Her series featuring DCS Kat Frank and AIDE, the world's first AI detective, includes In the Blink of an Eye, Leave No Trace, and (not yet in the US) Human Remains.
A lot of reviewers have focussed on the fact that AIDE Lock is unusual because he is an AI detective," Callaghan writes at the Waterstones blog, "but Lock just provides a different way into exploring the age-old debate of logic vs instinct."
One of the author's five favorite unusual detectives:
Precious Ramotswe in The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall SmithRead about the other detectives on Callaghan's list at the Waterstones blog.
But perhaps the most unusual detective is Precious Ramotswe. This wonderful character is not scarred by tragedies or tormented by demons. ‘Detective agenciesrely on human intuition and intelligence,’ explains the author in the first novel. ‘Both of which Mme Ramotswe had in abundance…she was a good detective and a good woman.’ Precious loves all the people that God made and is not driven by the pursuit of criminals or justice, but a belief that it is her duty to help ordinary people solve the mysteries in their lives. She doesn’t rely upon science or forensic evidence, ‘because everything you wanted to know about a person was written in their face.’ Perhaps because Precious is helping people with their everyday problems rather than catching those who disrupt the social order, she doesn’t need to be an outsider. And maybe this too is why these lovely books are so hugely popular and life affirming.
Precious Ramotswe appears among Esther Inglis-Arkell's twelve greatest fictional detectives (who aren't Sherlock Holmes), Ellen Wehle's top eight fresh fictional female detectives, Ian Holding's top ten books that teach us something about southern Africa, and Adrian McKinty's ten best lady detectives.
--Marshal Zeringue
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