Is this post a week late? Yes. Am I going to post it anyway yep because I love Steph’s prompts! Make sure you keep an eye out this afternoon for this week’s actual prompt!
Although I’m a week late this is the first prompt of Steph’s September theme all about characters, starting off with clever characters!
Six for Sunday is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely Steph at ALITTLEBUTALOT. You can find a list of prompts for July, August and September here
Clever Characters
What I’ve realised is my go to for ‘clever’ characters are characters that star in crime and mystery books. I guess if you’re solving murders and figuring out mysteries you have to be reasonably smart right…
DI Kelly Porter from the series by Rachel Lynch
About the book…
DI Kelly Porter knows some people will risk everything to get ahead. But when the truth comes out deadly prices are paid…
After a scandal forces DI Kelly Porter out of the Met, she returns to her home turf in the Lake District. Crimes in the Cumbrian constabulary tend to be of the minor sort, but Kelly begins work on a cold case that shocked the local community – the abduction and brutal murder of ten-year-old Lottie Davies.
Meanwhile, Kelly is also investigating two seemingly straightforward crimes: a case involving an illegal immigrant, and a robbery following the death of local businessman Colin Day. But evidence comes to light that reveals a web of criminal activity beyond anything Kelly imagined. Behind the veneer of sleepy, touristy towns lies a dark and dangerous underworld. As Kelly threatens to expose those with much to lose, she risks paying the ultimate price to get to the truth…
Kelly’s made her way to the level of Detective Inspector in the police force and is heading up a major crime unit in the Lake District so I figure she’s got to be pretty smart… Across the course of the series she manages to put together plenty of clues to solve some serious crimes.
Pippa Fitz-Amobi from the series by Holly Jackson
About the book…
The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.
But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn’t so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?
I love Pip and she manages to solve a crime that the police got wrong so I’m going to say that makes her clever!
Detective Natalie Ward from the series by Carol Wyer
About the book…
One hot summer’s afternoon, five-year-old Ava Sawyer went to a party. She never came home …
When five-year-old Ava Sawyer goes missing from a birthday party at a local garden centre, the police are bewildered by the lack of leads. That is until two years later, when Ava’s body is found and another little girl, Audrey Briggs, goes missing. Audrey also attended that party …
Leading the investigation is Detective Natalie Ward. A mother of two teenagers, this case chills her to the bone, and is a disturbing reminder of the last job she worked on. One that ended very badly.
Natalie soon discovers that Ava’s mother has some worrying gaps in her alibi and as she digs deeper, she’s sure Ava’s father is not telling the full story. And what did the owner of the garden centre Elsa see that day? Something that she’s not telling Natalie …
Just as Natalie is facing up to the grim possibility that Ava and Audrey were killed by someone close to home, another little girl from the party doesn’t come home from her ballet lesson. Can Natalie find a way to stop this killer before more innocent lives are taken?
Another fantastic female detective here! Natalie solves some difficult and brutal crimes while dealing with some traumatic events in her personal life. She’s currently leading a major crime division so she must be pretty smart!
Inspector Tony McLean from the series by James Oswald
About the book…
When Edinburgh police find the killer of a prominent city elder less than twenty-four hours after the crime, they are justifiably pleased. So the murderer has killed himself; that just saves the time and cost of a trial. But a second murder days later bears haunting similarities to the first, even though once more the murderer swiftly confesses and kills himself.
Detective Inspector Anthony McLean is investigating the discovery of a dead girl, walled up in the basement of an old Edinburgh mansion. She has been brutally murdered, her internal organs removed and placed around her in six preserving jars. The evidence suggests this all happened over sixty years ago, an attempt to re-enact an ancient ceremony that by trapping a demon in the dead girl’s body would supposedly confer immortality on the six men who took one of her organs each.
McLean’s grandmother – the woman who raised him after his parents were killed when he was a young boy – dies after months in a coma following a stroke. On top of this he has to investigate a series of unusual, violent suicides and a cat-burglar who targets the homes of the recently dead. But as another prominent Edinburgh businessman is killed, he begins to suspect that there may be a connection between the murders, the suicides and the ritual killing of the girl found in the basement. The same names keep cropping up. He just can’t find a rational explanation as to how that connection works.
As he digs deeper, and as the coincidences stack up, McLean is forced to consider an irrational explanation. Could there really be something evil stalking the city he has sworn to protect? And if so, how on earth can he hope to stop it?
Not only does Tony have to consider the natural while solving crimes in Edinburgh he has to consider the supernatural so I think he must be pretty clever to manage to solve the mysteries.
Hercule Poirot from the series by Agatha Christie
About the book…
Agatha Christie’s debut novel was the first to feature Hercule Poirot, her famously eccentric Belgian detective.
A refugee of the Great War, Poirot is settling in England near Styles Court, the country estate of his wealthy benefactress, the elderly Emily Inglethorp. When Emily is poisoned and the authorities are baffled, Poirot puts his prodigious sleuthing skills to work. Suspects are plentiful, including the victim’s much younger husband, her resentful stepsons, her longtime hired companion, a young family friend working as a nurse, and a London specialist on poisons who just happens to be visiting the nearby village.
All of them have secrets they are desperate to keep, but none can outwit Poirot as he navigates the ingenious red herrings and plot twists that earned Agatha Christie her well-deserved reputation as the queen of mystery.
Another classic detective! Poirot is famous for his use of the little grey cells!
Sherlock Holmes from the series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
About the book…
“A Study in Scarlet” is the first published story of one of the most famous literary detectives of all time, Sherlock Holmes. Here Dr. Watson, who has just returned from a war in Afghanistan, meets Sherlock Holmes for the first time when they become flat-mates at the famous 221 B Baker Street. In “A Study in Scarlet” Sherlock Holmes investigates a murder at Lauriston Gardens as Dr. Watson tags along with Holmes while narratively detailing his amazing deductive abilities.
I couldn’t possibly compile a list of the cleverest characters I’ve read about without including Sherlock Holmes. I think he has to be the ultimate detective, he’s renowned for his powers of deduction and his ability to reach conclusions from the smallest of things.
They were my #SixforSunday! If you’ve taken part leave a link to your post below and I’ll be sure to check it out!
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