If you were to create your own Detective...........?

MarcWatson-Gray

I don't know if this has been discussed previously'but,if you were creating a Detective of your own for a book around at the same time  as Agatha  created Hercule or Miss Marple.

What sort of Detective would you create that would( hopefully) capture the reader's imagination such a H.P. and M.M. have ?

Man/Woman ?

Old/Young ?

Nationality ?

Social Status (Important at the time )

I would have a young female Lady's maid.

She would know her position'but have a real spark about her and a good sense of herself.

Being a Lady's maid'she would travel (Abroad in Winter/Scotland for the shooting season/London or country estate through the rest of the year )

This would give her plenty of new locations to investigate crimes.

She would glean tidbits of knowledge and clues from overhearing the Upstairs Chatter over afternoon tea or a dinner party. 

And learn scandal and insinuation from her colleagues downstairs (or below stairs)that would help her investigations.

Her Lady would never part with her as she has come to rely upon her discretion and efficiency.

Being a Lady's maid and not in a position to confront a high standing suspect, she would need to turn her evidence over to the relevant investigating Police Inspector'who would either accept this grudgingly or come to see her as an equal in an unfair society.

Who would you create and why ?

Tommy_A_Jones

I would have a variety of combinations like Agatha Christie did and Simon Brett has now, I often Create sleuths and am trying to write something to see if I can, the only Combination Agatha Christie didn't have is 2 Women who regularly solved Crimes together, probably because of the times she was living and writing in, she had Miss Marple assisted by Bunch, Lucy Eyelesbarrrow and Dolly Bantry but not in many of her Miss Marple Books, Dolly Bantry was the lady who assisted her most., I think it would be interesting to have duos of Sleuths that have different strengths and experiences who will no doubt see different sets of people which will make them see things differently which will make them more successful at solving the Crimes. 

taliavishay-arbel

I would make my detective a governess - that is, a private teacher in upper-class homes. However, unlike Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver, I would have her still working as a governess, and solving mysteries as an additional ocupation. The reason I would chose a governess is because at the time, the governess' position was kind of in between - higher than the servants, not quite one of the family, but getting to know things from both sides. 

MarcWatson-Gray

Yes.That would be quite a good one.Both of our characters have a hint of Lucy Eylesbarrow (4.50 From Paddington) about them...Not quite above stairs but not seen as below stairs either......

Griselda

A really good idea about the new detective, and the maid! but the maid-sleuth invention has reminded me of the TV version of At Bertram's Hotel, which had a totally spurious maid investigating a painter who wasn't in the book either. A new story based on a maid would be excellent.

MarcWatson-Gray

Yes.That occurred to me also.So many creations nowadays are given exaggerated personalities with quirky sides to their characters that i wanted to  have a detective that was an ordinary working person with good intelligence and happened to be in the right (or wrong)place at the right (wrong time)

I also had an idea about a guy in 2015 who was introverted and shy,who didn't socialise well,but lived through Agatha Christie stories particularly Hercule Poirot.He read and re:read Hercule's adventuress,watched them on T.V. and collected every piece of memorabilia he could find.Then one day when walking past a building site,he is hit on the head with a piece of building material and wakes up in Hospital convinced that he is Hercule Poirot.He cannot relate to what is going on around him and thinks it is a criminal plot against him.There would be some comic moments when he interacts with people and technology of the time.and some scary moments when his is confronted with Agatha's printed booksand evidence of the fictional character etc.He cannot make sence of everything,but as Hercule he,rises to the challenge....Don't know how it would end though.....Just a bit of fun !!

Tommy_A_Jones

He could walk past the same building site and get hit ny something again which would make him normal again.

MarcWatson-Gray

Very good......Maybe deliberately when all other treatments fail !!! 

Griselda

To be a bit of a kill joy, we would have a difficulty if we were to make a detective real and relevant by using our understanding of contemporary life by setting the mystery in the present day. I don't think that the Miss Marples of today would ever be given access to top secret information about active police cases. It is not only Miss Marple who is invited to sit in on interviews, similar dispensations are accorded to Jerry, in the Moving Finger, and the hero of The Crooked House. For the former, of course, being the right sort was enough; for the latter, as we will remember, having a father who headed up Scotland Yard made all the difference.

Perhaps people like ourselves could get an invite to help the crime desk. Just imagine, a detective is reading a forum about crimes in literature. He admires some of the insights. Perhaps on the Topics not related to Agatha Christie page a poster mentions a modern crime. "What insight", thinks the Chief. "I would like to confidentially ask for their help. I will extend an invitation to Claridges, and  ask if they would like to assist the police." Perhaps civilians are asked to assist, but the public never get to hear of it - well, we only hear about people with psychic powers helping. This might make the basis of a story, but I suspect it is not coincidence that most of today's super sleuths from television and books, Wexford, Columbo, Morse, Lewis, are all actual coppers, or sometimes private detectives, and not gentleman sleuths, or Catholic priests.

Having a sleuth who was a private detective would be interesting. A journalist would also be a good possibility: they gain access to lesser witnesses through their work - but usually retrospectively, of course, years after the case has gone cold.

Tommy_A_Jones

If You were right Grizelda Rebecca Tope's Florist Perssimon Brown or House Sitter Thea Osbourne would not exist or Simon Brett's Actor Charles Parrish or Pensioner Miss Pargetter, or Betty Rowland's Crime Writer Mel Craig or Ann Granger's Foreign Office Employee Meredith Mitchell although I admit her side-kick is The Detective Alan Markby. (You can tell what I read as well as Detectives who ARE in the Police Force).

I think The Genre has become boring because the Amateur sleuth is unfortunately becoming a thing of the past which I for one think is a great shame.

Griselda

Yes, it is a shame that most television detection revolves around professional sleuth and the police.

MarcWatson-Gray

I was more interested in how "Poirot" would cope and adjust in a modern day setting than solving a crime.The only mystery to solve would be his own predicament. His deductive processes are would be timeless.And in fiction I'm sure that he would strike up a relationship with a modern day Japp should he become involved i a modern day crime......But who knows !!! That's the beauty of fiction......

Tommy_A_Jones

It would be great if someone did with Poirot or Miss Marple for that matter what The BBC has done with Sherlock

LukeMcLAren

I didn't actually have the idea myself, it was my mother's. The detective would be the cleaner at the police station. It would be really useful since she could read files, details etc. without anyone suspecting her. Also there wouldn't be the problem of her having a shortage of cases - she would be bound to hear of something whilst cleaning.

taliavishay-arbel

I just had another idea for an amateur detective - the "crime" could be, not a legal crime, like a murder or a robbery, but some other kind of skulduggery. E.g.: a company of about 40-60 workers (like the one I worked in, a career consulting company), where the detective is an older woman, a few years before retirement, and a worker's reputation or efficiency is compromised - say, rumors about him start spreading, and the detective wants to help him by finding out who and why, or he does good work, but for some reason his projects always don't move forward, and she tries to discover the inner manipulations that are blocking him. That kind of thing could make for a good human interest mystery story, without leaning too heavily on police and forensics. And don't tell me to write it - I'm learning disabled, and totally deficient in understanding social and occupational networks!

ChristieFanForLife

I like this discussion! I'm 30 years old now, but while growing up I always loved to write (and I still do) and one particular genre I would write were mysteries and I would write about a detective and his sidekick. I called him Detective Robert Leathers.....of course he's nothing as unique as Poirot but I had such fun constructing mysteries surrounding my detective. One of these days I got to go back and start using him in my stories again.