenFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Jack Taylor series.Jack Taylor, dismissed from the Garda Síochána (Irish police) for drinking, now “finds things” for people in Galway, since “private eye” sounds too much like “informer” to the Irish.
|
Raymond ChandlerFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Philip Marlowe series.Underneath the wisecracking, hard-drinking, tough private eye, Marlowe is quietly contemplative and philosophical and enjoys chess and poetry. Although he is not afraid to risk physical harm, he does not dish out violence merely to settle scores. Morally upright, he is not fooled by the genre's usual femme fatales, such as Carmen Sternwood in The Big Sleep.
|
Agatha ChristieFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Hercule Poriot series.The intrepid Belgian detective lives in England and must often explain that he is not French. With his egg-shaped head, famous mustaches and superior intellect, he uses his "little grey cells" to solve crimes that appear unsolvable.
|
Carol Higgins ClarkFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Regan Reilly series.Regan, daughter of famous mystery writer Nora Regan Reilly, is no stranger to high society, having grown up in private schools and gone on many European jaunts. She's also a private eye who gets around, with cases taking her to such places as Oxford, Miami Beach, and Aspen. She’s able to handle herself in all types of situations without too much difficulty because of her "natural-born pluck."
|
Max Allan CollinsFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Nathan Heller series.Set in 1930's prohibition Chicago, Heller leaves a corrupt Chicago police force to become a private investigator who interacts with "historical" mobsters .
|
Gary CorbyFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
thenian Mysteries series.Set in pre-500 A.D. Athens, the novels feature historical figures as recurring characters, notably Socrates, Pericles, and the priestess Diotima of Mantinea. The series hero is a fictional detective/agent named Nicolaos (Nico), the ambitious son of a minor sculptor. The heroine is Diotima.
|
Philip R. CraigFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Martha's Vineyard Mystery series.During his career as a Boston cop, Jeff "J. W." Jackson saw enough of the evil that men do to last a lifetime, so he retired to the serenity of Martha's Vineyard to spend his days fishing. Inevitably, he is drawn into investigating local crime in this idyllic setting. When not involved in happenstance crime-fighting, he enjoys cooking and being surrounded by good friends and family. This series includes recipes. (LT collection) .
|
Robert CraisFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Elvis Cole series.In the hard-boiled detective genre of Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald, and Robert B. Parker, Cole is a 21st-century detective who comes across as both brainy and emotional. Set in and around Los Angeles, the city’s tragedy and comedy are depicted. His partner and friend, Joe Pike, is a piece of work. As a former Marine and ex-LAPD cop, Pike is an indomitable force who assists Cole in his investigations .
|
Bill CriderFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Sheriff Dan Rhodes series.Rhodes has a laconic, laid-back detecting style—a cross between Tom Selleck and Willie Nelson. Marked with dry humor, meticulous plotting, and insights into small-town life in Texas, the series makes for top-notch, down-home crime-solving .
|
Lindsey DavisFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Marcus Didius Falco series.Set in 70s A.D. Rome under Vespasian’s rule, Falco is a private informer who travels all over the Roman Empire. While investigating crimes, he manages to get himself, his best friend, and his girlfriend (the daughter of a senator) in and out of scrapes .
|
P.C. DohertyFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Hugh Corbett series.Set during the Medieval reign of Edward I of England, Corbett is a legal advisor and clerk of the King’s Bench. His investigations into plots and undercover dealings that threaten the Court land him in trouble. The novels often revolve around true incidents that occurred during the period.
|
James DossFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Charlie Moon series.Moon is a rancher and sometimes tribal investigator on the Southern Colorado Ute reservation. To solve mysteries, he relies on his own cleverness and on his Aunt Daisy Perika, a tribal shaman with prophetic dreams and supernatural intuition. In these complex and gripping crime novels, the author combines humor and mystery with vibrant details of Native American life and customs.
|
Arthur Conan DoyleFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Sherlock Holmes.The incomparable Holmes is the prototype for the modern mastermind detective. The cases he solves are fastidiously recorded by his friend and assistant, Dr. John Watson.
|
Sue GraftonFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Kinsey Millhone series.Millhone is a tough-talking and resourceful former police officer who often uses her police connections to assist her with her cases .
|
Andrew GreeleyType your text here.
|
Father Blackie Ryan series.Father John Blackwood “Blackie” Ryan, a portly little man, is the innocuous auxiliary bishop (under Cardinal Sean Cronin) and rector of Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. Under the Cardinal's orders, Father Ryan travels all over the Archdiocese of Chicago, plus around the world, where he solves mysteries related to the Roman Catholic Church and its members .
|
Jane HaddamFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Gregor Demarkian series.Demarkian, an Orthodox Armenian, is a retired FBI agent who left the bureau after his wife died. His specialty was dealing with serial killers and poisons, and in his retirement he continues to become involved with mysteries that seem to just fall into his lap. Demarkian is logical, reserved, orderly, and old-fashioned both in how he goes about solving his mysteries and in his personal life. Set in Massachusetts, some of the books in the series are holiday-themed.
|
Parnell HallFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Stanley Hastings series.Stanley is a hopelessly inept, slightly cowardly, and reluctant private-eye-in-name-only who works for an ambulance-chasing lawyer in New York City. Picture your average Joe thrust into the role of Philip Marlowe. Although loved by his wife and son, Stanley is fortyish, suffers from middle-age blahs, and has bad teeth and a lousy job. He's is also a failed actor and a struggling freelance writer just waiting to write the Great American Novel.
|
Steve Hamilton Find Hinsdale materials here.
|
Alex McKnight series.Formetly a Detroit police officer, McKnight is now a reluctant part-time private investigator who lives in Michigan’s remote Upper Peninsula. There he discovers that trouble can find you anywhere, even in a town called Paradise .
|
Tessa HarrisFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Thomas Silkstone series.Set in eighteenth-century England, the brilliant anatomist Dr. Thomas Silkstone is a pioneering forensic detective.
|
Carolyn HartFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Death on Demand series.Annie Laurance inherits a bookstore called Death on Demand on an island off South Carolina. Max Darling is a private investigator. They marry and become partners in crime-solving -- think Nick and Nora Charles with wildly eccentric characters.
|
David HousewrightFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
McKenzie series.Rushmore “Mac” McKenzie is an ex-Twin Cities cop who investigates some pretty quirky cases in these engaging, noir-tinged novels. He gave up his career after snagging a huge reward, so now he spends his time doing favors for his friends.
|
J. Sydney JonesFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Viennese Mystery series.Karl Werthen is a lawyer and private inquiry agent in the late-19th and early 20th-century Vienna. He often teams up with criminologist Inspector Hans Gross in these historical thriller novels.
|
Stuart KaminskyFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Toby Peters series.Toby is a private eye in Hollywood during the 30’s and 40’s. Incorporating real film stars, the series is full of movie trivia and nostalgia .
|
Stuart KaminskyFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Lew Fonesca series.Fonesca is a man who does things for people. He makes small problems go away and tries to keep the larger ones from landing his clients in jail. After losing his wife to a hit-and-run driver, he quits his job in Chicago as a process server and heads to the warmer climate of Sarasota, where he finds deadbeats and errant spouses, and generally keeps the populace on the up and up.
|
Jonathan KellermanFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Alex Delaware series.Alex is a forensic psychologist and sleuth, but some of the earlier novels in the series have him honing his craft as a child psychologist. He goes about his work by interacting sympathetically with the people he meets and by quiet, professional observation. Appearing in every novel is his friend, Milo Sturgis of the LAPD, who helps out with his investigations .
|
Laurie KingFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes series.A "protégé" of Sherlock Holmes, Mary Russell is who Holmes would be if the Victorian detective were young, female, and of the twentieth century. Holmes is Mary’s “mentor” in the early novels .
|
Chris KnopfFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Sam Acquillo Hamptons Mystery series.Sam is a wise-cracking, broody ex-boxer and ex-engineer who lives a life of mistakes. He has a messy divorce and a lost career to look back on. Set in the Hamptons area, murder is often on Sam’s doorstep, and he finds himself involved in investigating the circumstances.
|
William Kent KruegerFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Cork O'Connor series.Part Irish, part Anishinaabe Indian, Corcoran "Cork" O'Connor is the former sheriff in a town in northern Minnesota. Embittered by his "former" status and the marital meltdown that has separated him from his children, Cork gets by on heavy doses of caffeine, nicotine, and guilt. Once a cop on Chicago's South Side, there's not much that can shock him. He's looking for a peaceful life, but trouble seems to follow him. He ends up as a part-time private investigator. Beware of strong language and some graphic sex scenes .
|
Laura LippmanFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Tess Monaghan series.Set in Baltimore, Tess is a former-reporter-turned-private investigator. She is an athletic woman with flawed characteristics and a dysfunctional family. She strives to do the ethical thing in all her cases .
|
Peter MayFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Enzo Files series.Enzo Macleod is half-Scottish and half-Italian. A former forensic scientist, he now lives in France and works as a university professor in Toulouse. As the result of a wager, he becomes involved in solving old French “cold cases” using the latest technology. But where there are unsolved murders, there are killers desperate to protect their freedom and keep their identities undiscovered. Enzo soon finds that a lifetime in laboratories hardly equips him for the life-threatening situations he encounters. Enzo’s investigations benefit from his formidable intellect but are often hampered by his lack of patience and tact, his zero tolerance of French bureaucrats, and his very complicated emotional life. The Enzo Files are a mix of whodunit, investigation, thrills, suspense, and humor.
|
Peter MayleFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Sam Levitt series.Sam, a former corporate lawyer, is now a cultivated crime expert and wine connoisseur who travels between the states and the south of France. He is joined in his adventures by his attractive partner, Elena, as they work together on the latest insurance-fraud case.
|
Alexander McCall-SmithFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series.Set in Botswana, Precious Ramotswe, a "traditionally built" lady, sets up her own detective agency, becoming the nation's first female detective. Along with a cast of wonderful supporting characters, she takes on a variety of private investigations .
|
Ralph McInernyFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Notre Dame series.The University of Notre Dame relies on Roger Knight, the rotund professor of Catholic Studies, and his brother Philip, a semi-retired private investigator, to investigate certain delicate situations that could put the school in a bad light. Students, faculty, and alumni are all fair game.
|
Walter MosleyFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Easy Rawlins series.Private investigator Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins is a black hard-boiled (unlicensed) detective and World War II veteran living in Los Angeles. These mysteries combine traditional conventions of detective fiction with descriptions of the racial inequalities and social injustice experienced by persons of color in the 40's and 50's to the present. Rawlins is in the tradition of a Philip Marlow or Lew Archer.
|
Marcia MullerFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Sharon McCone series.Generally credited with being the first liberated female private detective of the modern era, this series helped pave the way for later independent female investigators. McCone is a likable-enough character and refreshingly down-to-earth, especially in the early books. She's a level-headed investigator with a tendency to get a bit too involved in her cases .
|
Shirley Rousseau MurphyFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Joe Grey series.This series features feline Joe Grey, PI, and his tortoiseshell friend, Kit. Anyone unfamiliar with this cozy series will be quickly drawn in by the complete believability of the crime-solving felines and their helpful human companions.
|
Sara ParetskyFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
V.I. Warshawski series.Lean and athletic, Vic, as she is known to her friends, is a gritty, independent private investigator in Chicago. After earning a law degree from the University of Chicago, and after serving a short stint as a Public Defender, she becomes a private detective specializing in white-collar crime. Her investigations regularly have her pursuing cases that affect her friends, estranged family, or individuals bullied by the upper crust of Chicago .
|
Robert B. ParkerFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Spenser series.We never learn Spenser's first name, but he is a private eye in the mold of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe -- a smart-mouthed tough guy with a heart of gold. Unlike Marlowe, although, Spenser maintains a committed relationship with one woman (Susan). Although he is an ex-boxer and lifts weights to stay in shape, he also is quite well educated, cooks, and lives by a code of honor that he and Susan discuss occasionally—though as infrequently as he can manage .
|
Brad ParksFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Carter Ross series.Carter, an investigative reporter in Newark, digs deep into cases to discover what the police would rather tie up quickly. The novels mix humor with grim realism in an urban setting.
|
Anne PerryFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
William Monk series.Set in Victorian England, Monk is a very clever man who wields irony and sarcasm with considerable skill while remaining obstinate, proud, and impulsive. This normally disastrous combination of attributes (which caused his initial firing from the Police Force) is offset by his intelligence, unswerving sense of justice, and loyalty to those he deems worthy. He will fearlessly solve the case and see the evildoers brought to justice no matter what it takes.
|
Bill PronziniFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Nameless detective series.In the gumshoe tradition, the man with no name is an Everyman. Middle-aged, out of shape, content with a cold beer and one of his beloved pulp magazines to read, he is the first true couch potato PI. He’s a decent man -- a good man -- the kind of guy who'd stop to lend you a hand if your car broke down, or give up his seat on the bus for a pregnant lady. Of course, he's not just another not-so-pretty face; he is also a tenacious detective and dedicated to his profession.
|
Spencer QuinnFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Chet and Bernie series..Chet “the Jet” is a dog who failed K-9 school, but is now a dedicated PI who works with Bernie Little. Bernie is a down-on-his-luck private investigator and owner of the Little Detective Agency. The stories are told entirely from Chet’s point of view
|
Michael RobertsonFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Baker Street Letters series.Two brother lawyers lease offices on London's Baker Street and begin receiving mail addressed to Sherlock Holmes. Their lease requires them to answer all letters addressed to Sherlock Holmes, 221B Baker Street. And so, the adventures of Nigel and Reggie begin as they investigate old mysteries.
|
Laura Joh RowlandFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Sano Ichiro series.This historical mystery series features Ichiro, the seventeenth-century Senior Police Commander and later Chamberlain to the Shogun in the district of Edo (present-day Tokyo). Ichiro is a samurai with an intellectual background that often puts him at odds with his colleagues.
|
S.J. RozanFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Bill Smith/Lydia Chin series.Smith is a middle-aged, been-around-the-block private eye who teams up with Chin, an Asian-American twelve years his junior. Well-drawn recurring characters provide an insider’s look into Manhattan, especially Chinatown.
|
Kate SedleyFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Roger the Chapman series.A former monk, young Roger the Chapman (or peddler), earns his living selling lace and silk throughout the English countryside. His real passion, though, is solving puzzles, so he uses his keen wit and intelligence to solve mysteries along his travels. The series is set during the tumultuous years of the War of Roses, the fight for the throne between the royal houses of York and Lancaster .
|
Mickey SpillaneFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Mike Hammer series.Hammer is a no-holds-barred, hard-boiled private investigator who describes himself as a misanthrope. Written in the first person, Hammer describes his violent encounters with relish. The character is loosely based on the real-life hard-boiled Texas Ranger and gunfighter Frank Hamer, famous for tracking down and killing Bonnie and Clyde in 1934.
|
Dana StabenowFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Kate, a native Alaskan and ex-DA investigator, lives on a 160-acre homestead in a generic National Park in Alaska with her half-wolf, half-husky dog named Mutt. In this setting, she tracks down criminals in the frozen north.
|
Rex StoutFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Nero Wolfe series.From his luxurious New York brownstone on West 35th Street, where he cultivates orchids, the portly Nero Wolfe brilliantly solves cases from the comfort of his home. He is aided by his clever, sharp-tongued assistant, Archie Goodwin, who does most of the legwork, returning to report the facts of a case. While Wolfe usually prefers this approach, he will leave his home if the circumstances of a case warrant it .
|
Frank TallisFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Liebermann papers series.Set in turn-of-the-century Vienna, this series not only provides a glimpse of Austrian politics, society, music, literature, and the customs of the time, but also gives a keen insight into the early development of Freudian psychoanalysis. Max Liebermann is a psychoanalytic detective who is assisted in his investigations by his friend, Detective Oskar Rheinhardt.
|
William G. Tapply Find Hinsdale materials here.
|
Brady Coyne series.Coyne is a sports fisherman and a lawyer in the Boston area. He gets involved in cases occasionally through his legal practice, but more often as either a favor to a friend, out of simple curiosity, or because of his outraged sense of honor .
|
Donald ThomasFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Sherlock Holmes series.A famous tin box in the attic of the house at 221B Baker Street is unlocked by the Great Detective's loyal companion, Dr. Watson. Crossing historical fact with inventive fiction, the author has Holmes working on intriguing true-crime cases that captured headlines at the turn of the last century as well as having real-life clients as illustrious as Oscar Wilde and as infamous as Dr. Crippen .
|
Betty WebbFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Lena Jones series.Lena, who grew up in many foster homes, was once a young troubled victim. Set in the Scottsdale area, this edgy investigative series exposes real-life crimes and the reasons local and federal officials want those crimes to remain under wraps.
|
Jacqueline WinspearFind Hinsdale materials here.
|
Maisie Dobbs series.Maisie is a psychologist/investigator in post-World War I London. Her beginnings are working class, but good fortune brings her into contact with the upper class where she consequently receives an education. She serves as a nurse during the war and then returns to London to work with her mentor, accomplished detective Dr. Maurice Blanche. When Blanche retires, Maisie opens up her own detective agency..
|
|
|
|
|