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My Favorite Bad Boys (and a Few Good Guys, Too)

posted by Kate Good on 06/09/11 at 09:13 PM

Encyclopedia Brown was my first crush. I discovered the boy detective in elementary school and quickly read my way through the series of mysteries in which he starred. Smart and insightful with plenty of guts, Encyclopedia Brown lets nothing get past him.

 

It's funny how things change. By junior high, Encyclopedia seemed, well, sort of annoying. He was kind of a nerd and so full of himself, always acting like he was smarter than everyone else. Besides, I had embraced a bit of a bad boy—Sherlock Holmes. I discovered Holmes when my cousin received a full set of his short stories for Christmas one year.

 

Sure, Sherlock had an almost super human intellect and knowledge of minutia and random facts that far surpassed Encyclopedia Brown, but Sherlock was a bit troubled. He struggled with depression and drugs, and evil forces. I was intrigued.

 

I read all 56 short stories and four novels one winter. I barely came up for air before I started the set all over again. By spring, I was so immersed in the stories that I started to dream that the deadly snake from the story, "The Speckled Band," was sliding down the bookcase above my bed. 

 

I loved Sherlock, I really did. But things were getting a little too intense. I needed a break. So I started reading Robert B. Parker's great series mysteries, starring Spenser, a strong silent type who is deadly with both his fists and his wit. I liked Spencer, but I was no longer a one-detective kind of girl. I read around a lot. 

 

John Rebus, the Scottish detective at the center of Ian Rankin's mysteries, caught my eye. Both gruff and tender, Rebus is a loner and a rebel in the midst of a bureaucracy. He's trouble, too, committed only to solving murder, no matter what it might cost him personally or how it might affect his relationships. He is often easy to admire but harder to like. 

 

Michael Connelly's detective, Harry Bosch, is cut from very similar cloth. Devoted to justice, but not particularly to the LAPD where he works, Bosch will do almost anything to solve a crime, even if it means rupturing friendships and love affairs along the way.   

 

I was not only interested in the bad boys, although they are attractive protagonists.  Authors Elizabeth George and P.D. James have created detectives who play (mostly) within bounds Inspector Thomas Lynley isn't just a detective at Scotland Yard. He's also an Earl. Lynley likes the rules, but his devotion to solving crimes can make it hard for him to keep his bosses and his family happy. Still his upper-crust breeding and manners are always within reach.

 

Adam Dalgliesh, the hero of P.D. James' novels, is a detective at Scotland Yard and a poet. More cerebral than emotional, Dalgliesh approaches life and crime in a measured, almost cold way. He doesn't throw chairs or get fired as many other fictional detectives do, but that doesn’t mean he’s ineffective. Adam Dalgliesh almost always catches the bad guys.

 

Recently, I met a new guy, Myron Bolitar, the sports agent and amateur detective in Harlan Coben's series of mysteries. People had been telling me for years that I would like him, but I wasn't sure. Then during an unexpectedly long layover at an airport, I started to read one of his books. Funny and smart and warm, Bolitar is my kind of guy. 

 

It’s hard for me to choose a favorite among these men. Each year, we reconnect when a new novel detailing their latest adventures is released. When the latest mystery in their series arrives on my doorstep, I often drop everything so that I can catch up on what’s going on in their lives. Each time I crack open a new book, I find myself giving into each detective's individual charm and mystery.  

 

Good_kate Kate Good lives in Lancaster City, Pa.  She is a member of Blossom Hill Mennonite Church, Lancaster. She is assistant publisher at Good Books.