Top 20 Best Fictional Crime Stoppers (and Their Authors) Anything

Tags: books, books, fictional characters, best characters

Top 20 Best Fictional Crime Stoppers (and Their Authors)

MartinPStockdale MartinPStockdale 2,853 views 23 items 57 voters
This list is one man's opinion of the top 20 greatest fictional crime fighting sleuths ever in print. As a lifelong reader with a voracious appetite for crime solving fiction, I feel I have a strong case to be made for creating this list.

To make my list the sleuth had to be an ongoing character appearing in a minimum of four books. I chose to maintain a very loose definition of the word sleuth, but the end result for each is the same...the "bad" guys were stopped, a crime was prevented or solved, and the good guy lived.

If you feel my list is missing someone, please add to my list and rank accordingly. If you agree with who's on my list, but don't like the way I have them ranked...feel free to change their ranking.

List Criteria: Must appear in a minimum of four novels as the primary character.

rerank this list your way ReRanked 2x NEXT RERANK
View:
More Options Add Item
Rank     Name
  1. 1
    Up 27
    Down 6

    Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

  2. 2
    Up 20
    Down 7

    Kay Scarpetta (Patricia Cornwell)

  3. 3
    Up 17
    Down 5

    Philip Marlowe (Raymond Chandler)

  4. 4
    Up 16
    Down 5

    Harry Bosch (Michael Connelly)

  5. 5
    Up 17
    Down 6

    Travis McGee (John D. McDonald)

  6. 6
    Up 18
    Down 7

    Alex Cross (James Patterson)

  7. 7
    Up 19
    Down 8

    Jack Reacher (Lee Child)

  8. 8
    Up 16
    Down 6

    Jane Rizzoli (Tess Gerritsen)

  9. 9
    Up 17
    Down 7

    James Bond (Ian Fleming)

  10. 10
    Up 13
    Down 5

    Virgil Flowers (John Sandford)

  11. 11
    Up 15
    Down 7

    Lucas Davenport (John Sandford)

  12. 12
    Up 16
    Down 8

    Myron Bolitar (Harlan Coben)

  13. 13
    Up 11
    Down 4

    Burke (Andrew Vachss)

  14. 14
    Up 13
    Down 6

    Lew Archer (John Macdonald)

  15. 15
    Up 13
    Down 6

    Dave Robicheaux (James Lee Burke)

  16. 16
    Up 13
    Down 8

    Hercule Poirot (Agatha Christie)

  17. 17
    Up 12
    Down 9

    Alex Delaware (Jonathan Kellerman)

    added by: Kate Kavanagh
  18. 18
    Up 10
    Down 7

    Elvis Cole (Robert Crais)

  19. 19
    Up 8
    Down 5

    Dirk Pitt (Clive Cussler)

  20. 20
    Up 4
    Down 1

    Temperance Brennan

    added by: elmien18
  21. 21
    Up 8
    Down 6

    Oliver Stone (David Baldacci)

    added by: Joanne
  22. 22
    Up 8
    Down 10

    Matthew Scudder (Lawrence Block)

  23. 23
    Up 5
    Down 14

    Matt Helm (Donald Hamilton)

  24. +Add New Item

Is this list missing something?
RANKERS WHO ADDED ITEMS
rerank this list your way embed list
what's a rerank?

  • LOADING HISTORY

    leave a comment

    comments powered by Disqus

    today on Ranker