With that "private reasons" escape clause, this definition
could apply
to Angela Lansbury and the other amateur sleuths who bring
death like
the plague -- would you invite one of them to your home
knowing there is
death wherever they roam?
Adding the stipulation that the work is for hire gets rid of
most of the
amateurs and allows for Travis and Scudder, but still
includes Nero
Wolfe, Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes. As a matter of
fact, I think
you'd be hard pressed to find any definition of private eye
that did not
include them, which is why I usually add the qualifying
"hardboiled"
when naming the genre I read so much of. It is the attitude
and outlook
that marks the dividing line for me.
Mark
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