Inspector Hanaud

Inspector Gabriel Hanaud is a fictional French detective depicted in a series of five novels and one novella by the British writer A. E. W. Mason. He has been described as the "first major fiction police detective of the Twentieth Century".[1]

Inspector Hanaud
First appearanceAt the Villa Rose
Last appearanceThe House in Lordship Lane
Created byA. E. W. Mason
Portrayed byTeddy Arundell
Austin Trevor
Dennis Neilson-Terry
Kenneth Kent
Oskar Homolka
In-universe information
GenderMale
TitleInspector
OccupationPolice Officer
NationalityFrench

Background

Hanaud was modelled on two real-life heads of the Paris Sûreté, Monsieur Macé and Monsieur 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 novella. 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 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.[7]

Hanaud works

Film adaptations

References
  1. Pitts p.85
  2. Queen p.67
  3. Green 1952, p. 124.
  4. Bargainnier p.37-38
  5. Bargainnier p.38
  6. Bargainnier p.36
  7. Stringer, Jenny (1996). The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature in English. Oxford. p. 167. ISBN 0-19-212271-1.

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.
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