Harry Martineau is a fictional British

police detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

created by

Maurice Procter Maurice Procter (4 February 1906 – 28 April 1973) was an English novelist. He was born in Nelson, Lancashire, England. Early life Maurice Procter was born in Nelson, Lancashire, on 4 February 1906. His parents were Rose Hannah and William ...

. He is a

Chief Inspector Chief inspector (Ch Insp) is a rank used in police forces which follow the British model. In countries outside Britain, it is sometimes referred to as chief inspector of police (CIP). Usage by country Australia The rank of chief inspector is use ...

in the

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

city of Granchester, which was inspired by

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Procter, himself a former police officer, wrote fourteen novels in the series published between 1954 and 1968. Martineau has been described as a transitional figure in

detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...

standing between the

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...

detectives such as

Ngaio Marsh Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh (; 23 April 1895 – 18 February 1982) was a New Zealand mystery writer and theatre director. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966. As a crime writer during the "Golden Age of Det ...

's Roderick Alleyn and

Josephine Tey Josephine Tey was a pseudonym used by Elizabeth MacKintosh (25 July 1896 – 13 February 1952), a Scottish author. Her novel ''The Daughter of Time'' was a detective work investigating the role of Richard III of England in the death of the Princ ...

's Inspector Grant and the newer fashion for

police procedurals The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the protagonist(s), as contrasted with other genres that focus on eith ...

Novels

* ''

Hell Is a City ''Hell Is a City'' is a 1960 British crime thriller film based on the 1954 novel of the same title by Maurice Procter. Written and directed by Val Guest, it was made by British studio Hammer Film Productions and filmed in Manchester. It was ...

'' (1954) * '' The Midnight Plumber'' (1957) * ''

Man in Ambush ''Man in Ambush'' is a 1958 crime novel by the British writer Maurice Procter. It is the third in his series featuring Chief Inspector Harry Martineau, set in the Northern industrial city of Granchester. It takes the form of a police procedura ...

'' (1958) * ''Killer At Large'' (1959) * ''Devil's Due'' (1960) * ''The Devil Was Handsome'' (1961) * ''A Body to Spare'' (1962) * ''Moonlight Flitting'' (1963) * ''Two Men in Twenty'' (1964) * ''Death Has a Shadow'' (1965) * ''His Weight in Gold'' (1966) * ''Rogue Running'' (1966) * ''Exercise Hoodwink'' (1967) * ''Hideaway'' (1968)

Film adaptation

In 1960 the first novel in the series was adapted into the film ''

'' directed by

Val Guest Val Guest (born Valmond Maurice Grossman; 11 December 1911 – 10 May 2006) was an English film director and screenwriter. Beginning as a writer (and later director) of comedy films, he is best known for his work for Hammer, for whom he direct ...

and starring

Stanley Baker Sir William Stanley Baker (28 February 192828 June 1976) was a Welsh actor and film producer. Known for his rugged appearance and intense, grounded screen persona, he was one of the top British male film stars of the late 1950s, and later a pro ...

as Martineau. The film was shot on location in

.Mitchell p.14

References

Bibliography

* Barnes, Melvyn P. ''Murder in Print: A Guide to Two Centuries of Crime Fiction''. Barn Owl Books, 1986. * Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999. * Herbert, Rosemary. ''Whodunit?: A Who's Who in Crime & Mystery Writing''. Oxford University Press, 2003. * James, Russell. ''Great British Fictional Detectives''. Remember When, 2009. * Mitchell, Neil. ''Directory of World Cinema: Britain 2''. Intellect Books, 2015. * Reilly, John M. ''Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers''. Springer, 2015. * Triplow, Nick. ''Getting Carter: Ted Lewis and the Birth of Brit Noir''. Oldcastle Books,2017. {{DEFAULTSORT:Martineau, Harry Literary characters introduced in 1954

Harry Martineau Harry Martineau is a fictional British police detective created by Maurice Procter. He is a Chief Inspector in the industrial Northern city of Granchester, which was inspired by Manchester. Procter, himself a former police officer, wrote fourt ...

Fictional British police detectives