History Main / PrivateDetective

* The title of ''Series/{{Psych}}'' refers to the name of the "private, physic detective agency" main characters Shawn and Gus run. They often get hired as offical police consultants as well, however.

* [[TheCaptain Captain STAR TREK SPOILERS DO NOT READ!!]] from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' likes to roleplay on the holodeck as a private eye named Dixon Hill.

* ''Film/Vertigo''s protagonist, Scottie Ferguson, is a former police detective convinced by an old friend to do one last job for him. Scottie even suggests some other private eyes to help his friend out, but since the friend needs someone he can trust, Scottie is the one tailing people, researching leads, and interrogating people.

** OlderThanSteam, in fact: Lindsay Davis sets her ''Literature/MarcusDidiusFalco'' novels in Ancient Rome, following a "public informer" in the centre of the Empire.

* [[TheCaptain Captain Picard]] from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' likes to roleplay on the holodeck as a private eye named Dixon Hill.

* ''Comicbook/ThePrivateeye'' has, of course, the titular P.I. As a near future comic that's also a throwback to the classic tropes it plays with a lot of the classic Private Detective and Noir tropes, set in a future near enough that there are people alive who know what a Zune is but far enough that most people think an ipod is an "old timey" phone.

* The ComicBook/BlackCat was this from the 90s to the early 2000s.

* Casey Affleck's character in ''Film/GoneBabyGone'' is an example of a modern PI.

* One can argue that Geralt becomes this in ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'' when he gets hired by the Emperor of Nilfgaard to find his daughter Ciri, leading Geralt to searching and finding clues about her current presence all over the continent.

* One can argue that Geralt becomes this in ''VideoGame/Witcher3WildHunt'' when he gets hired by the Emperor of Nilfgaard to find his daughter Ciri, leading Geralt to searching and finding clues about her current presence all over the continent.

* One can argue that Geralt becomes this in ''VideoGame/Witcher3:TheWildHunt'' when he gets hired by the Emperor of Nilfgaard to find his daughter Ciri, leading Geralt to searching and finding clues about her current presence all over the continent.

* One can argue that Geralt becomes this in ''VideoGame/Witcher3TheWildHunt'' when he gets hired by the Emperor of Nilfgaard to find his daughter Ciri, leading Geralt to searching and finding clues about her current presence all over the continent.

A professional detective not directly affiliated with a police department in any official sense (although many will have [[FriendOnTheForce contacts in the department]], and it's not uncommon for members of this profession to have been either police officers or previously worked in law-enforcement, as many of the skill sets overlap), a Private Detective takes on cases that private citizens bring to them - however, whilst they aren't ''supposed'' to investigate crimes (which are official matters for the police, who often look dimly upon private detectives sticking their noses in - both in fiction and in [[TruthInTelevision real life]]), they usually [[MysteryMagnet find themselves knee-deep]] in murders, robberies and kidnappings by the end of the story. They may be doing this because the PoliceAreUseless and/or unconcerned about solving the case, meaning our detective is [[TheOnlyOne the only person]] who is actually willing or capable of solving it. However, this is often justified (especially in classical FilmNoir) by the detective starting off with a [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot seemingly simple case]], such as [[Film/{{Chinatown}} finding out if a woman's husband is committing adultery]] or [[Film/AngelHeart investigating the disappearance of a man who vanished twelve years ago in order to resolve a debt he had with a wealthy businessman]], only for things to [[MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot spiral out of control]] to the point that the only way for the detective to get out is to solve the case.

Although it's more common for a Private Detective these days to be treated as just one step away from the AmateurSleuth (or often, particularly if seen from the point of view of the police, as rather sleazy bottom-feeders usually involved in some kind of criminal activity and frequently ex-cops kicked off the force for some kind of corruption), the classic {{Archetype}} of the Private Detective - and the one that has generally stuck in the mind of people when they think of the profession - is either the GreatDetective or the HardboiledDetective. In RealLife, the PrivateDetective is often viewed as a PunchClockVillain for his or her use of SinisterSurveillance. The fact that they are officially licensed to go on a StalkingMission to track whoever they are hired to investigate (often for non-criminal activity like adultery) puts them firmly in the camp of SociopathicHero, or a PsychoForHire with no respect for other individuals' privacy, depending on who you ask. In RealLife, some private investigators may also function as a BountyHunter, as the two professions are incredibly similar (although a BountyHunter will usually confront the individual he or she is tracking directly - a PrivateInvestigator typically will ''not'' if he or she can help it). Private investigators are more likely to get hired for skip traces (tracking down bail jumpers, people evading service, people hiding from warrants, and similar parties so that the police and courts can do their thing), and that part of the job is typically nowhere near as exciting and involves lots of social media hunts and public record searches. The rest of their jobs are usually insurance investigations (usually for worker's comp cases, plus the occasional personal injury case when fraud or misrepresentation is suspected), as well as the occasional divorce case (typically investigating suspected parental unfitness, adultery, or concealment of assets), or (for investigators who specialize in it) bankruptcy proceedings or due diligence for investors seeking risky investments. Like with skip traces, a lot of these typically involve social media and public records searches, and active tailing or in-person surveillance only occurs when necessary (someone is suspected of fabricating or exaggerating a work-related injury, someone in a divorce is suspected to have a new significant other that they haven't disclosed, a bankruptcy petitioner is suspected of concealing or surreptitiously selling off assets, etc.)

While the comparison with the AmateurSleuth is common, in many ways the stories work the opposite ways. The AmateurSleuth, such as Literature/MissMarple, tend to cozy locked room mysteries, where everything starts complicated and uncertain, but slowly works its way down as a logic puzzle, with a tidy solution where the killer is unmasked. The PrivateInvestigator tends to start simple, but as the investigation will unravel an ever more complicated plot, and the ending is rarely tidy. MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot is a common thread. The killer may be unmasked, but larger problems tend to stay unsolved. The HardboiledDetective is this guy made even tougher.

* ''Film/KissKissBangBang'' has [[PlayingWithATrope fun]] with all the FilmNoir tropes, this one included: Val Kilmer's character 'Gay' Perry Van Shrike is a hard-bitten, tough-talking, gun-slinging PrivateDetective who's also, well... gay. And considers his job very boring. And, at least until Harry and Harmony come into his life, isn't exactly dogged in his pursuit of justice.

* Creator/AgathaChristie's Literature/HerculePoirot is retired from the Belgian police force, emigrated to England during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, and became a PrivateDetective in London.

* Joe Sixsmith, a character of crime fiction author Reginald Hill, subverts most of the basic PrivateDetective characteristics: a short, balding, middle-aged, black private eye from Luton, whose hobbies include singing in a choir and motor mechanics. His main talents are being a nice, sympathetic sort of guy, knowing when he doesn't know things, and tremendous serendipity.

* Shotaro Hidari of ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'' is a PrivateDetective. However he isn't as hardboiled as he likes to think he is, leading to his fellows referring to him as "half-boiled". Both major characters refer to themselves as "two detectives in one": Shotaro does the field investigations while his partner Philip (named after Philip Marlow) does the research back home. Prior to the two meeting Shotaro worked for another, much more hard-boiled detective whose death helps to kick off the events of the series.

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' Kogoro Mouri, Heiji, and main character Conan Edogawa/Shinichi Kudo. In fact, Kogoro has often been shown to do stuff that people usually hire private detectives for - tracking people suspected of adultery, trying to track down someone who is lost (but not officially considered a missing person, like deadbeat dads or former friends).

Although it's more common for a Private Detective these days to be treated as just one step away from the AmateurSleuth (or often, particularly if seen from the point of view of the police, as rather sleazy bottom-feeders usually involved in some kind of criminal activity and frequently ex-cops kicked off the force for some kind of corruption), the classic {{Archetype}} of the Private Detective - and the one that has generally stuck in the mind of people when they think of the profession - is either the GreatDetective or the HardboiledDetective. In RealLife, the PrivateDetective is often viewed as a PunchClockVillain for his or her use of SinisterSurveillance. The fact that they are officially licensed to go on a StalkingMission to track whoever they are hired to investigate (often for non-criminal activity like adultery) puts them firmly in the camp of SociopathicHero, or a PsychoForHire with no respect for other individuals' privacy, depending on who you ask. In RealLife, some private investigators may also function as a BountyHunter, as the two professions are incredibly similar (although a BountyHunter will usually confront the individual he or she is tracking directly - a PrivateInvestigator typically will ''not'' if he or she can help it). Private investigators are more likely to get hired for skip traces (tracking down bail jumpers, people evading service, people hiding from warrants, and similar parties so that the police and courts can do their thing), and that part of the job is typically nowhere near as exciting and involves lots of social media hunts and public record searches.

* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'' features two, both holders of the title “Ultimate Detective”, [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc Kyoko Kirigiri]] and [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony Shuichi Saihara]]. As they’re locked in killing games with 15 other people each and have to solve the murders done by their fellow captives in hopes of escaping so they don’t all die for that one person to escape, they tend to be extremely helpful.

** OlderThanSteam, in fact: Lindsay Davis sets her ''MarcusDidiusFalco'' novels in Ancient Rome, following a "public informer" in the centre of the Empire.

* Creator/{{BBC}}'s Radio/PaulTemple was a crime drama that ran between 1938 and 1968, starring an upper-class private investigator capable of solving the crimes that baffled Scotland Yard.

* ''Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar''