List of fictional private investigators

This is a partial list of fictional private investigators — also known as private eyes or PIs — who have appeared in various works of literature, film, and television.

Detective	Creator	Debut
Angel	Joss Whedon	Angel (TV) (1999)
Lew Archer	Ross Macdonald	The Moving Target (1949)
Paul Artisan	Gary Troup	Bad Twin (2006)
Byomkesh Bakshi	Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay
Kate Brannigan	Val McDermid	Dead Beat[1] (1992)
Joe Caneili	Hayford Peirce	P. I. Joe Caneili, Discretion Assuree[2] (2000)
Rex Carver	Victor Canning	Doubled in Diamonds[3] (1966)
Emerson Cod	Bryan Fuller	Pushing Daisies (TV) (2007)
Elvis Cole	Robert Crais	The Monkey's Raincoat (1987)
The Continental Op	Dashiell Hammett	The Tenth Clew[4] (1924)
Harry Dresden	Jim Butcher	Storm Front (2000) The Dresden Files (TV) (2007)
Nancy Drew	Carolyn Keene	The Secret of the Old Clock (1930)
Sir Arnold J. Erens	Narcissa Rajabi	My Destiny Tracks...
Feluda, or Prodosh Chandra Mitra	Satyajit Ray	Feludar Goendagiri
Dan Fortune	Michael Collins	Act of Fear[5] (1967)
Dirk Gently	Douglas Adams	Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987)
Lindsay Gordon	Val McDermid	Report for Murder[6] (1987)
Bernhard Guenther	Philip Kerr	March Violets (1989)
Mike Hammer	Mickey Spillane	I, the Jury[7] (1947)
Cliff Hardy	Peter Corris	The Dying Trade[8] (1980)
Frank and Joe Hardy	Franklin Dixon	The Tower Treasure (1930)
Sherlock Holmes	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle	A Study in Scarlet (1887)
Arthur Lemming	Monty Python	Monty Python's Flying Circus - "Owl Stretching Time" (1969)
Thomas Magnum	Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson	Magnum, P.I. (TV) (1980)
Philip Marlowe	Raymond Chandler	The Big Sleep (1939) Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Hemlock Marreau	Robert Farrow	Marreau and the Chocolate Policeman[9] (1991)
Travis McGee	John D. MacDonald	The Deep Blue Good-by[10] (1964)
Kinsey Millhone	Sue Grafton	A is for Alibi[11] (1982)
Zen Moses[12]	Elizabeth M. Cosin	Zen and the Art of Murder[13] (1999)
Nameless Detective	Bill Pronzini	The Snatch[14] (1971)
Harry Orwell	Howard Rodman	Harry O (TV) (1974)
Hercule Poirot	Agatha Christie	The Mysterious Affair at Styles[15] (1920)
Laura Principal	Michelle Spring	Every Breath You Take[16] (1994)
Ellery Queen	Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee	The Roman Hat Mystery (1929)
Precious Ramotswe	Alexander McCall Smith	The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency[17] (1998)
Jeff Randall	Dennis Spooner	Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969)
Sunny Randall	Robert B. Parker	Family Honor[18] (1999)
Jim Rockford	Richard T. Heffron	The Rockford Files (TV) (1974)
Kiriti Roy	Nihar Ranjan Gupta
Matthew Scudder	Lawrence Block	The Sins of the Fathers (1976)
John Shaft	Ernest Tidyman	Shaft[19] (1971)
Sam Spade	Dashiell Hammett	The Maltese Falcon[20] (1930) The Maltese Falcon (1931)
Shawn Spencer	Steve Franks & Andy Berman	Psych (TV) (2006)
Spenser	Robert B. Parker	The Godwulf Manuscript[21] (1973)
Larry "Doc" Sportello	Thomas Pynchon	Inherent Vice (2009)
Amos Walker	Loren D. Estleman	Motor City Blue[22] (1980)
V. I. Warshawski	Sara Paretsky	Indemnity Only[23] (1982)
Nero Wolfe	Rex Stout	Fer-de-Lance (1934)

References

1. Dead Beat
2. P. I. Joe Caneili, Discretion Assuree
3. Doubled in Diamonds
4. The Tenth Clew
5. Act of Fear
6. Report for Murder
7. I, the Jury
8. The Dying Trade
9. Marreau and the Chocolate Policeman
10. The Deep Blue Good-by
11. A is for Alibi
12. Zen Moses
13. Zen and the Art of Murder
14. The Snatch
15. The Mysterious Affair at Styles
16. Every Breath You Take
17. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
18. Family Honor
19. Shaft
20. The Maltese Falcon
21. The Godwulf Manuscript
22. Motor City Blue
23. Indemnity Only