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I received this request a few weeks ago and it sounded like a good idea to me.
I'd love it if you would do a diary on the great "side-kicks" and social milieu in mystery series. That is always so crucial to the development of the personality of the chief crime-solver. There are so many great ones out there I couldn't even begin... Charles Todd's ghostly Hamish, Martha Grimes's aristocrat Melrose Plant and assorted village nuts, Reginald Hill's Pascoe, Elizabeth George's sturdy, working class, fashion-challenged Barbara Havers and on...
by figbash
I am very happy to do such a diary because I too enjoy so many of the sidekicks. I will do a few of my favorites and count on my readers to offer their choices.
I will start with Ian Rutledge’s Hamish because I have been reading the Todd books recently and he is fresh in my mind. Luckily, he is not in my mind the way he is in Ian’s. Ian as far as book number 8, A Long Shadow, which is as far as I have read is so real to Ian that he fears having someone sit in the backseat of his car because Hamish sits there. He is afraid to turn around sometimes and he often answers Hamish’s questions out loud. Usually, the live people find the remarks to be sensible enough, but there is always the fear that someone will find out about his problem and Ian’s job at Scotland Yard will be taken from him.
Hamish is argumentative and angry. A brave Scot, Hamish after terrible trials on the Somme in WW I, finally refused to take his men over the top into “No Man’s Land” one more time to see them massacred. Ian felt he had no choice but to condemn him and Hamish faced a firing squad. As Hamish lay dying, Ian was giving him the coup de grace when a shell buried them both. Because Hamish landed on top of him and there was a corner of air to breathe while he was being dug out, Ian survived. Now due to his trauma and guilt, Hamish pursues him at any time of day or night.
A Long Shadow
Pgs. 24, 25
A shot echoed, sending half a dozen crows flying up out of the trees, crying raucously in alarm just as the windscreen in front of Rutledge shattered, glass spraying like bright bits of water into his face. And he could feel the wind of the bullet passing his ear before thudding somewhere in the rear seat behind him.
Fighting to control the motorcar as it veered across the road and straight for the clumped roots and dried wildflowers at the foot of the hedgerow, Rutledge was swept by horror.
The shot had missed him-but it couldn’t have missed Hamish, directly behind him.
His face was wet with blood, but he was barely aware of it. What filled his mind was the silence in the seat behind him.
I dare not turn and look.
If he’s badly hurt-what am I to do? I can’t touch him-!
As the initial shock receded, he reminded himself that Hamish was already dead, buried in one of the muddy cemeteries in France…
He was out of the motorcar, the door swinging wide behind him, racing toward a break in the hedgerow some twenty feet away…
“Ye canna’ leave the motor here!” Hamish shouted behind him. “Yon bend-“
Hamish is a very interesting and memorable sidekick and he does offer helpful thoughts in the stories as well as curse Ian.
Another well known favorite sidekick is Hawk who aids Robert Parker’s Spenser.
The other major character in the Spenser novels is his close friend Hawk, an equally tough but somewhat shady echo of Spenser himself. Spenser and Hawk met as boxing opponents in a preliminary bout in the Boston Arena (now known as Matthews Arena). Each man believes he was the victor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Hawk was also in his own TV show A Man Called Hawk for 13 weeks:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Hawk first appeared in the 1976 novel Promised Land, the fourth in the series of Spenser novels by mystery writer Robert B. Parker.
Back Story
Pg. 35
“Good works don’t always get rewarded,” Hawk said, without any hint of a ghetto accent. His speech flowed in and out of Standard English for reasons known only to him.
“How come you weren’t a radical?” I said.
“I was into crime.”
“Oh yeah. “
Pg. 126
“I may as well go see Leon.”
“You got any backup? This is a tough coast. Leon may be a tough guy.”
I nodded. “I have backup,” I said.
“He any good?” Samelson said.
“Captain,” I said. “You have no idea.”
Pg. 209
I pushed through the crowd to the martini fountain, and, in the spirit of participation, had a martini. Hawk kept me in sight. He was entirely unthreatening. To the extent that he had an expression as he moved through the crowd, it was one of benign amusement. But people make room for him. Hawk never had to fight for space.
Two other very tough guys who aid PI’s are Joe Pike in Robert Crais’ stories about Elvis Cole
Cole's partner is Joe Pike, a former Marine. Except for Demolition Angel, Hostage and The Two-Minute Rule, all of Crais' books feature Cole and Pike, with The Watchman (2007), The First Rule (2010) and The Sentry (2011) centering on Joe Pike.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
and Harlan Coben's Windsor "Win" Horne Lockwood, III.
Myron Bolitar's friend from Duke and sidekick. Win earned great wealth through an inheritance of Lock-Horne Securities.
Myron also has an interesting lady in his office.
Esperanza Diaz: former FLOW (Fabulous Ladies Of Wrestling) professional wrestler under the name Little Pocahontas; now she is vice-president of MB Reps and Myron's closest friend who aids Myron Bolitar in Harlan Coben’s stories.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
I do like Melrose Plant who aids Richard Jury in the Grimes' mysteries.
Melrose Plant is a fictional character in Martha Grimes' series of Richard Jury mystery novels. Superintendent Richard Jury is a Scotland Yard detective who frequently calls on Plant to assist him, unofficially, in his cases.
Melrose Plant celebrated his fortieth birthday at the commencement of the first book of the series (The Man with a Load of Mischief). He is single, well-educated and wealthy and lives in the little village of Long Piddleton in Northamptonshire. He resides in the local manor house, Ardry End, as he is the only son of the (deceased) seventh Earl of Caverness. He is, by birth, the eighth Earl of Caverness (as well as several other titles), making him Lord Ardry, but he has "given up" his titles (although he occasionally takes them up again when needed in his detective work).
While in Long Piddleton, Plant associates with a variety of local characters, many of whom are also wealthy and single, at the local pub, the Jack and Hammer. At home he is plagued by his aunt Agatha, widow of his uncle Robert, who styles herself Lady Ardry. Agatha has her own cottage in Long Piddleton but is constantly visiting at Ardry End. In contrast to Plant himself, Agatha is snobbish and grasping, obsessed with the aristocracy and not above pilfering small (but expensive) items from Ardry End which she thinks will not be missed.
Very little is missed by Melrose Plant, however. He is clever and capable and is usually called upon by Jury to insinuate himself into the group of suspects to get an insider's view of the circumstances surrounding the murder currently under investigation. This sometimes requires him to appear as an aristocratic dilettante, naturally enough, but on other occasions he has impersonated a tradesman or a servant.
In the novels Plant, in spite of his wealth and education, is frequently at a disadvantage relative to Jury, especially in his relationships with the elegant women and precocious children who inhabit the books. He and Jury are, nonetheless, fast friends and each provides the other with vital insight in solving the crimes. As the clues to the murders slowly unfold, each of them usually arrives at the solution independently and the climactic scene usually involves them arriving on the heels of one another, either just in time or just too late.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
In the books with lady detectives, there are two who have sidekicks who are elderly men.
V.I. Warshawski - Sara Paretsky
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
V. I. has Salvatore Contreras, downstairs widower neighbor and slightly overbearing friend.
I smile at “slightly overbearing” because he is always telling her what to do. He helps her with her dogs and offers to help with everything else that is going on. He keeps a watchful eye out at all times.
Another character I enjoy from the books who helps V. I. is Murray Ryerson,
reporter at the Herald-Star newspaper; V.I.’s longtime friend and sometime rival.
Kinsey Millhone- Sue Grafton
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Kinsey is a loner. She has no children and lives in an extremely compact studio apartment converted from a single-car garage. Her landlord is a young-at-heart octogenarian, Henry Pitts, a retired commercial baker who enjoys creating crossword puzzles; Kinsey herself admits to having a crush on Henry. Henry's family are long-lived, his siblings all being well into their 90s. When not dining on fast food, Kinsey eats regularly at a local tavern, run by flamboyant Hungarian, Rosie, who recently married Henry's hypochondriac brother, William.
Henry has often helped Kinsey and also keeps an eye out. He bakes and feeds Kinsey, too. When I was reading the books, I envied her having Henry nearby.
Elegant and smart ladies who are sidekicks include Della Street in the Perry Mason stories by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Della Street was the fictional secretary of Perry Mason in the long-running series of novels, films, and radio and television programs featuring the fictional defense attorney created by Erle Stanley Gardner.
On television, Della Street was played by Barbara Hale, in the series and the made-for-TV movies…
In the very first Perry Mason novel, The Case of the Velvet Claws, written in the early days of the Great Depression it is revealed that Della Street came from a wealthy, or at least well-to-do, family that was wiped out by the stock market crash of 1929, forcing Della to get a job as a secretary. Of course, by the time of the TV series in the 1950s and 1960s, this would have not fit well with the age of the characters as then portrayed. According to The Case Of The Caretaker's Cat, she is approximately fifteen years younger than Perry Mason.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Another sidekick was Paul Drake.
Paul Drake was the private detective in the Perry Mason series of murder mystery novels by Erle Stanley Gardner. Drake was described as tall and slouching, frequently wearing an expression of droll humor. He is friend and right-hand man to Mason...
In 1957, the CBS television network launched a Perry Mason series based on Gardner's characters. William Hopper auditioned for both the Mason and Drake roles, and was chosen as Drake.
In 1959, Hopper was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Dramatic Series for his performance as Paul Drake.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Several ladies are more partners than sidekicks. Harriet Vane falls into that category, I think.
Lord Peter Wimsey burst upon the world of detective fiction with an explosive "Oh, damn!" and continued to engage readers in ten novels and two sets of short stories; the final novel ended with a very different "Oh, damn!". Sayers once commented that Lord Peter was a mixture of Fred Astaire and Bertie Wooster, which is most evident in the first five novels. However, it is evident through Lord Peter's development as a rounded character that he existed in Sayers's mind as a living, breathing, fully human being.
Sayers introduced detective novelist Harriet Vane in Strong Poison. Sayers remarked more than once that she had developed the "husky voiced, dark-eyed" Harriet to put an end to Lord Peter via matrimony. But in the course of writing Gaudy Night, Sayers imbued Lord Peter and Harriet with so much life that she was never able, as she put it, to "see Lord Peter exit the stage".
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Detective Kate Beckett is the heroine of the TV show Castle where Nathan Fillion plays Castle. I see them as partners, but if one is the sidekick, then it would be Castle.
Beckett is a detective with the Twelfth Precinct Homicide Squad of the New York City Police Department, where she works with fellow detectives Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan and medical examiner Lanie Parish under Captain Roy Montgomery. In the pilot episode, Beckett leads the investigation into the murder of Allison Tisdale, which is staged in the style of a death scene described in the Richard Castle novel Flowers For Your Grave, along with other murders based on Castle's fiction.
Beckett has Castle consult on the case, and though she tries to contain his access, he repeatedly violates police protocol. Although the killer is apparently caught when he leaves his fingerprints on a note he allegedly sent to Castle, Castle convinces Beckett to continue the investigation based on a hunch, the two discovering that the killer was actually Allison's brother, setting up a mentally ill client of his sister—a social worker—so that he could claim the majority of their father's estate due to his father suffering from terminal cancer. By the end of the pilot, Castle uses his friendship with the Mayor to get partnered with Beckett under the pretense of conducting research for a new series of novels starring a detective based on Beckett. Toward the end of the fourth episode, Beckett's literary alter-ego is revealed to be named "Nikki Heat.", much to Beckett's annoyance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
More about the character of Richard Castle is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Two of the most famous detectives could not do very well without their sidekicks.
Can we imagine Hercule Poirot without Captain Arthur Hastings?
Captain Arthur Hastings, OBE, is a fictional character, the amateur sleuthing partner and best friend of Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. He is first introduced in her novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles and appears in many subsequent Poirot stories and novels, generally as the narrator…
Hastings appears to have been introduced by Christie in accordance with the model of Sherlock Holmes's associate, Doctor Watson, to whom he bears a marked resemblance. Both narrate in the first person, both are slow to see the significance of clues, and both therefore stand as a form of surrogate for the reader. There are even similarities of role: Hastings is Poirot's only close friend, and the two share a flat briefly when Poirot sets up his detective agency. The presence of Chief Inspector Japp, a close "literary descendant" of Holmes's Inspector Lestrade, fleshed out Christie's adoption of the Holmes paradigm…
Furthermore, Poirot's method changes in the novels. In the earlier phase of his career, Hastings is valued for his imaginative approach to cases, inevitably giving rise to fanciful hypotheses that Poirot can gently mock. This characterization of Hastings is made by Poirot himself in "The Mystery of the Spanish Chest" (1932):
"How my dear friend, Hastings, would have enjoyed this! What romantic flights of imagination he would have had. What ineptitudes he would have uttered! Ah ce cher Hastings, at this moment, today, I miss him ..."
Although Hastings remains the most popular of Poirot's sidekicks, his appearance in only eight of the thirty-three Poirot novels indicates that he no longer served Christie's literary purpose.
Hastings meets Poirot in Belgium several years before their meeting on 16 July 1916, at Styles Court, Essex, which is their first encounter in literature. The two remain friends right up to Poirot's death, although there is little evidence regarding their possible meetings between 1937 and 1975, but we know that Hastings at least saw Poirot a year before the latter's death. Hastings, while being no great detective himself, serves Poirot in many ways. A former British Army officer in World War I, he is extremely brave and often used by Poirot for physical duties such as catching and subduing a criminal. Poirot likes to tease Hastings about being dim-witted at times, but he clearly enjoys the Captain's company. In two of the books in which he appears — The Mysterious Affair at Styles and The ABC Murders — Hastings plays a prominent role in the resolution of the mystery…
Hastings represents the traditional English gentleman — not too bright but absolutely scrupulous, a throwback to the Victorian-era gentleman who is always concerned about "fair play." Unlike Poirot, who is not above lying, surreptitiously reading other people's letters, eavesdropping, etc., in his quest to solve a case, Hastings is absolutely horrified by such things and usually refuses to do these things even when asked to do so by Poirot. Hastings' physical appearance is rarely described in the novels because he is often the narrator. However, it is mentioned in various novels that he, like Poirot, has a moustache which occasionally is a target of the detective's criticism:
'And your moustache. If you must have a moustache, let it be a real moustache, a thing of beauty such as mine.’
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Can we imagine Sherlock Holmes without Dr. Watson?
Holmes shares the majority of his professional years with his good friend and chronicler Dr. John H. Watson, who lives with Holmes for some time before his marriage in 1887, and again after his wife's death; his residence is maintained by his landlady, Mrs. Hudson.
Watson has two roles in Holmes's life. First, he gives practical assistance in the conduct of his cases; he is the detective's right-hand man, acting variously as look-out, decoy, accomplice and messenger. Second, he is Holmes's chronicler (his "Boswell" as Holmes refers to him). Most of the Holmes stories are frame narratives, written from Watson's point of view as summaries of the detective's most interesting cases. Holmes is often described as criticizing Watson's writings as sensational and populist, suggesting that they neglect to accurately and objectively report the pure calculating "science" of his craft.
Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story ... Some facts should be suppressed, or, at least, a just sense of proportion should be observed in treating them. The only point in the case which deserved mention was the curious analytical reasoning from effects to causes, by which I succeeded in unravelling it.
—Sherlock Holmes on John Watson's "pamphlet", "A Study in Scarlet".
Nevertheless, Holmes's friendship with Watson is his most significant relationship. In several stories, Holmes's fondness for Watson—often hidden beneath his cold, intellectual exterior—is revealed. For instance, in "The Adventure of the Three Garridebs", Watson is wounded in a confrontation with a villain; although the bullet wound proves to be "quite superficial", Watson is moved by Holmes's reaction:
It was worth a wound; it was worth many wounds; to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation.
In all, Holmes is described as being in active practice for 23 years, with Watson documenting his cases for 17 of them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
In Laurie King’s books, Sherlock meets and marries a young woman who becomes his partner. I like the books, but I find Mary to be very cold. I enjoy the books’ plots without liking Mary or how she treats people.
The stories are set between 1915 and 1925, mainly in England but extending to Scotland, Wales, Palestine, northern India and California. They begin with fifteen year-old Mary Russell (she was born on 2 January 1900), who runs into a middle-aged individual she realizes is, in fact, Sherlock Holmes - the former consulting detective of Baker Street. now middle-aged and retired to Sussex, where he breeds bees. However, since the series take the form of Mary Russell's memoir.
Sherlock Holmes stays in the stories strictly through the influence he has in Russell's life. Laurie R. King strives to clarify this, and is quoted on her website, "I did not write Sherlock Holmes stories, I wrote Mary Russell stories". Holmes does, however, play a considerable role in the novels, figuring at first as Russell's closest friend, her calculating and idiosyncratic mentor, and as time and circumstance conspire, the Great Detective takes up the roll of companion detective. During that time, Russell and Holmes come to have a greater respect for one another; and seven years from their first meeting, the two negotiate a marriage agreement, and are married in 1921.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
In Dana Stabenow’s stories set in Alaska, the most enjoyable sidekick of Kate Shugak is her dog Mutt. Mutt rides in the truck or airplane or on the snowmobile with Kate. She is very protective of her. The angriest Kate ever got was when a criminal ran Kate's truck off the road and Mutt was seriously hurt.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
In the Cadfael stories by Ellis Peters, it is Hugh, the sheriff, who is his friend and helper. I quit watching the movies after they changed the relationship between them.
Cadfael, the central character of the Cadfael Chronicles, is a Benedictine monk and herbalist at Shrewsbury Abbey in Shrewsbury, the county town of the English county of Shropshire. Cadfael himself is a Welshman and uses patronymics in the Welsh fashion, naming himself Cadfael ap Meilyr ap Dafydd (Cadfael son of Meilyr son of Dafydd) as his full name.
He was born in May 1080 into a villein community in Trefriw, Conwy, in North Wales, and had at least one sibling, a younger brother. Rather than wait to inherit the right to till a section of land, he left his home at the age of fourteen as servant to a wool-trader, and thus became acquainted with Shrewsbury early in life. In 1096, he embarked on the First Crusade to the Holy Land in the force commanded by Robert II, Duke of Normandy.
After the victorious end to the Crusade, he lived for several years in Syria and the Holy Land, earning a living as a sailor, before returning to England around 1114 to find that Richildis Vaughan, to whom he had been unofficially engaged, had tired of waiting and had married a Shrewsbury craftsman. Cadfael became a man at arms (foot soldier) in the war waged by Henry I of England to secure the union with Normandy, and returned again to England in the service of a nobleman, Roger Mauduit, who kidnapped Prior Heribert of Shrewsbury Abbey in an attempt to foil a lawsuit. Cadfael freed Heribert and, being released from Mauduit's service, laid aside his arms and proceeded with Heribert to Shrewsbury Abbey.
In The Devil's Novice, Cadfael describes his life.
"I have seen death in many shapes, I've been a soldier and a sailor in my time; in the east, in the Crusade, and for ten years after Jerusalem fell. I've seen men killed in battle. Come to that, I've killed men in battle. I never took joy in it, that I can remember, but I never drew back from it either. [...] I was with Robert of Normandy's company and a mongrel lot we were, Britons, Normans, Flemings, Scots, Bretons - name them, they were there! After the city was settled and Baldwin crowned, most of us went home over three or four years, but I had taken to the sea by then, and I stayed. There were pirates ranged those coasts, we always had work to do. [...] I served as a free man-at-arms for a while, and then I was ripe, and it was time. But I had had my way in the world. [Now] I grow herbs and dry them and make remedies for all the ills that visit us. [...] To heal men, after years of injuring them? What could be more fitting? A man does what he must do."
Cadfael works closely with his friend Deputy Sheriff (later Sheriff) Hugh Beringar of Maesbury in the north of the shire, often bending the Abbey rule to travel with or visit him. Beringar, introduced in the second novel, One Corpse Too Many (1979), is Cadfael's main ally in the pursuit of justice. Beringar swore loyalty to King Stephen when he came of age; the king, although initially suspicious, soon came to trust Beringar and appointed him Deputy Sheriff, and finally Sheriff of Shropshire. At times, Beringar has to choose between loyalty to the Crown's justice and Cadfael's private view of the injustices of the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Another lady who is a partner rather than a sidekick is Helena Justina in Lindsey Davis’ stories. Much of what I enjoy about the stories is the way Marcus Didius Falco treats his wife as lover and partner.
I suppose I would call his sidekick to be his close friend Lucius Petronius Longus - Member of the Vigiles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Find your favorite detectives and sidekicks here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
There are many more of your favorite sidekicks to mention in comments below. Why do you like them? Do they complement or challenge the main protagonist? Do you like the sidekick better than the hero or heroine? Do you get upset when the two quarrel?
UPDATE:
I want to include this wonderful comment from Rimjob below. He always says neat things, but I don't want anyone to miss this one.
"The Watson"
From TV Tropes:
The Watson is the character whose job it is to ask the same questions the audience must be asking and let other characters explain what's going on. Distinct from Mr. Exposition in that The Watson is The Storyteller archetype, and often allows another character to become Mr. Exposition within the story's context. May also be The Ishmael, with the entire story viewed from his eyes.
Generally, female variants of The Watson will have a bit more character development and a larger role within the story (but not too much larger). She will be inevitably attractive, serving a dual role — giving the children someone to like and the adults someone to tune in for... Aside from serving as an Audience Surrogate, the Watson can also play an important but often overlooked role in the story itself. As many of the examples show, the Watson's comments and actions often help the detective in figuring out the mystery. While the Watson may not be able to solve the cases himself, he often gives the detective the final crucial insights that point him in the right direction.
Usually "The Watson" type sidekick is:
Smarter than average, but not as smart as the protagonist.
Prettier than average, but probably not as good looking as the hero.
And most significantly, they have an important quality the hero/protagonist lacks.
If the protagonist is from an upper-crust background, "The Watson" sidekick will have streetsmarts. If the hero has trouble maintaining personal relationships, "The Watson" will be the one friend that understands him/her. If the hero knows nothing about technology, "The Watson" is the tech expert who provides the "C.S.I." info.
by Rimjob on Wed Aug 24, 2011 at 08:51:08 PM EDT
Diaries of the Week:
Write On! Describing your work.
by SensibleShoes
http://www.dailykos.com/...
From Neon Vincent’s OND:
10 books for a summer field trip
By Alan Boyle
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/...
Thanks to Mnemosyne for this article!
Jorge Luis Borges' Google doodle celebrates the master of magical realism
The labyrinthine mind of Jorge Luis Borges was celebrated today by Google with a doodle to mark what would have been the great Argentinian author's 112th birthday.
The search engine's sketch shows an elderly man in a suit looking out over a maze of staircases, buildings and bookshelves – "a wide, fantastic architecture scenery," said Google - in what could be a representation of one of Borges's most famous stories: The Library of Babel.
The whole article is worth reading here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
The links to his short stories from the article:
The Library of Babel
http://jubal.westnet.com/...
The Garden of Forking Paths
http://www.coldbacon.com/...
The Aleph
http://www.phinnweb.org/...
A review of his book Ficciones is here:
Ficciones
by Jorge Luis Borges
Reviewed by Ted Gioia
http://www.postmodernmystery.com/...
plf515 has a book talk on Wednesday mornings early.
sarahnity’s list of DKos authors
http://www.dailykos.com/...