Special Kay

‘TO make matters worse for the retired majors who comprise the Telegraph readership, we report that the nation’s favourite sleuth is a woman. And an American.

‘Looks like a case for Kay Scarpetta, Watson’

According to the Times, Kay Scarpetta, the ‘genre-busting’ forensic scientist created by Patricia Cornwell, is the top character in detective fiction.

And second is James Patterson’s Alex Cross, a black single father with a degree in psychology. He is also American.

Only then do we find the grand old man of the crime novel, Sherlock Holmes, who garnered 16% of the vote, followed by Inspector Morse (14%) with Miss Marple (2%) and Hercule Poirot (1%) trailing in towards the bottom of the list.

Russell James, former chairman of the Crime Writers’ Association, told the paper that it was ‘a pretty depressing list’, made partly by television and film.

‘Where’s Raymond Chandler?’ he asks. ‘Where are a number of top Americans, such as Elmore Leonard?’

Good question – it sounds like a job for Kay, Alex, Sherlock or even Sherlock’s cleverer (but lazier) brother Mycroft.’

Posted: 18th, November 2003 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink