“P” Division, a fictional division of the police, in Glasgow, Scotland, by Peter Turnbull

James Packard: British spy, by Robert Conington Galway (Philip McCutchan)

Sam Packer: British Secret Service (MI-6) agent, by Geoffrey Archer

Mike Padillo, a spy, and “Mac” McCorkle, a saloon owner, in Bonn, Germany, by Ross Thomas

Frank Pagan: detective from Special Branch, Scotland Yard, in London, England, combating international spies and terrorists, by Campbell Armstrong (Campbell Black)

Gideon Page: defense attorney in Arkansas, by Grif Stockley

Christopher Paget: lawyer in the Special Investigations Section of the Washington Economic Crimes Committee, by Richard North Patterson

Lena Paget: private investigator, in Lexington, Kentucky, by Lynn S. Hightower

Neil Paget: crotchety DCI in Shropshire, England, by Frank A. Smith

Dr. Siri Paiboun: 70-something national coroner, Nurse Dtui, and Geung, a developmentally challenged morgue assistant, in 1970s Laos, by Colin Cotterill

Patrick Paige: police detective in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by Eric Sauter

Hank Palace: police detective living under the threat of an impending asteroid collision, in Concord, New Hampshire, by Ben H. Winters

Evan Paley: LAPD detective, and Callaway (Cally) Wilde, a wealthy socialite, in Los Angeles, California, by Shari Shattuck

Dr. Stanislaus Palfrey, by John Creasey

Carly Paladino: private investigator formerly with a large security firm, and Noah Lang, a streetwise PI, in San Francisco, California, by Ronald Tierney

Belle Palmer: 40-something realtor in northern Ontario, Canada, by Lou Allin

Frank Palmer: ex-military policeman and private investigator, and Riley Gavin, a freelance journalist, in London, England, by Adrian Magson

Harry Palmer: lazy, cynical British agent, in London, England, by Len Deighton

Julian Palmer: a police lieutenant, and Winston Edwards, a former cop, in Troy, New York, by Jonathan Stone

George Palmer-Jones: a retired civil servant and amateur bird watcher, and his wife Molly, a retired social worker, in Surrey, England, by Ann Cleeves

Po Paltrow: writer and quilter, and the Queen Bees quilting group, in the fictitious college town of Crestwood, Kansas, by Sally Goldenbaum

Aristide Pamplemousse: gourmet restaurant guide inspector, and his bloodhound Pommes Frites, in Paris, France, by Michael Bond

Kitty Pangborn: secretary to private eye Dexter J. Theroux, in 1930s Los Angeles, California, by Linda L. Richards

Monika Paniatowski: detective chief inspector, Charlie Woodend’s protégé and successor, in a village in England, by Sally Spencer (Alan Rustage)

Joe Panther: drug dealer, killer, messiah, and private investigator, in Melbourne, Australia, by Andrew Masterson

Colin Panton: working in television in England, by Philip Purser

Olivia (Ollie) Paras: White House assistant chef in Washington DC, in the White House Chef mysteries by Julie Hyzy

Dr. Eric Parker: chief coroner for Los Angeles County, in California, by Arthur Lyons and Thomas Noguchi

Melita Pargeter: widow of a thief, in England, by Simon Brett

Dorothy Parker: the witty writer in 1920s Manhattan, New York City, in the Algonquin Round Table mysteries by J.J. Murphy

Charles Paris: charming alcoholic actor, in England, by Simon Brett

Evan Paris: NOT a private investigator, in Los Angeles, California, by Joseph Louis (Joseph Mark Glazner)

John Paris: homicide detective in Cleveland, Ohio, by Richard Montanari

Rona Parish: biographer and amateur sleuth, in England, by Anthea Fraser

Jimmy Parisi: lieutenant in the Police Department Homicide Division, in Chicago, Illinois, by Thomas Laird

Quinn Parke: phobia therapist and wealthy amateur sleuth, in San Francisco, California, by Bruce Zimmerman

Parker: cold-blooded professional thief in New York City, by Richard Stark

Charlie “Bird” Parker: ex-NYPD detective turned private investigator in cases taking him to locations in North America, by John Connolly

Charlie (Charlotte) Parker: Certified Public Accountant in Albuquerque, New Mexico, by Connie Shelton

Claire Parker and Jack Willows, police detectives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, by Laurence Gough

Elizabeth Parker: newspaper fact-checker and die-hard Jane Austen fan, in the Washington, DC area, by Tracy Kiely

Emmett Quanah Parker: part-Comanche, part-white Bureau of Indian Affairs agent, and Anna Turnipseed, a part-Modoc, part-Japanese FBI special agent, in New Mexico and elsewhere, by Kirk Mitchell

Jesse Parker: ex-Denver police detective, returning to his hometown to work on the ski patrol, in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, by John A. Flanagan

Henry Parker: 20-something freshman journalist with the New York Gazette, in New York City, by Jason Pinter

Horatio T. Parker: crime reporter for the weekly Explorer, in Hampstead, England, by Lew Matthews

Ned Parker: hansom cab driver in 1870s London, England, by Peter King

Ned Parker: farmer and part-time constable, in mid-1960s Center Springs, Lamar County, Texas, in the Red River mysteries by Reavis Z. Wortham

Presley Parker: former abnormal psychological university professor who opens a party planning business in San Francisco, California, in the Party Planning mysteries by Penny Warner

Scarlett Parker: moving from Florida to London to run Mims’s Whims, a ladies’ hat shop, with her British cousin Vivian Tremont, in the Hat Shop mysteries by Jenn McKinlay

Toby Parkman: quietly heroic cop in San Francisco, California, by Stan Washburn

Thomas Parks: doctor in 1890s Port McKinney, Washington, by Steven F. Havill

Jack Parlabane: journalist in Edinburgh, Scotland, by Christopher Brookmyre

Calamine “Callie” Parrish: mortuary cosmetologist, in South Carolina, by Fran Rizer

DCI Merlin Parry and DS Gomer Lloyd, policemen in Cardiff, Wales, by David Williams

Peter Parsons: chief inspector, in England, by Jack S. Scott

Charley Partanna: gourmet cook and hit man for the Prizzi crime family, in New York City, by Richard Condon

Jenny T. Partridge: founder of the premier dance academies in Ogden, Utah, in the Dance mysteries, by Natalie M. Roberts (Natalie R. Collins)

Lieutenant Pascal: in New York City, by Hugh Pentecost

Lily Pascale: ex-teacher, ex-bartender, and ex-actress, now a professor of creative writing in Devon, England, by Scarlett Thomas

Peter Pascoe, Sergeant, and Superintendent Andrew Dalziel, in Yorkshire, England, by Reginald Hill

Kamil Pasha: magistrate in the new secular courts in the late 19th century Ottoman Empire, in Istanbul, Turkey, by Jenny White

Anthony Paterno: detective in California, by Lisa Jackson

Franco Patrese: homicide detective in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, later an FBI agent in New Orleans, Louisiana, by Daniel Blake (Boris Starling)

Stephanie Patrick: druggie and prostitute turned government assassin, in Europe and elsewhere, by Mark Burnell

Winston Patrick: lawyer turned teacher in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, by David Russell

Charles Patterson: determined but impoverished musician in 18th century Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, by Roz Southey

Jock Patterson: constable in England, by Peter Walker

Martha Patterson: pro bono attorney in Brooklyn, New York, by Gretchen Sprague

Mimi Patterson: reporter, and Gianna Maglione, a lesbian police lieutenant, in Washington, DC, by Penny Mickelbury

Richard Patton: retired Detective Inspector in England, by Roger Omerod

Andi Pauling: veterinarian in Palm Springs, California, by Lillian M. Roberts

Kathleen Paulson, a librarian from Boston, and two stray cats with special powers, Owen and Hercules, in fictional Mayville Heights, Minnesota, in the Magical Cats mysteries by Sofie Kelly

Nick Paulson, Director of the Office of Security Science, coping with a time wave disaster that brings dinosaurs into the present, by James F. David

Frank Pavlicek: ex-NYPD cop, now a private investigator and falconer, in Charlottesville, Virginia, by Andy Straka 

Robert Payne: psychological profile investigator in New Hope, Iowa, by Ed Gorman

Eli Paxton: former Chicago cop now barely making it as a private investigator in Cincinnati, Ohio, by Mike Resnick

Iago “Jimmy” Paz: Cuban-American cop, in Miami, Florida, and elsewhere, by Michael Gruber

Amelia Peabody: Victorian feminist Egyptologist from Kent, England, by Elizabeth Peters

Charlie Peace: young black Scotland Yard detective first in London and then in Leeds, England, by Robert Barnard

Detective Inspector Peach and Detective Sergeant Lucy Blake, in Lancashire, England, by J.M. Gregson

Louise Pearlie: a young widow working as a clerk for the OSS, in 1942 Washington, DC, by Sarah R. Shaber

Dr. Kate Pearson: criminal psychologist working with the police, in Dublin, Ireland, by Louise Phillips

Ephraim Peck: judge in Sac Prairie, Wisconsin, by August Derleth

Henry Peckover: police inspector and the Scotland Yard Cockney poet, in London, England, by Michael Kenyon

Carl Pedersen: police detective in fictional Bay Cove, California, by Jeanne Hart

Gun Pedersen: ex-major-league ballplayer and recluse, mostly in the north woods of Minnesota, by L.L. Enger

Inspector Pekkala: of Finnish extraction, a former investigator of Tsar Nicholas II, imprisoned by the Bolsheviks, now an investigator for Stalin starting in 1929, in the Soviet Union, by Sam Eastland (Paul Watkins)

Evariste Clovis Désiré Pel: Chief Inspector of the Brigade Criminelle of the Police Judiciaire, in Burgundy, France, by Mark Hebden and continued by his daughter, Juliet, after his death

Sister Pelagia: nun in a province beyond the Volga, in 19th century Russia, by Boris Akunin

John Pellam: location scout for a movie studio, by William Jefferies (Jeffery Deaver)

Dinah Pelerin: amateur sleuth and wannabe anthropologist, here and there around the world, by Jeanne Matthews

Giorgio Pellegrini: leftist Italian radical, guerilla fighter, and criminal, later a regular businessman who gets tangled up with the mob, by Massimo Carlotto

Karen Pelletier: English professor in Enfield, Massachusetts, by Joanne Dobson

Dewey Pellicano, who inherits her mother’s quilt shop Quilter Paradiso, in San Jose, California, in the Quilting mysteries by Terri Thayer

Mark Pemberton: Detective Superintendent in North Yorkshire, England, by Nicholas Rhea (Peter Walker)

E.L. Pender: retirement-aged FBI Special Agent in Oregon, California, and the Virgin Islands, by Jonathan Nasaw

Agent Pendergast: FBI special agent, by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston

Pliny Pennington: deputy in 1960s Kickapoo Falls, Wisconsin, by Steve Thayer

Catherine Penny: 60-something divorced librarian, who leaves New York City to join her daughter in Far Wychwood, England, by Patricia Harwin

Rep Pennyworth: trademark and copyright lawyer, and Melissa Pennyworth, a graduate student in Literature, in Indianapolis, Indiana, by Michael Bowen

Stella Pentangeli, detective to the stars and producer of a web-zine, the Pentangeli Papers, and Investigator Ng of the homicide squad, somewhere in Australia, by Steve J. Spears

Pepe, a talking Chihuahua, and Geri Sullivan, a novice private investigator, in the Barking Detective mysteries by Waverly Curtis (Curt Colbert & Waverly Fitzgerald)

Amanda Pepper: high school teacher in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by Gillian Roberts

Ian Pepper: police superintendent in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, by Frank A. Smith

Jimmy Perez: police detective inspector in the Shetland Islands, north of Scotland, in the Shetland Island Quartet by Ann Cleeves

Lou Perlman: Jewish police detective in Glasgow, Scotland, by Campbell Armstrong (Campbell Black)

Andrea Perkins: art historian and restorer in Boston, Massachusetts, by Carolyn Coker

Ben Perkins: ex-union strike-buster turned private investigator, in Detroit, Michigan, by Rob Kantner

Douglas Perkins and Gerry Tate, in public relations in London, England, by Marian Babson

Achille Peroni: (“the Rudolph Valentino of Italian police”), a Neopolitan police commissario who once spent some months at Scotland Yard, on assignment in northern Italy, by Timothy Holme

Polly Pepper: an aging, legendary TV actress from the golden age, in Hollywood, California, by R.T. Jordan

Elizabeth “Pepper” Pepperhawk: army nurse captain returning from Vietnam, and Avivah Rosen, a military police captain, in the early 1970s at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, by Sharon Wildwind

Benjamin Perkins: working in his family’s specialty soap store Where There’s Soap, in the Soapmaking Mysteries, by Tim Myers

Eddie Perlmutter: tough Jewish former Boston cop in his late 50s, now retired to Boca Raton, Florida, by Steven M. Forman

Gianni Peroni and Nic Costa, police detectives in Rome, Italy, by David Hewson

Jane Perry: police detective, later a private investigator dealing with hauntings and demons, in Denver and elsewhere in Colorado, by Laurel Dewey

Jane Perry: French-speaking, university-educated detective sergeant in Canterbury, Kent, England, by Frances Ferguson

Lincoln Perry and Joe Pritchard, private investigators in Cleveland, Ohio, by Michael Koryta

Karen Perry-Mondori: criminal defense attorney in Tampa, Florida, by Catherine Arnold

Regan Pescoli and Selena Alvarez, police detectives in Pinewood County, Montana, by Lisa Jackson

Anna Peters: reformed blackmailer and oil company researcher turned security expert, in Connecticut, by Janice Law

Toby Peters: 1940s Hollywood P.I. in Los Angeles, California, by Stuart Kaminsky

Alexis Peterson: soap opera actress for 20 years, in the Soap Opera mysteries by Eileen Davidson

Wesley Peterson: detective sergeant, and Detective Inspector Gerry Heffernan, in South Devon, England, by Kate Ellis

Patrick Petrella: Spanish-English police inspector in London, England, by Michael Gilbert  

Vlado Petric: police investigator in war-torn Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, by Dan Fesperman

Janet Petrocelli, leaving a Manhattan psychotherapy practice to open a collectibles shop in the Hudson Valley town of Sawyerville, New York, in the Janet’s Planet mysteries by Sebastian Stuart

Mikael Petros: political thrillers set in a fictitious European country, by James Anderson

Henrik “HP” Petterson: a slacker who finds a strange cell phone on a commuter train, in Stockholm, Sweden, in the Game trilogy by Anders de la Motte

Francis Pettigrew: down-and-out barrister in England, by Cyril Hare

Darla Pettistone: owner of a bookstore in Brooklyn, New York, and her cat Hamlet, in the Black Cat Bookshop mysteries by Ali Brandon (Diane A.S. Stuckart)

Bessy Petty and Beulah Pond, spinsters in New England, and Mark East, a private investigator from New York City, by Hilda Lawrence

Jack Pharaoh: recently discharged from RAF Mountain Rescue after an injury, in the Lake District of England, by Gwen Moffat

Jose Phelps and Frank Kearney , veteran cops in Washington, DC, by Robert Andrews

Philis: Brazilian smuggler turned British intelligence agent in Brazil, by Ritchie Perry

Alex Phillips: a technical writer and his sister, Maddy Phillips, a blind forensic psychiatrist, on an island in Lake Michigan, by R.D. Zimmerman

Primavera Phillips: Oz Blackstone’s ex-wife, in Spain, by Quintin Jardine

Ansel Phoenix: half-Blackfoot and half-Anglo, who draws dinosaurs for magazines, books, and museum displays, in Big Toe, Montana, by Christine Gentry

Joe Pickett: game warden in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, by C.J. Box

Mel Pickett: 60-something retired Toronto cop in Larch River, Canada, by Eric Wright

James Pibble: Scotland Yard Superintendent, later a private investigator, in London, England, by Peter Dickinson

Lucinda Pierce: homicide detective lieutenant back on the job after losing an eye in a domestic violence case, in Virginia, by Diane Fanning

Joanna Piercy: detective inspector in Staffordshire, England, by Priscilla Masters 

Anna Pigeon: park ranger at various national parks in the USA, by Nevada Barr

Josie Pigeon: owner of an all-woman construction firm in the Northeast USA, by Valerie Wolzien

Monsieur Pinaud: inspector in the Sûreté, a conscientious family man, and the greatest detective in France, by Pierre Audemars

Joe Pike and Elvis Cole, a pair of Hollywood private eyes, in Los Angeles, California, by Robert Crais

Dearborn V. Pinch: 70-something ladies’ man helping where the police are not wanted, in New York City, by Edith Piñero Green

Leonard Pine: gay and black, and Hap Collins, straight and white,in East Texas, by Joe R. Lansdale

Paul Pine: former DA’s investigator, now a private investigator, in Chicago, Illinois, by Howard Browne

Stella Pinero: an actress, and her husband John Coffin, a police inspector rising through the ranks to Commissioner, in south London, England, by Gwendoline Butler

Miss Melinda Pink: middle-aged magistrate and mountaineer who solves mysteries at various mountainous locations, by Gwen Moffat

Molly Pink: 40-something widow coordinating events in a bookstore, including the Tarzana Hookers, a crochet group in California, in the Crochet mysteries by Betty Hechtman

Norman Pink: ex-Detective Sergeant, by Mark McShane

Evan Pinkerton: a Welshman in England helping his friend Inspector Bull of Scotland Yard, by David Frome (Leslie Ford)

James Aloysius “Peter” Piper: ace crime reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, by Nancy Barr Mavity

John Piper: an insurance assessor, and Quinn, a crime reporter, by Harry Carmichael

Rose Piper: detective chief inspector with the Avon and Somerset Constabulary, in England, by Hilary Bonner

Jim Piron: private investigator at the Detective Agency run by the Old Man, in New York City, by Edmund McGirr (Kenneth Giles)

Dirk Pitt: marine engineer in the United States, by Clive Cussler

Joe Pitt: rogue private investigator and vampire, in Manhattan, New York City, by Charlie Huston

Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, police inspector and wife in Victorian London, England, by Anne Perry

Jimi Plain: recently-divorced mother of two teen-aged daughters in Denver, Colorado:, by Victoria Pade

Joe Plantagenet: detective inspector in Eborby, North Yorkshire, England, by Kate Ellis

Charlie Plato: country-western tavern owner, in San Francisco, California, by Margaret Chittenden

Pliny the Younger: wealthy young aristocrat in 1st century Rome, by Albert Bell

Sylvia Plotkin: author and teacher, and Max Van Larsen, a police detective, in New York City, by George Baxt

Montague Pluke: Detective Inspector in North Yorkshire, England, by Nicholas Rhea (Peter Walker)

Marvia Plum: black homicide detective,and Hobart Lindsey, an insurance claims adjuster for valuable collectibles, , in Berkeley, California, by Richard A. Lupoff

Stephanie Plum: bounty hunter in Trenton, New Jersey, by Janet Evanovich

Alex Plumtree: publisher in London, England, in the Booklover mysteries by Julie Kaewert

Edgar Allan Poe: in the 1830s-1840s, in Baltimore, Maryland, New York City, and Massachusetts, by Harold Schechter

Edgar Allan Poe: author in 1800s New York City, by Randall Silvis

Henry Poggioli: psychology professor and criminologist at Ohio State University, traveling to the Caribbean and elsewhere, by T.S. Stribling

Henri Poincaré: Interpol agent, by Leonard Rosen

Hercule Poirot: Belgian private detective in London, England, by Agatha Christie

Charly Poisson: chef and co-owner of La Fermette, the best (and only) French restaurant in Van Buren County, upstate New York, in the Culinary mysteries by Cecile Lamalle

Charles Pol: Marxist bandit and lingerie shop owner, in Paris, France, by Alan Williams

Dr. Nick Polchak: the Bug Man, a roving forensic entomologist, by Tim Downs

Anastasia Pollack: recently widowed mother of two teenaged sons, and crafts editor for a popular women’s magazine, in northern New Jersey, by Lois Winston

Tom Pollard and Gregory Toye, Scotland Yard detectives, in London, England, by Elizabeth Lemarchand

Mrs. Pollifax: grandmother and CIA agent from New Jersey, by Dorothy Gilman

Nick Polo: private investigator in San Francisco, California, by Jerry Kennealy

Rosco Polycrates: private eye, in Newcastle, Massachusetts, and Annabella Graham, crossword puzzle editor for the Newcastle Evening Crier, by Nero Blanc

Beulah Pond and Bessy Petty, spinsters in New England, and Mark East, a private investigator from New York City, by Hilda Lawrence

Solar Pons: acknowledged imitation of Sherlock Holmes, by August Derleth

Solar Pons: series continued by Basil Copper

Dave Poole: a scruffy detective sergeant, and Harry Brock, a world-weary detective chief inspector, in London, England, by Graham Ison

Maxi Poole: reporter for a large television station in Los Angeles, California, by Kelly Lange

Jessica Popper: veterinarian in Long Island, New York, in the Reigning Cats & Dogs mysteries by Cynthia Baxter

Daniel Port: gangster who leaves a midwest syndicate and travels the country helping others go straight, by Peter Rabe

Ellis Portal: former lawyer and judge convicted of a crime in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, by Rosemary Aubert

Appleton “Apple” Porter: 6-foot 7-inch spy, by Mark Lovell (Mark McShane)

Jinx Porter: constable in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas, by Laurie Moore

Rachel Porter: US Fish and Wildlife agent in New Orleans, Louisiana, by Jessica Speart

Joe Portugal: actor and plant lover in Los Angeles, California, by Nathan Walpow

Jordan Poteet: small-town librarian in Mirabeau, Texas, by Jeff Abbott

Beatrix Potter: author and illustrator in the Lake District in 1900s England, by Susan Wittig Albert

Brock Potter: Wall Street securities analyst, by Arthur Maling

Eugenia Potter: widowed chef in Maine and Arizona, by Virginia Rich

Eugenia Potter: series continued by Nancy Pickard

Hiram Potter: wealthy young man in New York City and New England, by Rae Foley

Thomas Potts: reluctant constable of Tardebrigge parish, in 1820s Worcestershire, England, by Sara Fraser

Billy Povich: obituary writer for a newspaper in Providence, Rhode Island, by Mark Arsenault

Stepan Povin: Russian KGB general in the Cold War, by John Trenhaile

Hayley Powell: single mother writing the food column for the Island Times, in Bar Harbor, Maine, in the Food and Cocktails mysteries by Lee Hollis (joint pseudonym of Rick Copp & Holly Simason)

Leroy Powder: police lieutenant and friend of Albert Samson, in Indianapolis, Indiana, by Michael Z. Lewin

Alex (Alexa) Powell: African-American newspaper columnist in Los Angeles, California, by Karen Grigsby Bates

Baxley Powell: landscaper and pet-sitter with “dreamwalking” powers, assisting the county sheriff, in Georgia, in the Dreamwalker mysteries by Maggie Toussaint

Erskine Powell: Detective-Chief Superintendent of New Scotland Yard, in London, England, by Graham Thomas

Griffin Powell, and the Powell (detective) Agency, romantic suspense by Beverly Barton

Narcissa Power: a young widow, and Judah Daniel, a freedwoman who is also the local herbalist, at the time of the Civil War in Virginia, by Ann McMillan

William Power: would-be private detective leading a troupe of incompetent Shakespearean actors during World War II, in Australia, by Robert Gott

Lord Francis Powerscourt: ex-Indian army intelligence officer and Irish peer, working as an investigator in the late Victorian period, in England and elsewhere, by David Dickinson

Viv Powers: small town reporter in the Ozarks of northeastern Oklahoma, by Letha Albright

Moe (Moses) Prager: ex-cop private investigator in 1980s New York City, by Reed Farrel Coleman

Eleanor “Nell” Pratt: fundraiser for The Society for the Preservation of Pennsylvania Antiques, in the Museum mysteries by Sheila Connolly

Tony Pratt: middle-aged mystery writer and former advertising executive, and his wife Pat, a financial consultant, based in Oregon, by Bernie Lee

Preacher: poker player and mystic, in the American Southwest (Nevada, New Mexico, California), by Ted Thackrey, Jr.

Hermann Preiss: police inspector dealing with the likes of Robert & Clara Schumann and Richard Wagner in mid-19th century Düsseldorf and Munich, Germany, by Morley Torgov

Dr. Amy Prescott: forensic scientist in Seattle, Washington, by Louise Hendricksen

Dainty Prescott: former debutante and intern at WBFD-TV in Fort Worth, Texas, in the Debutante Detective romantic suspense series by Laurie Moore

Josie Prescott: antiques dealer in a small town in coastal New Hampshire, in the Antiques mysteries by Jane K. Cleland

Piper Prescott: transplanted Yankee running a spice shop, in fictional Brandywine Creek, Georgia, in the Spice Shop mysteries by Gail Oust

Roxanne Prescott: in Williamsburg, Virginia, and then San Diego, California, by Taffy Cannon

Elvis Presley: back from his tour of duty in Germany, and singing and sleuthing in Tennessee, by Daniel M. Klein

Elvis Presley: reincarnated as a basset hound, Callie Valentine Jones, a hairdresser at her Uncle Charlie’s mortuary, and Lovie, a caterer, near Tupelo, Mississippi, in the Southern Cousins mysteries by Peggy Webb

Johnny Preston: private investigator, by Peter Chester (Peter Chambers)

Mark Preston: private investigator in Monkton City, California, by Peter Chambers

Ginevra Prettifield: art museum assistant director, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, by Cecil Dawkins

Lady Margaret Priam: British society lady living in New York City, by Joyce Christmas

Sarah Pribek: missing persons detective in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by Jodi Compton

Lanie Price: former crime reporter, now the society columnist at the Harlem Chronicle, in 1920s Harlem, New York City, by Persia Walker

Natalie Price: superintendent of a halfway house for prison inmates in Boston, Massachusetts, by Elise Title

Charlie Priest: art school graduate turned police detective in Yorkshire, England, by Stuart Pawson

Dr. Lancelot Priestley: former professor of mathematics, in England, by John Rhode

Col John Primrose: career soldier, and Grace Latham, an attractive widow, in Washington, DC, by Leslie Ford

Laura Principal: academic turned private investigator in Cambridge, England, by Michelle Spring

G.D.H. Pringle: retired tax inspector in England, by Nancy Livingston

Matthew Prior: Canadian playwright, by Anthony Quogan

Joe Pritchard and Lincoln Perry, private investigators in Cleveland, Ohio, by Michael Koryta

Gavin Pruitt: the Sheriff of Willapa County and a fan of the Grateful Dead since the ’60s, in southwest Washington, by Gary McKinney

Dr. Paul Prye: psychiatrist detective, by Margaret Millar

Richard Pryor: a pathologist, and Angela Bray, a biologist, running a private forensic practice in 1950s Britain, in the Forensic Mystery series by Bernard Knight

E.J. Pugh: housewife-mom romance writer in Black Cat Ridge, Texas, by Susan Rogers Cooper

Susan Pulaski: police profiler who struggles with alcoholism, in Las Vegas, Nevada, by William Bernhardt

Judith Pullen: a detective sergeant, often assisted by her former chief inspector, Ralph Arnott, in England, by Vivien Armstrong

John Puller, a combat veteran, now Special Agent in the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigation Division, by David Baldacci

Joe Puma: big, tough private investigator, in Los Angeles, California, by William Campbell Gault

Walter Purbright: police inspector in England, in the Flaxborough Chronicles, by Colin Watson

Dr. Thomas Purdue: neurologist and antique music box collector-restorer, in New York City, by Larry Karp

Chastity “Chass” Pureheart: teenager on the run with her mother Allison for as long as she can remember, in the Hunted series by Walter Sorrells

Vish Puri, the portly Punjabi founder of Most Private Investigators Ltd., a detective agency in Delhi, India, by Tarquin Hall

Simon Puttock: medieval West County bailiff, and Sir Baldwin Furnshill, ex-Templar Knight, in Devon, England, by Michael Jecks

Pyke: beginning as a Bow Street Runner in 1829-1940s London, England, by Andrew Pepper

Henry Pym: zoologist cum amateur detective at Huntley-May Grammar School in England, by W.J. Burley

Whit Pynchon and Anna Tyree, by Dave Pedneau