amateur detective
Unpaid crime solver
An amateur detective is someone who investigates crimes or mysteries without being a professional investigator or law enforcement officer.
The figure is a staple of mystery fiction—Miss Marple, Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew—where an observant civilian outperforms the police through superior deduction.
In real life, the term often carries a whiff of condescension: He fancies himself an amateur detective, pestering the neighbors about the missing cat.
- sleuthPrivate investigator
- Nancy DrewTeen girl investigator
- cozy mysteryLow-violence amateur sleuth genre
- murder mysteryFiction about solving killings
- clueSolving aid
Hercule Poirot · Miss Marple · whodunit · nosy · nosy neighbor · Sherlock Holmes · deduction · case · bumbling · busybody · pattern recognition · logical reasoning · gumshoe · curiosity · boredom · investigator · notebook · altruism
- mysteryclue, suspect, clues, sleuth, whodunit
- sleuthssleuth, private eye, gumshoe, Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple
- cozy mysteryromantic subplot, village setting, nosy neighbor, female protagonist, animal companion
- whodunitswhodunit, murder mystery, sleuth, clue, suspect
- Gialloblack gloves, masked killer, straight razor, stylized violence, whodunit
amateur detectiveprivate investigator
Hired non-police detective
police detective · homicide detective · FBI agent · criminal investigator · private eye
amateur detectivecriminal
Person who breaks laws
perpetrator · murderer · culprit · suspect · mastermind
amateur detectivepolice officer
Law enforcement agent
federal agent · district attorney · prosecutor · sheriff · special agent