History Main / GreatDetective

[[folder: Film -- Live-Action]]

* In ''LightNovel/AriaTheScarletAmmo'', a VERY NON-CANONICAL descendant of Sherlock Holmes comes from the young {{tsundere}} Aria. She obviously takes up the mantle.
* ''LightNovel/HeavensMemoPad'' gives us Alice, the Great Detective for the NEET detective team.

* In ''LightNovel/NananasBuriedTreasure'' Tensai gives herself the title Master Detective. While people laugh at her for it, she does actually live up to her claims, being able to figure out just about any mystery.

* Batman's detective skills are regularly put to the test in the overall ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries''. While he has more of a reliance on technology in Arkham Origins (something the developers said was intentional), in Asylum, City, and Knight he only uses his gadgets to aid him in whatever is humanly impossible for him to do and to store/reference information. One case involves him trying to solve a murder, but the crime scene was cleaned and bleached. [[CrazyPrepared So he calibrates his cowl to track the traces of bleach.]]

*** In the Court of Owls storyline, Batman captures and forensically examines a Talon, a killer that works for the Court. He figures out that court freezes and defrosts the Talons using a conductive electrum tooth with an owl carving to preserve them for centuries. He also realizes that Nightwing was meant to be a Talon as Talons were recruited from Haly's Circus, Nightwing's childhood home. Batman punches Nightwing to knock out his electrum tooth and shows it to him.

*** In the Court of Owls storyline, Batman captures and forensically examines a Talon that works for the Court. He figures out that court freezes and defrosts the Talons using a conductive electrum tooth with an owl carving to preserve them. He also realizes that Nightwing was meant to be a Talon as Talons were recruited from Haly's Circus, Nightwing's childhood home. Batman punches Nightwing to knock out his electrum tooth and shows it to him.

*** In the Death of the Family storyline, Batman finds out how the Court of Owls preserves it's assasins known as Talons with cryogenic freezing and defrosting when he captures and examines one. He finds that his captive has an electrum tooth with an owl carving used to wake them. He also figures out that Nightwing was meant to be a Talon before Batman adopted him as Talon's were taken from Haly's Circus, Nightwing's chjldhood home. Batman confirms it when he knocks Nightwing's electrum tooth out with a punch and shows it to him.

***

** Batman. Yes, he is a top martial artist. Yes, he is a great chemist. But first, he's the world's greatest detective.

* Hajime Kindaichi from ''Manga/TheKindaichiCaseFiles''.

* ''LightNovel/{{Gosick}}'' gives us Victorique the ElegantGothicLolita Great Detective. [[spoiler:Her brother]] Grevil, meanwhile, is ''[[FakeUltimateHero reputed]]'' to be this.

* Literature/LordPeterWimsey, a hereditary aristocrat and World War I veteran who solves mysteries partly out of a sense of justice, partly because [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob he has no other work he needs to do]], and partly as a way of coping with his [[ShellShockedVeteran trauma from the trenches]].

*** The prequel novels ''LightNovel/DanganRonpaKirigiri'' reveals the existence of a system called the Detective Shelf Collection, which ranks every registered detective based on two levels of specialization and aptitude in those fields, with 9 being the lowest. While Kyoko specializes in solving murders, a rank of three zeros implies a mastery of every possible field of crime solving, so much that only four detectives have ever reached this level. Her grandfather Fuhito Kirigiri (who taught her everything she knows) is thought to qualify for this ranking if not for his being opposed to the DSC system at its founding.

* In ''ComicBook/BakerStreet'', Sharon Ford is an AlternateReality, 1980s, female, punk version of Franchise/SherlockHolmes.

* Literature/ErastFandorin, the popular fictional Russian detective created by Boris Akunin. He is actually teamed with Literature/SherlockHolmes in one novella but [[spoiler:neither is able to "prevail" over the other]]. See Wiki/TheOtherWiki for more information...

* In ''LightNovel/AriaTheScarletAmmo'', a VERY NON-CANONICAL descendant of Sherlock Holmes comes from the young {{tsundere}} Aria. She obviously takes up the mantle.
* ''LightNovel/HeavensMemoPad'' gives us Alice, the Great Detective for the NEET detective team.
* In ''LightNovel/NananasBuriedTreasure'' Tensai gives herself the title Master Detective. While people laugh at her for it, she does actually live up to her claims, being able to figure out just about any mystery.

** ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney: Adventures'' and its sequel also brings the one and only Sherlock Holmes (or, borrowing a page from the ''Literature/ArseneLupin'' stories, [[CaptainErsatz "Herlock Sholmes"]] in the localization) himself into the series, with a unique take on the trope. While he's just as good with deduction and observation as expected, and brings forth a number of inventions that help him make forensic investigations, he's also highly eccentric, and his deductions can be [[RightForTheWrongReasons hilariously off the mark]]. As such, he works best when he has a partner like Ryunosuke who can help point out where the flaws in his logic lie, and get his deductions on the proper track, which forms the premise of the "Joint Reasoning" mechanic.

->''"I never guess. It is a shocking habit--destructive to the logical faculty."''

* Hajime Kindaichi from ''Manga/TheKindaichiCasefiles''.

* Subverted by ''Manga/MajinTanteiNougamiNeuro'', which appears to be a typical Meitantei about a genius teenage-girl detective specialising in ParanormalInvestigation ... but in reality, she's merely the slightly dense puppet of Neuro, a creepy-but-brilliant demon from Hell who "eats mysteries".

* This trope is invoked and exploited by the three Brilliant Detectives Sakaido, Anaido and Hijiriido, personas adopted by the protagonists of ''Anime/IDInvaded''. The first two are [[DigitalAvatar piloted]] by serial killer prisoners as it is required for them to have intentionally killed to be able to dive into and investigate [[MentalWorld ID Wells]]. Their personalities are overridden with the Brilliant Detective personas because if their original memories resurface, it can cause the simulations to break down and trap them within the Id Wells. It's also why characters aren't sent into their own Id Wells as said Wells contain reminders of their original selves.

[[folder: Film (Live-Action)]]

* In ''Literature/TheInvisibleLibrary'', Irene encounters one of those. He followed her trainee, deduced that they were after the same book thief he was investigating, and suggests that they should work together. Since she is a MagicLibrarian and they are in a parallel universe where mythical creatures are real, it is not quite clear whether he is supposed to be part of the "things working according to story logic" reality, or just sort of there because it ''is'' London. Notably, he directly (and apparently unconsciously) quotes Holmes at one point, which Kai has trouble keeping a straight face about. Irene herself enjoys working with him; WordOfGod is that she took her chosen name from Irene Adler.

* Oberon Qvist, the {{Deuteragonist}} in a series of satirical mystery books by Norwegian comedian Knut Nærum, swings between being a genuine example of the trope, a parody, and a {{Deconstruction}}. He is of course the brilliant detective who always realizes what's going on long before anyone else can, who readily points out the inferior intelligence of his [[TheWatson Watron]], and who tends to indulge in bizarre eccentricities that always end up having a very rational explanation tied to the mystery he's currently working on -- but this tendency, combined with his refusal to ever explain anything to anyone before the case is closed so that he can [[ManipulativeBastard manipulate them into acting how he wants]], not only makes him supremely frustrating to have any kind of conversation with, but after a while also makes him come across as an increasingly chilling and untrustworthy person willing to gamble with people's lives and safety in order to be the GreatDetective.

* Oberon Qvist, the {{Deuteragonist}} in a series of satirical mystery books by Norwegian comedian Knut Nærum, swings between being a genuine example of the trope, a parody, and a {{Deconstruction}}. He is of course the brilliant detective who always realizes what's going on long before anyone else can, and who tends to indulge in bizarre eccentricities that always end up having a very rational explanation tied to the mystery he's currently working on -- but this tendency, combined with his refusal to ever explain anything to anyone before the case is closed so that he can [[ManipulativeBastard manipulate them into acting how he wants]], after a while makes him come across as an increasingly chilling and untrustworthy person willing to gamble with people's lives and safety in order to be the GreatDetective.

* Oberon Qvist, the nominal main character in a series of satirical mystery books by Norwegian comedian Knut Nærum, swings between being a genuine example of the trope, a parody, and a {{Deconstruction}}. He is of course the brilliant detective who always realizes what's going on long before anyone else can, and who tends to indulge in bizarre eccentricities that always end up having a very rational explanation tied to the mystery he's currently working on -- but this tendency, combined with his refusal to ever explain anything to anyone before the case is closed so that he can [[ManipulativeBastard manipulate them into acting how he wants]], after a while makes him come across as an increasingly chilling and untrustworthy person willing to gamble with people's lives and safety in order to be the GreatDetective.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':

** Introduced in the ''Comicbook/BatmanRebirth'' storyline "Their Dark Designs", Cassander Wycliffe Baker was once the world's greatest detective -- until his Moriarty counterpart, the Designer, pushed himself to advance through ten years of experience in a single year, and left Wycliffe humiliated and broken.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detective_Chimp Detective Chimp]] from the Franchise/{{DCU}}. A hyper-intelligent chimpanzee that happens to be one of the best detectives in the world. He likes reminding people that Franchise/{{Batman}} is merely the world's greatest ''human'' detective. One team up story is actually called "The World's Greatest Detective and Batman".

* Peter Wickham, aka The Sleuth, in the {{Steampunk}} {{Superhero}} novel ''The Falling Machine'' by Andrew P. Mayer, is Literature/SherlockHolmes crossed with [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] without the bat symbolism.

* ''Webcomic/LeagueOfSuperRedundantHeroes'': [[http://superredundant.com/?comic=379-stakeout As part]] of a ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' {{expy}}. Flying Fox Man. Also is TheWorldsBestCharacter.

Compare: HardboiledDetective, LittleOldLadyInvestigates, and InspectorLestrade (whose greatness extends only to the evidence he gets). Contrast with GentlemanThief and CluelessDetective.