Sir Arthur Conan Doyle... Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.... Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.... for Sherlock Holmes.I feel all other detective characters are ripoffs of Sherlock Holmes.
Maybe we should have two discussions, "living" and "dead". The dead ones have the benefit that they generally had enough time to write quite a few. I would go with Agatha Christie for the dead ones, and Lars Kepler for the living ones. Although in the latter category there could be a few.
Agatha Christie. Of course Sherlock Holmes is a legendary charecter created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and I do enjoy his mysteries. However, Dame Agatha Christie has my vote.. Where Sherlock Holmes was larger than life, Agatha Christie's charecters seemed a little more real. Then there is also the fact that I still can't forget her 'Then There were None'