Detectives are often a quirky breed, and television is full of the oddball characters. Take for instance FBI Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) from Twin Peaks. He indulges in Tibetan mysticism to solve cases and often discusses the cases, through tape recorded messages, with an unexplained woman named Diane. Private eye Jim Rockford (James Garner), from the Rockford Files, is a quick-talking private investigator that hates to shoot people. His home is a trailer that is falling down around his knees, and he would rather fish than catch the bad guys.

Private homicide consultant Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub), from the USA Network series Monk, is ruled by his phobias and an obsessive-compulsive disorder, but can discern even the slightest clues, and is known as “a modern day Sherlock Holmes—only nuts.”  Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) is a young student who works as a private investigator on the side.

She is not as neurotic as the others, but after her friends and her hometown turn on her, and she is raped, she becomes the ultimate cynic with a host of trust issues.

Brenda Lee Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) is the obsessive and nonconformist Deputy Chief of the LAPD Major Crimes Division, and is known as the “Closer” on the series of the same name. Her mannerisms are exacting, although in her personal life she is a bit of a slob, who hides junk food everywhere. Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) is just the opposite of Brenda, although his absentminded, fumbling cop persona still gets the job done. Finally to round out the quirky crew is detective Robert Goren (Vincent D’Onofrio) from Law & Order: Criminal Intent. His empathy with crime victims and his ability to ferret out the truth during interrogations, only attempts to hide the fact that he has been deeply damaged by his schizophrenic mother and his alcoholic philandering father.

The question is, does the brilliant intuition of these skilled crime solvers make them neurotic or do their neuroses make them brilliant? Maybe it is just a coincidence that they each have a little of both.