Veronica Mars to Cormac Reilly: Dervla McTiernan names the best crimefighters in the business

Australia’s top-selling crime writer shares the surprising reason she can’t stay away from detectives and reveals the characters she loves – plus one she can’t stand.

My favourite TV detective has to be Veronica Mars.

The titular character in a ’90s TV show starring Kristen Bell, Veronica was clever, tough and never short of a one-liner. She was an outsider who was once an insider.

By the time we meet Veronica, she’s in her last years of high school, and she’s been rejected by the cool, popular kids (though she’s edgy and smart enough that you wonder how she could ever have been part of the vacuous “in” crowd).

Veronica is driven by her need to find out who killed her mercurial best friend, Lilly Kane, the summer before.

Teenage angst and a cult following … Kristen Bell as Veronica Mars.

The show was full of heart and teenage angst and clever, clever writing. It had inconsistent ratings but developed a cult following, so much so that a follow-up movie was funded by fans through Kickstarter, years after the last season had aired.

When it comes to books, it’s much harder to pick a favourite detective. I have favourites I discovered in different decades of my life.

Harry Bosch and Inspector Rebus kept me company through my twenties. In my thirties I discovered Armande Gamache, and Inspector Linley, then later (let’s not get too specific!) and closer to home, I found Chris Hammer’s Martin Scarsden and Jane Harper’s Aaron Falk.

But one of my long-term favourite detectives has to be the great Will Trent. Will is the central character in a twelve-book series written by Karin Slaughter. Slaughter’s books are dark, clever and full of compassion; and real, deeply felt human moments.

‘There’s something about writing a detective that draws me back again and again’ … Dervla McTiernan. Photo: Nathalie Marquez

Will Trent was raised in the Atlanta foster care system. He is sensitive and clever, struggles with dyslexia and with communication generally, but he’s highly observant and insightful. A character worth returning to again and again.

And then there are the detectives who aren’t quite detectives. In this category, my current favourite has to be Susan Ryeland. Susan is the central character in a very fun series written by Anthony Horowitz. She’s a book editor who, thanks to a deeply unpleasant writer she’s edited for years, keeps getting involved in various murders. The books are full of asides about the difficulty of dealing with writers who think more of themselves than they should.

My least favourite detectives? Well, I’m not going to name names … but if you can think of a literary detective who is incapable of calling or generally communicating with his wife or girlfriend for mysterious reasons that are never quite explored, but who feels deeply sorry for himself when said wife or girlfriend leaves him, until of course he meets a gorgeous twenty-year-old who finds him irresistibly attractive (again for mysterious reasons that are never quite explored), well, it’s that guy!

‘I want to spend time with old friends’ … The Unquiet Grave by Dervla McTiernan.

I’ve been writing Detective Cormac Reilly for ten years now – and I am pleased to be bringing him back in my new novel The Unquiet Grave. I’ve written other books: stand-alone novels without a central detective character that are, excitingly, in development for TV.

But there’s something about writing a detective that draws me back again and again, in exactly the same way that I’m drawn to reading the best crime fiction and watching it on screen.

So what is it about detective fiction that I love – that we love – so much? There are many answers to this question, among them the reassuring appeal of the classic hero, encouraging and empowering, and the almost unique ability of detective fiction to reflect and explore our changing culture in a format with mass appeal. But for me, at least, the answer is simpler.

I return to detective fiction again and again because I want to spend time with old friends.

The Unquiet Grave by Dervla McTiernan is out now, published by HarperCollins. Her novel What Happened To Nina was the best-selling crime fiction title in Australia last year.

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Originally published as Veronica Mars to Cormac Reilly: Dervla McTiernan names the best crimefighters in the business