This book identifies the most noteworthy sleuths from around the world, outlining the distinctive features of the detective, his or her approach to crime solving, and highlights of their fictional careers. A case is made for each detective's greatness based on literary importance, novelty, uniqueness, aesthetic quality, and cultural resonance.

Eric Sandberg is an assistant professor at City University of Hong Kong and has published and presented extensively on twentieth and twenty-first century literature Sandburg is the coeditor of Adaptation, Awards Culture, and the Value of Prestige (2017) and the author of Virginia Woolf: Experiments in Character (2014).