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| Parker Stevenson(as Frank Hardy) and Shaun Cassidy (as Joe Hardy) from the Hardy Boy Mysteries of the 1970s. |
Rewatching
some of the early episodes of the PBS television series of Agatha Christie’s
mysteries featuring Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, so aptly portrayed by the
incomparable David Suchet, set me thinking about other small-screen adaptations
that I have enjoyed seeing as thoroughly as I liked reading the original books
and short stories.
Like many of my generation—and before and
after—my love of mystery novels began during my preteen years in the 1950s,
when I discovered the Hardy Boys. The books were “factory” novels, like the
Nancy Drew books, written by a number of ghostwriters under the collective
pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon. Teenage detectives Frank and Joe Hardy enjoyed a
run on television in the late 1970s, played by teen heartthrobs Shaun Cassidy
and Parker Stevenson.
The decade of the 1970s also saw a series of
television programs based on the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries by Dorothy L.
Sayers, a contemporary of Agatha Christie. The tongue-in-cheek aristocratic
amateur detective of the title was played by Ian Carmichael, my favorite among
the Lord Peter portrayers.
And, of course, the next decade bore witness to
the start of a long series of television adaptations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s
Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories, with Jeremy Brett as the eccentric
detective. Brett became the quintessential Holmes, just as Suchet has become
the definitive Poirot, both actors filming the majority of their respective
canons. At least for their—and my—generation.
Great mysteries will always find new adaptations
for new generations of enthusiasts. And then there are the mystery novels being
written now that will find their way to the small screen to the delight of new
audiences of mystery addicts. I could certainly suggest a few characters that I’d
like to see. One would be Maisie Dobbs, the World War I nurse turned 1920s
private detective, from the well-crafted series by Jacqueline Winspear.
Or what about the Roman Empire era “finder”
Marcus Didius Falco, who stars in the wonderfully well-researched historical
mysteries by Lindsey Davis? And then there’s Diane Mott Davidson’s
caterer-cum-snoop Goldie Schulz and Greg Herren’s gay New Orleans-based New Age
detective Scotty Bradley. Well, the list could go on and on. I am addicted to
mysteries after all. Who are your favs?
