| Inspector Lestrade | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
G. Lestrade |
|
First Appearance |
A Study in Scarlet (1887) |
|
Original Publisher |
Ward Lock & Co |
|
Created by |
Arthur Conan Doyle |
Origin[]
Dennis Hoey in Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon
Inspector Lestrade was a determined but conventional Scotland Yard detective who consults Sherlock Holmes on many cases, and is the most prominent police character in the Sherlock Holmes series.
Lestrade mentioned his "twenty years' experience" in the police force in A Study in Scarlet. In the story, Holmes said Lestrade is "a well-known detective". It was observed by Holmes that Lestrade and another detective, Tobias Gregson, have an ongoing rivalry, and he identifies the two as "the pick of a bad lot. They are both quick and energetic, but conventional – shockingly so." Holmes regularly allowed members of the police to take the credit for his deductions, including Lestrade in cases such as those in "The Adventure of the Empty House" and "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder". Lestrade was able to write in shorthand.
Lestrade was initially doubtful about Holmes's methods, and he suggests that Holmes was "too much inclined to be cocksure" in "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder". He was "indifferent and contemptuous" of Holmes's exploration in "The Boscombe Valley Mystery". Holmes is openly rude about Lestrade at times, such as in "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" when he tells Lestrade "demurely" that he was unskilled at handling facts, and refers to Lestrade as an imbecile. In The Sign of the Four, Holmes says that being out of his depth was Lestrade's normal state (along with Inspectors Gregson and Athelney Jones). However, Holmes was generally more positive about Lestrade in later stories. In "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box", Holmes remarked that Lestrade's tenacity "has brought him to the top at Scotland Yard". In The Hound of the Baskervilles, he said that Lestrade is "the best of the professionals" (meaning the professionals employed by Scotland Yard as opposed to himself), and in the same story, Watson observed "from the reverential way in which Lestrade gazed at my companion that he had learned a good deal since the days when they had first worked together."
By the time of the story "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons", Lestrade was a regular evening visitor at 221B Baker Street, and "his visits were welcome to Sherlock Holmes" according to Watson. In the same story, Lestrade revealed the high regard in which Holmes was now held by Scotland Yard: "We're not jealous of you at Scotland Yard. No, sir, we are very proud of you, and if you come down to-morrow, there's not a man, from the oldest inspector to the youngest constable, who wouldn't be glad to shake you by the hand". Holmes thanked Lestrade for this comment, and Watson noted that this is one of the few instances when Holmes was visibly moved. In "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax", Holmes referred to him as "friend Lestrade". Lestrade's involvement in the investigation in "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" suggests he had become one of Scotland Yard's most trusted detectives.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- A Study in Scarlet
- The Sign of Four (Mentioned Only)
- The Boscombe Valley Mystery
- The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
- The Adventure of the Cardboard Box
- The Hound of the Baskervilles
- The Adventure of the Empty House
- The Adventure of the Norwood Builder
- The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton
- The Adventure of the Six Napoleons
- The Adventure of the Second Stain
- The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
- The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
- The Adventure of the Three Garridebs
Public Domain Film & TV Appearances[]
- Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Series (1921-1923)
- Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943)
- Terror by Night (1946)
- Sherlock Holmes TV Series (1954)