Book Club Associates (a UK mail order company) conducted a survey recently to discover readers' favorite crime novel detectives. Here are the results:

Top characters
1. Kay Scarpetta (Patricia Cornwell) — 23%
2. Alex Cross (James Patterson) — 22%
3. Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle) — 16%
4. Inspector Morse (Colin Dexter) — 14%
5. Temperance Brennan (Kathy Reichs) — 6%
6. Harry Bosch (Michael Connolly) — 5%
7. Miss Marple (Agatha Christie) — 2%
8. Rebus (Ian Rankin) — 1%
9. Poirot (Agatha Christie) — 1%
10. Inspector Linley (Elizabeth George) — 1%

Nothing surprising, I don't suppose. I think of a poll like this as a sampling of the bestseller list. After all, if you're going to ask a broad section of the reading population whom their favorites are, the same suspects are going to appear as do on the charts.

I'm just pleased to see that there are a few good writers on the list, amongst the pablum vendors.