Jack Spratt (fictional detective) Jack Spratt (fictional detective) Jack Spratt is the protagonist in a series of alternate history science fiction fantasy novels by Jasper Fforde. He was named after the character from the English nursery rhyme. As revealed in "The Big Over Easy", for example, he hates eating fat, and was once married to a woman who ate nothing else (hence, she died). Spratt is an obvious satire on the general detective stereotype. Whereas famous detectives such as Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe and Sherlock Holmes have been portrayed as confident, successful, substance-abusing loners, Spratt does not have a substance abuse problem, and is
Detective fiction whose V. I. Warshawski books have explored the various subcultures of Chicago. Martin Hewitt, created by British author Arthur Morrison in 1894, is one of the first examples of the modern style of fictional private detective. This character is described as an "'Everyman' detective meant to challenge the detective-as-superman that Holmes represented." By the late 1920s, Al Capone and the Mob were inspiring not only fear, but piquing mainstream curiosity about the American crime underworld. Popular pulp fiction magazines like "Black Mask" capitalized on this, as authors such as Carrol John Daly published violent stories that focused on the mayhem