Inspector Hanaud
Inspector Gabriel Hanaud is a fictional French detective depicted in a series of six novels and one short story by the British writer AEW Mason. He has been described as the "first major fiction police detective of the Twentieth Century".[1]
Inspector Hanaud | |
---|---|
First appearance | At the Villa Rose |
Last appearance | The House in Lordship Lane |
Created by | A. E. W. Mason |
Portrayed by | Teddy Arundell Richard Cooper Dennis Neilson-Terry Kenneth Kent Oskar Homolka |
Information | |
Gender | Male |
Title | Inspector |
Occupation | Police Officer |
Nationality | French |
Background
Hanaud was modelled on two real-life heads of the Paris Sûreté, MM Macé and Goron,[2] whose respective memoirs Mason had studied.[3] Émile Gaboriau's Monsieur Lecoq was also an inspiration.[4]
Mason wanted Hanaud to be a professional detective who was as physically unlike Sherlock Holmes as possible[3] so, in contrast to the slender Holmes, Hanaud became stout and broad-shouldered.[5] He was to be a genial and friendly soul ready, "as the French detective does", to trust his flair or intuition and to take the risk of acting upon it.[3] In the stories, Hanaud often relies on psychological methods to solve cases.[6] He is generally assisted by his friend, the fastidious Julius Ricardo, a former City of London financier.
Hanaud made his first appearance in the 1910 novel At the Villa Rose set in the south of France. He appeared in a further four novels and a short story. His last appearance was in the 1946 novel The House in Lordship Lane. Hanaud has been portrayed on screen several times – with adaptations of At the Villa Rose and its sequel The House of the Arrow.
He has been seen as one of a number of influences on the creation of Agatha Christie's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
Hanaud novels
- At the Villa Rose (1910)
- The Affair at the Semiramis Hotel (1917) (Novelette)
- The House of the Arrow (1924)
- The Prisoner in the Opal (1928)
- They Wouldn't Be Chessmen (1934)
- "The Ginger King" (1940) (Short Story)
- The House in Lordship Lane (1946)
- Inspector Hanaud's Investigations (1931) (omnibus volume of first three novels)
Film adaptations
- At the Villa Rose (1920) starring Teddy Arundell
- At the Villa Rose (1930) starring Austin Trevor
- Le mystère de la villa rose [The Mystery of the Villa Rose] (1930)
- The House of the Arrow (1930) starring Dennis Neilson-Terry
- La Maison de la Fléche [The House of the Arrow] (1930)
- At the Villa Rose (1940) starring Kenneth Kent
- The House of the Arrow (1940) starring Kenneth Kent
- The House of the Arrow (1953) starring Oskar Homolka
References
- Pitts p.85
- Queen p.67
- Green 1952, p. 124.
- Bargainnier p.37-38
- Bargainnier p.38
- Bargainnier p.36
Bibliography
- Green, Roger Lancelyn (1952). A. E. W. Mason. London: Max Parrish.
- Bargainnier, Earl F. Twelve Englishmen of mystery. Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1984.
- Pitts, Michael R. Famous Movie Detectives III. Scarecrow Press, 2004
Queen, Ellery Queen's Quorum: a History of the Detective-Crime Short Story. New York, 1969.