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The mythological private eye differs from his counterpart in real life in two essential ways.

On the one hand, he does not work for a large agency, but is almost always self-employed.

As a free-lance investigator, the fictional detective is responsible to no one but himself and his client.

For this reason, he appears as an independent and self-reliant figure, whose rugged individualism need not be pressed into the mold of a 9 to 5 routine.

On the other hand, the fictional detective does not break strikes or handle divorce cases ; ;

no client would ever think of asking him to do such things.

Whatever his original assignment, the fictional private eye ends up by investigating and solving a crime, usually a murder.

Operating as a one man police force in fact if not in name, he is at once more independent and more dedicated than the police themselves.

He catches criminals not merely because he is paid to do so ( frequently he does not receive a fee at all ), but because he enjoys his work, because he firmly believes that murder must be punished.

Thus the fictional detective is much more than a simple businessman.

He is, first and foremost, a defender of public morals, a servant of society.