While Americans have their CSI gadgets and gun-toting cops, the good old British detective solves crimes using brainpower alone.

But which is the best detective to be brought to life on the page and screen?

To mark the start of the Havant Literary Festival we asked local crime writer Simon Brett to investigate six of the most popular fictional detectives of the past 125 years.

Simon, who's appearing at the festival tomorrow considered Miss Marple, Inspector Morse and Hercule Poirot.

But he declared Sherlock Holmes – the detective who first appeared in 1887 while author Arthur Conan Doyle worked as a GP in Southsea – the best.

'Sherlock Holmes is the greatest fictional detective by a mile,' he said.

'He has become an international brand.

'The image of a man with a deerstalker hat and a Meerschaum pipe is recognised from Turkestan to Tokyo by people who have never even read any of the books.

'Sherlock Holmes was the first true amateur detective, a moody eccentric genius, whose exploits gain from being narrated by the stolid and unimaginative Dr Watson.

'All the ingredients of the perfect detective plot appear in the Sherlock Holmes stories – dramatic settings, intriguing puzzles, baffling clues and ingenious solutions, served up with a generous dollop of humour. They are the best.

'Everyone who writes crime fiction owes a huge debt to Sherlock Holmes.'

As well as a long and successful career as the author of the Charles Paris, Mrs Pargeter and Fethering mystery series, Mr Brett has been president of the Detection Club for the past eight years.

The club was formed in 1930 by a group of British mystery writers.

Mr Brett is appearing at the Havant Literary Festival tomorrow to talk about his career as a crime writer. His talk starts at 7.30pm at the Station Theatre in Hayling Island.

THE USUAL SUSPECTS
Hercule Poirot: The famous Belgian detective, created by Agatha Christie, has appeared in 33 novels and 51 short stories from 1920 to 1975.
Simon said: 'Crime writers who deny that they're influenced by Agatha Christie are lying. She developed the crime novel in terms of ingenuity, humour and character from the foundations laid down by Conan Doyle.
'Hercule Poirot is the archetypal Golden Age detective, full of idiosyncrasies and not quite belonging to the real world. In David Suchet the world has found the perfect interpreter of the character.'

Miss Marple: Agatha Christie's other famous amateur sleuth appeared in 12 crime novels from 1930 to 1976, as well as a number of short story collections. She is now played by Julia McKenzie.
Simon said: 'Miss Marple is another icon. She is unusually old for an amateur investigator, but with her age has come wisdom, and her habit of finding parallels from a small village in the world of bigger crimes is a very good plot device. She is a reactive character who is content to sit in the corner of a room, listening and missing nothing. On screen no-one has bettered Joan Hickson in the role. Also the adaptations in which she starred stayed close to Agatha Christie's storylines, without the vogueish and unnecessary changes which have been made in more recent versions.'

Inspector Morse: He was brought life by author Colin Dexter in 1975 and featured in 13 novels until the character's death in 1999.
Simon said: 'Inspector Morse had a distinctive personality in Colin Dexter's original books, with his love of crosswords, opera and real ale, but the character was much refined and developed by television. John Thaw was perfect in the role. He was one of those rare actors who can actually look as if he's thinking. God knows what was actually going through his mind at the time of shooting – possibly he was considering which dish to choose for lunch from the location caterers' bus – but he always looked as if he was working out the next clue in his investigating. Very few actors can do that.'

DCI Tom Barnaby: The creation of writer Caroline Graham, he has appeared in seven books from 1987 to 1994. He is perhaps more widely known as the chief character of TV's Midsomer Murders.
Simon said: 'DCI Tom Barnaby didn't have a very strong character in Caroline Graham's original books, but on television he has become John Nettles. So people who like seeing Bergerac investigating ever more preposterous crimes in a small English village with a very high crime rate will enjoy the series. And John Nettles should be congratulated on keeping a straight face as the plotlines unfold.'

Detective Inspector Jack Frost: First appeared on page in 1984 in the first of six novels by writer R D Wingfield.
Simon says: 'I didn't like the character of Inspector Jack Frost in R.D. Wingfield's original books, finding him rather crude and vulgar, and although television has smoothed off the rough edges and made David Jason more human and loveable, I find the series incredibly boring. I have never managed to sit through a complete two-hour episode. And that two-hour format is something for which we have to blame Morse. However good some of the Morses were, they would all have been better half-an- hour shorter. An hour and a half should be the maximum duration for any television cop show.'

Tickets, £6, are available from the theatre and Hayling Island Book shop. For further details go to havantlitfest.org.uk