Smart protagonist in novels

[Detective#27]

I always enjoy reading novels where the protagonist is a smart one who really really knows his trade. Witty, tactical and all. Can anyone recommend me any good novels with such characters? Any genre is okay. My personal most favourite character is Batman though he isn't exactly from a novel and I also like Mycroft from Sherlock Holmes.

[Roquefort Raider]

In The Alley Cat by Yves Beauchemin, we meet one Mr. Ratablavastsky who is probably the most efficient evil character I've come across in literature.

He's amazingly good at screwing up the main protagonist's life, but almost always in a way that he can argue was meant for the best. And the bastard seems so sympathetic, at first!!!

[Detective#27]

Well, what i want is a smart protagonist not antagonist. Thanks anyway.

[Ghost]

If you like Sherlock Holmes, you should check out the Arsene Lupin books by Maurice Leblanc. Lupin is basically the Anti-Sherlock: using his genius to commit crimes rather then solving them. (Though he is the protagonist.)

[Rabid Trekkie]

I'm going to second Arsene Lupin. Penguin Classics put out a collection of the Lupin stories that I started recently and I'm loving it so far.

The Caves of Steel is a sci-fi mystery book with a really smart hero. Asimov was good at both sci-fi and mystery stories and he combined them both to great effect without using the easy crutch of just having super forensic gadgets.

The Deep Blue Good-By also has a pretty smart detective who likes to act like a beach bum.

Haven't read any of them yet but you might want to try any of the Hercule Poirot books by Agatha Christie.

The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester has a very smart business man trying to beat psychic detectives.

Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress has some smart people in it, including Mycroft. In fact in most of Heinlein's books you can find at least one smart guy who knows what's going on or what the main protagonist should do. The Puppet Masters uses this really well.

That's all I got at the moment.

[Libaax]

C. Augstin Dupin by Edgar Allan Poe is the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes and every other smart detective.

He shows also more logic in his detection than Doyle's Holmes who sometimes comes up with things magicly.

[roomofeasement]

Arsene Lupin looks amazing. Which book do you recommend a novice to start off with -- maybe 'Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Thief'?

This looks so cool, I love all around mischief.

[1505627]

speaking of lupin and holmes,did you know they star in a vieo game together

also,artemis fowl

[Detective#27]

speaking of lupin and holmes,did you know they star in a vieo game together

also,artemis fowl

What game is it? Is it for PC?

Thanks for all the recommendation. I've heard a lot about Arsene Lupin as well so I guess I'll give that a try first. I will also try al the other books asap. I'm not a big fan of Agatha Christie though.

[Mr.EZ]

!Xabbu of Tad Williams "Otherland" series is incredibly intelligent, and very, very wise. One of my favorite modern characters, and I've loved Holmes since I was a boy.

[Doodle Bob]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the Stainless Steel Rat yet. He's easily one of the smartest Sci-Fi protagonists out there. Of course, he's a bit of a rogue.

[Rabid Trekkie]

Arsene Lupin looks amazing. Which book do you recommend a novice to start off with -- maybe 'Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Thief'?

This looks so cool, I love all around mischief.

That would be the one. It collects the first two short stories plus several others, including the first of the stories where Sherlock meets up with Lupin. The guy who put the book together though says that those stories are more of a parody of Holmes than an actual attempt to show both men at the top of their game.

For Detective #27: Yes the game is for PC and I'm really upset that my computer doesn't have a modern enough graphics card to play the thing. Though I still have Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened which pits Holmes vs. the world of H.P. Lovecraft which was awesome.

And to add another smart guy to the mix (again who I've not read but will be as soon as the book arives) is Thomas Carnacki, a supernatural detective from the same time as Holmes. In fact in one of the books I've got a guy wrote a story where they team up to solve a problem, but I'm waiting on it till I actually read a Carnacki story by the original author.

[sun tzu]

Hank Morgan from Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" is a pretty smart guy (even if his biggest advantage is his knowledge, more so than his intelligence).
The protagonist from Larry Niven's Ringworld books is also quite clever.

[RolandJP]

Hercule Poirot

Miss Marple


I wonder what child those two could produce

MacGyver maybe???

[mailedbypostman1]

He shows also more logic in his detection than Doyle's Holmes who sometimes comes up with things magicly.

I'm convinced Sherlock has a psychic ability to follow the right clues to the right ends.

[berk]

The Nero Wolfe books are great for this kind of thing as well. Detective series written by Rex Stout. Fer de Lance is the first one.

[Libaax]

I'm convinced Sherlock has a psychic ability to follow the right clues to the right ends.

I enjoy his world,the times,crimes as much as his ability. The first famous story was suprisingly strong historical fiction tale when the story changed to America.

That made me wonder if he wrote any good historical fiction since i know he wrote those type of stories too.

[dupersuper]

Less detective-y and more science-y and tactically; I find the impressive grasp of scientific theory Robert J Sawyer characters possess and the well thought out planning Orson Scott Cards Ender characters display rather impressive.

[Rabid Trekkie]

I'm convinced Sherlock has a psychic ability to follow the right clues to the right ends.

He doesn't have a psychic ability, it's just that he's like Batman. He trained the majority of his life to be the world's greatest detective. And the thing is, it might be possible to be that good. Where it really departs from reality is that he's always at the peak of his game. But he notices the clues and makes the most logical choices. In the last Holmes story I read he was able to figure out who the killer was by remembering that the victim didn't smoke and that the killer would have to be an experienced harpooneer in order to run a man through in a single throw.

Also he says that he does investigate all the other possible options, of course being short stories we don't get to see all this (and keeping in mind that the character is actually a better detective than his author, Doyle doesn't let us see everything) but it's a small suspension of disbelief rather than Holmes magically getting the right answer.

[Ghost]

He doesn't have a psychic ability, it's just that he's like Batman. He trained the majority of his life to be the world's greatest detective. And the thing is, it might be possible to be that good. Where it really departs from reality is that he's always at the peak of his game. But he notices the clues and makes the most logical choices. In the last Holmes story I read he was able to figure out who the killer was by remembering that the victim didn't smoke and that the killer would have to be an experienced harpooneer in order to run a man through in a single throw.

Also he says that he does investigate all the other possible options, of course being short stories we don't get to see all this (and keeping in mind that the character is actually a better detective than his author, Doyle doesn't let us see everything) but it's a small suspension of disbelief rather than Holmes magically getting the right answer.

You know, this is a bit OT, but G.K. Chesterton wrote a book called The Club of Queer Trades, which is kind of a deconstruction of the Sherlock Holmes stories. The main character is another type of anti-Holmes, in that he specializes in cases that are so bizarre and out of the ordinary that regular logic isn't enough to solve them. Instead, he goes entirely by his intuition and instincts. I rather liked it due to the hilariously odd mysteries he encounters.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Jack Reacher and Harry Dresden are two good ones.

Reacher was a former military cop (a little bit of a Mary Sue) who's pretty good at observing clues, though he doesn't automatically come to the correct conclusion (for instance, he observed a cop being careles with an arrest. At the time, he chalked it up to the cop being unprofessional. Later, he realized that the cop knew that the man he'd arrested was innocent.

Dresden's a detective and fairly good at investigating, but given how outlandish his world can get, isn't that great at cornering/nailing a suspect. He is pretty good at drawing out his suspects, though.

[Libaax]

He doesn't have a psychic ability, it's just that he's like Batman. He trained the majority of his life to be the world's greatest detective. And the thing is, it might be possible to be that good. Where it really departs from reality is that he's always at the peak of his game. But he notices the clues and makes the most logical choices. In the last Holmes story I read he was able to figure out who the killer was by remembering that the victim didn't smoke and that the killer would have to be an experienced harpooneer in order to run a man through in a single throw.

Also he says that he does investigate all the other possible options, of course being short stories we don't get to see all this (and keeping in mind that the character is actually a better detective than his author, Doyle doesn't let us see everything) but it's a small suspension of disbelief rather than Holmes magically getting the right answer.

Thats why Holmes works well for me. In the first famous story you hear how he studied medicin. The guy that tells Watson of Holmes even wondered why he studied when its not what he wants the skill for.

Unlike Batman you saw him learning one of the things that made him good with his work later.

I liked that. He wasnt born magicly with his skills. He is very learned about many things.

[Hamdinger]

Harry Harrison's The Stainless Steel Rat. That's a fun read giving you exactly what you wish for.

He wrote a lot of these But the first 3 are the best.

[Kirayoshi]

I would recommend to any Holmes fan the Mark Frost novel The List of 7. The protagonist is a young Arthur Doyle, who is hunted by a conspiracy called the Dark Brotherhood when one of his early boys-magazine stories strays too close to the truth of their evil plans. He ends up working alongside a mysterious Queen's agent named Jack Sparks, in an adventure that would inspire the creation of Sherlock Holmes. What they used to call a ripping good yarn!

[niall mc cann]

Less detective-y and more science-y and tactically; I find the impressive grasp of scientific theory Robert J Sawyer characters possess and the well thought out planning of Orson Scott Cards Ender characters display rather impressive.

I was about to suggest Ender Wiggin; as it is, I'll second your suggestion.

I love Ender, especially in the later books. There was a bit in Speaker for the Dead where Ender finally sits one of the main characters down and makes the young man thoroughly explain the nature of the problem that's been plaguing the planet Lusitania for a generation; the reader knows all about it but this is Ender's first time being let into the secret. Up until that moment, it seemed such a huge, insurmountable, morally difficult problem, but Ender just stands up, quickly talks it through, and decides the fate of the planet and it's people in a way that made sense morally and practically. I'm showing my inner geek here, but there was something about the way Ender just thought for a second, stood up and strided off to save the world, without any special powers or weapons, that made me immediately think of The Doctor. Hence I loved him to bits, of course.:biggrin:

There's just something about a hero who tries to save the world through simple courage, honesty and non-violence. There should be more of those kind of guys.


He doesn't have a psychic ability, it's just that he's like Batman. He trained the majority of his life to be the world's greatest detective. And the thing is, it might be possible to be that good. Where it really departs from reality is that he's always at the peak of his game. But he notices the clues and makes the most logical choices. In the last Holmes story I read he was able to figure out who the killer was by remembering that the victim didn't smoke and that the killer would have to be an experienced harpooneer in order to run a man through in a single throw.

That's not quite true. It's a perspective on Holmes' abilities that are most heavily emphasised in the earliest stories, but the later you get in the Holmes canon, the more you see him rely on hunches and intuition. The Man with the Twisted Lip is the most obvious examply of that... Holmes spends a night smoking and dozing and in the morning suddenly has an insight into the situation.

It makes sense, considering the kind of mysticism Doyle was involved in. People like to claim that he never gave his own personal beliefs to Holmes, but the truth is, the almost supernatural way that Holmes arrived at his conclusions (especially in the later stories) gives lie to that claim.