My idea is that American readers tend to like the idea that a
single individual can often succeed where the
bureacuracy
(as represented in detective stories by the police) can't.
This goes all the way back to Poe. In "The Purloined Letter,"
for example, the police do everything they know to do, and
they do it thoroughly and well. But Dupin is the one who
comes up with the answer, to the astonishment of the Prefect
of Police.
Bill Crider
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