: Re: Why aren't detective stories written in the protagonist's POV? I've noticed that successful detective stories are, nearly always, not written in the point of view of the detective himself. The

@Eichhorn147

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These are examples of mystery stories where things are told from the protagonist's point of view. See this link for more, I've cut pasted the pertinent information below.

1st person, narrator is the detective Philip Marlowe books by Raymond
Chandler

The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett

Dave Robicheaux novels by James Lee Burke

Spenser novels by Robert B. Parker

Eric Carter novels by Stephen Blackwood

Cal MacDonald novels by Steve Niles

Dresden Files by Jim Butcher Kinsey Millhone “Alphabet” books by Sue
Grafton (though apparently late in the series multiple POVs are used)

Alex Cross novels by James Patterson

Easy Rawlins novels by Walter Mosley

Not Sherlock Holmes and others like, because we must be wowed by his prowess and that's harder to achieve when we are in his head.

This link explains why!

A few observations:

The (very few) female detectives are mostly third person stories.
The first-person narrator who is not the detective seems to have
been a contained trend, in that Stout and Christie both copied Doyle
(who copied Edgar Allan Poe).
Seriously, where are the ladies?

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