History Main / TheExoticDetective

* Connor of ''VideoGame/DetroitBecomeHuman'' is a prototype RK800 Android, build to assist the DCPD with cases involving Deviants- Androids rebelling against their programming and [[Main/TitleDrop becoming more human.]]

** ''Inch High Private Eye'': the detective is tiny.
** ''Captain Caveman'': the detective is a caveman.
** ''Clue Club'': the detectives have two intelligent dogs.
** ''Goober and the Ghost Chasers'': the detectives have a ''different'' talking dog.
** ''The Funky Phantom'': the detectives have two ghost helpers.

* Glen Cook's Garrett, whose name is almost certainly a ShoutOut to Literature/LordDarcy author Randall Garrett.

* The ''Mara the Brehonn'' series by Corra Harrison has Brehon Mara of the Burren in western Ireland, circa 1509 -- who uses the same laws as Fidelma in a society that by that period was about to be supplemented by England.

* ''Literature/SisterFidelma'':
** Sister Fidelma in the books by Peter Tremayne is a 7th century Celtic Church nun, who is also a lawyer of the Irish courts. Oh, and she's a member of the Munster royal family, and married (the Celtic Church allowed this) to her [[TheWatson Watson]], a Saxon.
** There's also Brehon Mara of the Burren in western Ireland, circa 1509 -- who uses the same laws as Fidelma in a society that by that period was about to be supplemented by England.

* ''Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective''.

!Common Types

See also BunnyEarsLawyer, AmateurSleuth, and InterdisciplinarySleuth. Contrast JustForFun/FightsCrimeWithX.

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}''
** The [[Franchise/TheDCU DC Verse]] has a lot of these, eg ComicBook/TheQuestion, [[Film/{{Constantine}} John Constantine]]

* MarvelUniverse Exotic Detectives appear to be grouped by area of expertise (i.e. powers.)
** Comicbook/DoctorStrange is the mystic/magic detective.
** [[IronMan Tony Stark]] and [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]] take care of any "hard" science mysteries on the west and east coasts, respectively.

* Detectives in ''ComicBook/SinCity'' are never normal.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Film/{{DOA}}'': The fella has to [[WhodunnitToMe solve his own murder]]! While he's still alive!
* ''Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu''

* [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden,]] wizard PI and crazy-awesome badass.

** [[MeaningfulName Wendell Urth]], an extremely agoraphobic detective who solved cases brought to his attention without ever leaving his home. For added exoticness, the crimes themselves often occurred in space!

* Boris Akunin's ''Literature/SisterPelagia'' one-ups all your clerical detectives by being a late 19th century Russian Orthodox ''nun'' (and a church school teacher to boot). Did I mention that she is assisted and supervised by a ''[[DaChief bishop]]''?
* Literature/SisterFidelma in the books by Peter Tremayne is a 7th century Celtic Church nun, who is also a lawyer of the Irish courts. Oh, and she's a member of the Munster royal family, and married (the Celtic Church allowed this) to her [[TheWatson Watson]], a Saxon.

* The titular character of the Literature/MediochreQSethSeries is a professional catcher of illegal monster-slayers who can [[AwesomenessByAnalysis calculate exact probabilities on the fly]], and is also stuck with a HealingFactor that [[CantGrowUp won't let him age past fifteen]].

* Hillerman himself was influenced by the Literature/{{Bony}} series, about an Australian half-Aboriginal detective.

** At least two series feature her ladies-in-waiting as detectives.

* Acatl, the main character of Literature/ObsidianAndBlood, is the second type: the High Priest of the Dead in the Aztec Empire, whose job it is to solve murders and other mysterious crimes.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

** For that matter, there's a whole sub-genre of VampireDetectiveSeries. Probably the best known is ''Series/ForeverKnight''.

* Many '70s detective shows had this, including ''Series/BarnabyJones'' (he's old!), ''Series/{{Cannon}}'' (he's fat!), and ''Series/McCloud'' (he's a cowboy!).
** Others were marked as "exotic" by their ethnicity, including ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' (Italian), ''Series/{{Kojak}}'' (Greek), and ''Series/{{Banacek}}'' (Polish).
** ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' used this in-show as a major plot point, the rich bad guys not taking this sloppy unkept lower class Police Lieutenant seriously...at first.

* [[Series/{{House}} Gregory House]], arguably a "medical detective". An expy of Literature/SherlockHolmes with all of the intelligence, ''even more'' asshole-ery, and a knack for weird cases.
* ''Series/TheMentalist'''s Patrick Jane, while technically merely a 'consultant', probably qualifies as a 'consulting detective' in real terms. And is more than a slight bit odd. At least when you consider he's a little bit sociopathic and has apparently decided that being nice to other people unnecessarily (by his standards) is a waste of his time.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''Franchise/AceAttorney''

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' has Nick Valentine, the private detective of Diamond City, who is noticeably an older model Synth in a society where Synths are feared; it's a testament to how good he is that most of the residents of the town actually think well of him. He also has the memories of a real pre-war detective named Nick Valentine, which later leads to a personal quest for him finding out what happened to one of the original Valentine's old rivals.
* The eponymous protagonist of ''VideoGame/DetectivePikachu'' is a Pikachu who is capable of communicating with his human partner, Tim Goodman, as though he can speak like a human. Since Tim is the only one who can understand Pikachu, the two team up to solve mysteries, with Tim talking with humans and Pikachu with other Pokemon.

[[folder: Web Comics]]

* ''Webcomic/TheDragonDoctors'' has the eponymous doctors solve a few mysterious magical crimes with the help of "Inspector Blue," a detective made out of blue crystals. The investigative work is pretty sound, but it's the setting that's bizarre.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''WebVideo/UltraFastPony'' turns into a cop show parody for "Stay Tuned". Pinkie Pie gets partnered with Gummy, a psychic detective.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

** The Scooby Gang of ''ScoobyDoo'': the detectives have a talking dog.

# The detective has an odd trait (such as a strange sickness or an unusual profession or background) that is "exotic" both to readers and to other characters. (For example, TV's Series/{{Monk}}, who [[DefectiveDetective has OCD and multiple phobias]].) Sometimes their background will be used to justify their crimefighting skills (as with Creator/GKChesterton's Literature/FatherBrown who noted that priests had a lot of experience with sin from hearing confessions all day).

* ''Franchise/SlyCooper'' has Carmelita Fox, a ([[OohMeAccentsSlipping supposedly]]) Hispanic fox with some definite chemistry with the titular thief himself.

* ''Series/{{Life}}'': The main character, Charlie Crews, went to jail for murder, but was recently acquitted. He's also a millionaire. And he's Zen (or at least Zen-ish).
* ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'': There is definitely ''something'' different about Detective Goren. That ''something'' being, probably, a mental problem that should be treated. It is partially an act. When asking questions he uses his size to control the space in the room and seem as intimidating as possible without seeming overtly hostile. Outside of interrogations he's a bit off but not quite crazy.

* Many '70s detective shows had this, including ''Series/BarnabyJones'' (he's old!), ''Cannon'' (he's fat!), and ''Series/McCloud'' (he's a cowboy!).

See also BunnyEarsLawyer, AmateurSleuth, and InterdisciplinarySleuth.

* CharlieChan, in the novels of Earl Derr Biggers and later in a long-running film series, was set apart by his Chinese origin and -- in the movies -- his brood of [[TagAlongKid meddlesome comic-relief offspring]]. The 1930s saw at least two other superficially similar Asian detective characters, John P. Marquand's Mr. Moto and Hugh Wiley's Mr. Wong. Both of them had film adaptations as well.

** As well as parodies of these shows, like ''MikeTysonMysteries''.

* [[Series/{{House}} Gregory House]], arguably a "medical detective".

* AmeliaPeabody and Radcliffe Emerson, Egyptologists who detect because their path is littered with the bodies of murdered tomb robbers, spies, etc.

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'': Conan is a a TeenGenius-turned-pre-TeenGenius.

* As the page quote showcases, parodied (and taken UpToEleven) in a quick gag on ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': "exotic" detectives are so many on 31st-Century television that ''a detective that uses absolutely nothing'' for his snooping is pretty much considered one.

* ''Series/{{Monk}}''