Editing Detective fiction (section)

== Influential fictional detectives ==
{{main|Fictional detectives}}

===Sherlock Holmes===
{{Main|Sherlock Holmes}}
Sherlock Holmes is an English fictional detective created by [[Arthur Conan Doyle|Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]]. After first appearing in ''[[A Study in Scarlet]]'', the [[Canon of Sherlock Holmes|Sherlock Holmes stories]] were not an immediate success. However, after being published in the [[The Strand Magazine|Strand Magazine]] in 1891, the detective became unquestionably popular.<ref name="Armstrong">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160106-how-sherlock-holmes-changed-the-world|title=How Sherlock Holmes changed the world|last=Armstrong|first=Jennifer Keishin|date=6 January 2016 |language=en|access-date=2018-03-22|archive-date=2018-02-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180217093624/http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160106-how-sherlock-holmes-changed-the-world|url-status=live}}</ref> Following the success of Sherlock Holmes, many mystery writers imitated Conan Doyle's structure in their own detective stories and included aspects of Sherlock Holmes's personalities in their own detectives.

Sherlock Holmes as a series is perhaps the most popular form of detective fiction. Conan Doyle attempted to kill the character off after twenty-three stories, but after popular request, he continued to write stories featuring the character. The popularity of Sherlock Holmes extends beyond the written medium.<ref>{{cite web|last=Nathan|first=Richard|date=18 December 2020|title=Ultra-Influencers: The Two British Fictional Victorians that Changed Japan|url=https://www.redcircleauthors.com/news-and-views/ultra-influencers-the-two-british-fictional-victorians-that-changed-japan/|url-status=live|access-date=15 April 2021|website=Red Circle Authors|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218082150/https://www.redcircleauthors.com/news-and-views/ultra-influencers-the-two-british-fictional-victorians-that-changed-japan/ |archive-date=2020-12-18 }}</ref> For example, the BBC-produced TV series [[Sherlock (TV series)|''Sherlock'']] gained a very large following after first airing in 2010, imbuing a renewed interest in the character in the general public. Because of the popularity of Holmes, Conan Doyle was often regarded as being “as well known as [[Queen Victoria]]”.<ref name="Armstrong"/>

===Sexton Blake===
{{Main|Sexton Blake}}
'''Sexton Blake''' is a fictional British detective, whose adventures captivated readers for over eight decades from 1893 to 1978.<ref name="ox">{{cite book |title=Oxford Companion to Children's Literature |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780199695140}}</ref> Blake featured in more than 4,000 stories by approximately 200 different authors, making him one of the most prolifically chronicled characters in English literature.<ref name="ox"/> The detective's adventures spanned multiple formats including comic strips, novels, radio serials, silent films, and a [[Sexton Blake (TV series)|1960s ITV television series]], reaching audiences across Britain and internationally in various languages.

Initially conceived as a Victorian gentleman detective, Blake evolved significantly over time, acquiring now-iconic elements like his Baker Street residence, his young assistant Tinker, his bloodhound Pedro, and his housekeeper Mrs. Bardell. While often compared to Sherlock Holmes, Blake's adventures typically featured more action-oriented plots and coloruful adversaries, many of whom were recurring master criminals. Blake had many rivals and imitators: [[Nelson Lee (detective)|Nelson Lee]], [[Dixon Hawke]], Carfax Baines, Kenyon Ford, Stanley Dare, Ferrers Locke, and many others now long forgotten.<ref name="Leckenby, Herbert 46–51"/> Blake reached his peak popularity during the 1920s and early 1930s, particularly through publications like [[Union Jack (magazine)|The Union Jack]] and [[The Sexton Blake Library]], which at its height published five times monthly.

===Hercule Poirot===
{{Main|Hercule Poirot}}
Hercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian private detective, created by [[Agatha Christie]]. As one of Christie's most famous and long-lived characters, Poirot appeared in 33 novels, one play ([[Black Coffee (play)|''Black Coffee'']]), and more than 50 short stories, published between 1920 and 1975. Hercule Poirot first appeared in ''[[The Mysterious Affair at Styles]],'' published in 1920, and died in [[Curtain (novel)|''Curtain'']], published in 1975, which is Agatha Christie's last work. On August 6, 1975, ''[[The New York Times]]'' published the obituary of Poirot's death with the cover of the newly published novel on their front page.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.agathachristie.com/story-explorer/characters/poirot/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412131601/http://uk.agathachristie.com/story-explorer/characters/poirot/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2010-04-12|title=Agatha Christie: Characters – Poirot|date=2010-04-12|access-date=2018-03-29}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/06/archives/hercule-poirot-is-dead-famed-belgian-detective-hercule-poirot-the.html|title=Hercule Poirot Is Dead; Famed Belgian Detective|last=Lask|first=Thomas|date=1975-08-06|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-03-21|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2017-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107112341/http://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/06/archives/hercule-poirot-is-dead-famed-belgian-detective-hercule-poirot-the.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===C. Auguste Dupin===
{{Main|C. Auguste Dupin}}
Le [[Knight|Chevalier]] C. Auguste Dupin is a fictional character created by [[Edgar Allan Poe]]. Dupin made his first appearance in Poe's "[[The Murders in the Rue Morgue]]" (1841), widely considered the first detective fiction story. He reappears in "[[The Mystery of Marie Rogêt]]" (1842) and "[[The Purloined Letter]]" (1844).

C. Auguste Dupin is generally acknowledged as the prototype for many fictional detectives that were created later, including [[Sherlock Holmes]] by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] and [[Hercule Poirot]] by [[Agatha Christie]]. Conan Doyle once wrote, "Each [of Poe's detective stories] is a root from which a whole literature has developed... Where was the detective story until Poe breathed the breath of life into it?"

===Ellery Queen===
{{Main|Ellery Queen}}
Ellery Queen is a fictional detective created by American writers [[Manfred Bennington Lee]] and [[Frederic Dannay]], as well as the joint [[pseudonym]] for the cousins Dannay and Lee. He first appeared in ''[[The Roman Hat Mystery]]''  (1929), and starred in more than 30 novels and several short story collections. During the 1930s and much of the 1940s, Ellery Queen was possibly the best known American fictional detective.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UjgE_CRiIW4C&pg=PA161|title=Whodunit?: A Who's who in Crime & Mystery Writing|last=Herbert|first=Rosemary|date=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-515761-1|page=161}}</ref>