I just got this request from Alicia:
“I work at a library and I am trying to compile a list of cozy mysteries where the main character is a PI or other paid investigator (police, etc) and not just a person of another profession who happens to solve crimes…”
OK, OK, I know that one of the characteristics that I have listed of the Cozy Mystery genre is that the sleuth is an amateur… but, that’s just the majority of the time, and as with all other things, there are always exceptions!
Here are the authors who are on the Cozy Mystery site who have, as their sleuths, professional sleuths. (Not all of them are Cozy.)
Private Investigators:
Conrad Allen (aka Edward Marston & Keith Miles): Dillman Mystery Series… Transatlantic Cruise Ship Detective…
Lori Avocato: Pauline Sokol Mystery Series… Medical Fraud Investigator…
Linda Barnes: Carlotta Carlyle Mystery Series… Boston PI AND Michael Spraggue Mystery Series… PI Actor…
M. C. Beaton: Agatha Raisin Mystery Series… Owner of PI Agency…
Carol Lea Benjamin: Rachel Alexander Mystery Series… PI Dog Trainer…
Ruth Birmingham (aka Walter Sorrells & Lynn Abercrombie): Sunny Childs Mystery Series… Georgia PI…
Nero Blanc (aka Cordelia Frances Biddle & Steve Zettler): Crossword Puzzle Mystery Series… PI and Crossword Puzzle Editor…
Lawrence Block (aka Paul Kavanagh): Matt Scudder Mystery Series… New York PI…
D.B. Borton (aka Della Borton): Cat Caliban Mystery Series… Sexagenarian PI…
Kate Bryan: Maggie Maguire Mystery Series… Pinkerton PI…
Carole Buggé: Sherlock Holmes Mystery Series… British PI…
Nancy Bush: Jane Kelly Mystery Series… PI & Pug…
Dorothy Cannell: Ellie Haskell Mystery Series… Flower Sisters PIs…
Sally Chapman (aka Annie Griffin): Silicon Valley Mystery Series… Computer Fraud PI…
Agatha Christie: Hercule Poirot Mystery Series… PI with a whole lot of the little Gray Cells…
Carole Higgins Clark: Regan Reilly Mystery Series… California PI…
Bruce Cook (aka Bruce Alexander): Chico Cervantes Mystery Series… California PI…
Bill Crider: Truman Smith Mystery Series… Texas PI…
Lindsey Davis: Marcus Didius Falco Mystery Series… 1st Century Roman Detective…
Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes Series… London PI…
Sarah Dunant: Hannah Wolfe Mystery Series… London PI…
Sharon Duncan: Scotia MacKinnon Mystery Series… Washington (State) PI…
Susan Dunlap: Kiernan O’Shaughnessy Mystery Series… California PI…
Grace F. Edwards: Mali Anderson Mystery Series… New York PI…
Selma Eichler: Desiree Shapiro Mystery Series… “Murder Can…” PI…
Christy Tillery French: Natasha Chamberlain Mystery Series… Bodyguard PI…
Lee Goldberg: Mr. Monk Mystery Series… Idiosyncratic PI….
Sue Grafton: Kinsey Millhone Mystery Series… Alphabetical PI…
Ann Granger: Fran Varady Mystery Series… British PI…
Linda Hall: Teri Blake-Addison Mystery Series AND Fog Point Mystery Series… both Maine PIs…
Carolyn G. Hart: Death on Demand Mystery Series…Book Store Owner & PI…
Veronica Heley: Abbot Agency Mystery Series… British PI…
Gabriella Herkert: Animal Instincts Mystery Series… Washington (State) PI…
Kaye C. Hill: Lexy Lomax Mystery Series… PI and her Chihuahua…
P.D. James: Cordelia Gray Mystery Series… Inheritor of PI Business…
Jon Katz: Suburban Detective Mystery Series… New Jersey PI…
Marne Davis Kellogg: Lilly Bennett Mystery Series… Wyoming PI…
Karen Kijewski: Kat Colorado Mystery Series… Sacramento PI…
Alice Kimberly (aka Cleo Coyle): Haunted Bookshop Mystery Series…Ghostly PI
Laurie R. King: Mary Russell Mystery Series… Sherlock Holmes’ Wife PI…
Mary Kruger: Gilded Age Mystery Series… 1890s PI…
Vincent Lardo: Archy McNally Mystery Series… Palm Beach PI…
Hilda Lawrence: Mark East Mystery Series… New England PIs…
Martha C. Lawrence: Elizabeth Chase Mystery Series… Parapsychologist / Psychic PI…
Laura Lippman: Tess Monaghan Mystery Series… Baltimore PI…
Lisa Lutz: Izzy Spellman Mystery Series… San Francisco PI…
Charlotte MacLeod (aka Alisa Craig): Sarah Kelling & Max Bittersohn Mystery Series… Art Security PI…
Taylor McCafferty (aka Barbara Taylor McCafferty & Tierney McClellan): Haskell Blevins, PI Mystery Series… Kentucky PI…
Alexander McCall Smith: The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Mystery Series… Botswana PIs…
Ralph McInerny (aka Monica Quill): Notre Dame Mystery Series… Indiana PI…
G.A. McKevett: Savannah Reid Mystery Series… California PI…
Marcia Muller: Sharon McCone Mystery Series… San Francisco PI…
Katy Munger (aka Gallagher Gray): Casey Jones Mystery Series… North Carolina PI…
Shirley Rousseu Murphy: Joe Grey Cat Mystery Series… California PI & Kit, the Cat…
Lynne Murray: Josephine Fuller Mystery Series… Seattle PI…
Diana Orgain: Maternal Instincts Mystery Series… New Mom PI…
Sara Paretsky: V.I. Warshawski Mystery Series… Chicago PI…
Robert B. Parker: Sunny Randall Mystery Series AND Spenser Mystery Series… Boston PIs…
Rose Pressey: Maggie, PI Mystery Series… Florida PI
Sandra West Prowell: Phoebe Siegel Mystery Series… Montana PI…
Spencer Quinn (aka Peter Abrahams): Chet and Bernie Mystery Series… PI & His Narrator Dog…
Rick Riordan: Tres Navarre Mystery Series… San Antonio PI…
Lynda S. Robinson: Lord Meren Mystery Series… Ancient Egypt PI…
S.J. Rozan: Bill Smith & Lydia Chin Mystery Series… New York PIs…
Lawrence Sanders: Archy McNally Mystery Series… Palm Beach PI…
Walter Satterthwait: Joshua Croft Mystery Series… Santa Fe PIs…
Dorothy L. Sayers: Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery Series… English PI…
Sandra Scoppettone: Faye Quick Mystery Series AND Lauren Laurano Mystery Series… New York PIs…
Connie Shelton: Charlie Parker Mysteries (Charlie is an accountant, her brother is the PI in a small PI firm)
Steve Sherman: New England Cozy Mystery Series… New Hampshire PI…
Dana Stabenow: Kate Shugak Mystery Series… Alaska PI…
Rex Stout: Nero Wolfe Mystery Series… Orchid Lover PI…
Winona Sullivan: Sister Cecile Mystery Series… Boston PI…
Leann Sweeney: Yellow Rose Mystery Series… Houston PI…
Elizabeth Atwood Taylor: Maggie Elliott Mystery Series… California PI…
Patricia Wentworth: Miss Maud Silver Mystery Series… British Ex-Governess PI…
Valerie Wilson Wesley: Tamara Hayle Mystery Series… New Jersey PI…
Jacqueline Winspear: Maisie Dobbs Mystery Series… Early 20th Century London PI…
PS>>>>>>> I know that there are authors on the above list who are not Cozy Mystery authors. But, as I said at the beginning of the entry… these are authors who can be found on the Cozy Mystery Site…
Here is an updated list of Private Investigator Sleuths from 2016.
♦To access more Mystery Book Themes, please click here.♦
Good grief! I thought I would just whip together my next mystery book theme, but I’m finding that it is taking a little longer than I had planned.