BRITAIN: Number 221b Baker Street in London was a place for celebration yesterday as Sherlock Holmes was voted Britain's favourite fictional sleuth. "Elementary, my dear Watson," as the great man himself might have said. Róisín Ingle reports
The pipe-smoking creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle beat stiff competition from Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse.
Almost a third (27 per cent) of participants in a poll run by booksdirect.co.uk voted for Holmes. Moustache-twirling Poirot received 16 per cent of the vote while Morse, played by the late John Thaw on television, came in a close third with 15 per cent.
"There were votes for a great range of fictional sleuths, but the mass appeal remains for the old favourites such as Holmes and Poirot," said Ms Lisa Milton, editorial director of mail-order bookseller BCA.
"But it was great to see some more recent characters appearing so far up the poll," she added.
Only two women made it into the top 10: Christie's homely if cunning Miss Marple and medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, the creation of American author Patricia Cornwell.
However, a number of women appeared elsewhere in the poll, including Sue Grafton's private detective Kinsey Millhone.
Most of the detectives in the top 10 were British and from non-violent books.
