Jason Wade: rookie crime reporter, in Seattle, Washington, by Rick Mofina

Carly Wagner: Texas congresswoman, and Mr. Jones, a bodyguard and private investigator, in Washington, DC, by Jo-Ann Power

Gabe Wager: homicide detective in Denver, Colorado, by Rex Burns

Will (“Staffe”) Wagstaffe: detective inspector in London, England, by Adam Creed

Brooklyn Wainwright: a rare book expert in San Francisco, California, in the Bibliophile mysteries by Kate Carlisle

Chief Inspector Wake of Scotland Yard, in London, England, by Charles Kingston

Dave Wakeland: ex-cop turned private investigator in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, by Sam Wiebe

Dolly Wakowski, a deputy, and Emily Kincaid, a recently divorced reporter and failed mystery writer, in rural Leetsville, in northern Michigan, by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli

Franz Waldbaer: Bavarian Kommissar of Police, assisted by CIA operational specialists, in Germany and elsewhere, by John Le Beau

Sadie Walela: daughter of a Cherokee father and white mother, and a banker in the Cherokee Nation of northeastern Oklahoma, by Sara Sue Hoklotubbe

Amos Walker: private investigator and Vietnam vet in Detroit, Michigan, by Loren D. Estleman

Calico Jack Walker: ex-patrol cop, and Tina Tamiko, his former rookie partner, in Los Angeles, California, by Paul Bishop

Dub Walker: former crime scene investigator and consultant to the FBI’s Behavioral Assessment Unit, in Huntsville, Alabama, by D.P. Lyle

Harrison J. Walker (Jaywalker), a disgraced criminal defense attorney, in Manhattan, New York City, by Joseph Teller

Helen Walker: detective sergeant, and Will Grayson, detective inspector, in Cambridge, England, by John Harvey

Valena Walker: geology student, by Sarah Andrews

Kurt Wallander: inspector in Ystad, Sweden, by Henning Mankell

Rachel Walling: FBI agent, and Jack McEvoy, a reporter, in Denver, Colorado, and Los Angeles, California, by Michael Connelly

Talba Wallis: (AKA Baroness de Pontalba), a black poet and computer expert, in New Orleans, Louisiana, by Julie Smith

Jackie Walsh: professor of film studies, and her ex-police dog, Jake, in Palmer, Ohio, by Melissa Cleary

Maggie Walsh: Manhattan psychologist who takes a job as a radio talk show host on WYME in the fictional south Florida town of Cypress Grove, in the Talk Radio mysteries by Mary Kennedy

Stoney Walsh: in Detroit, Michigan, by William J. Coughlin

Alexandra Walters: gospel singer in the fictional town of Donlyn in the San Joaquin Valley of California, by Lorie Ham

Penny Wanawake: 6-foot photographer in England, by Susan Moody

Mei Wang: modern, independent woman, and private investigator, in Beijing, China, by Diane Wei Liang

Emerson Ward: freelance writer in Chicago, Illinois, by Michael W. Sherer

Eric Ward: policeman turned solicitor, in England, by Roy Lewis

Peter Ward: CIA agent undercover as a lawyer, based in Washington, DC, by David St. John (E. Howard Hunt)

Liz Wareham: 40-ish public relations consultant in New York City, by Carol Brennan

Ethan Warner: former war correspondent in Iraq and Afghanistan from Chicago, battling apocalyptic and weird forces for the US Defense Intelligence Agency, by Dean Crawford

William Warner: wine merchant and amateur sleuth, based in London, England, by Martin Sylvester

D.D. Warren: police detective, and Bobby Dodge, a state police sniper, in Boston, Massachusetts, by Lisa Gardner

Leigh Ann Warren: police officer in North Carolina, by Chassie West

Penelope Warren: ex-Marine mystery bookstore owner, and Mycroft (Big Mike), a 25-pound Abyssinian, in Empty Creek, Arizona, by Garrison Allen

Claude Warrington-Reeve, barrister, Dr. David Wintringham, and Inspector Steven Mitchell of Scotland Yard, in England, by Josephine Bell

V.I. Warshawski: attorney turned private eye, in Chicago, Illinois, by Sara Paretsky

Claire Washburn: a medical examiner, Lindsay Boxer, a homicide inspector, Cindy Thomas, a reporter, Jill Bernhardt, an Assistant District Attorney — founding members of The Women’s Murder Club, in San Francisco, California, by James Patterson

Tom Wasp: chimney sweep in Victorian times in the East End of London, England, by Amy Myers

Sam Watchman: Navajo state trooper in Arizona, by Brian Garfield

Salome Waterhouse: feng shui practitioner in California, by Denise Osborne

Simon Waterhouse: detective constable, and Charlie Zailer, a detective sergeant, in rural England, by Sophie Hannah

Leo Waterman: wisecracking private eye in Seattle, Washington, by G.M. Ford

Stanley Waters: retired weatherman operating a Bed and Breakfast in Higgins, Virginia, by Bill Crider and Willard Scott

Merrily Watkins: Anglican priest and single mom, near the Welsh border, in northeast Herefordshire, England, by Phil Rickman

Robert Watts: disgraced chief constable in mid-1930s Brighton, England, in the Brighton trilogy by Peter Guttridge

Davis Way: on the security team at the Bellissimo Resort and Casino, in Biloxi, Mississippi, by Gretchen Archer

Lucy Wayles: librarian in New York City, by Lydia Adamson

Morgan Wayne by Matthew Blood (Davis Dresser and Ryerson Johnson)

Steve Wayne: a private eye in England and elsewhere, by Terry Harknett

Carl Wayward: professor of psychology, based in New York, by Lawrence Treat

Biggie Weatherford: a grandmother, and J.R. Weatherford, her grandson, in Job’s Crossing, Texas, by Nancy Bell

Claire Weatherly: owner of an Amish speciality shop in the fictional Amish town of Heavenly, Pennsylvania, by Laura Bradford

Cape Weathers: reporter turned private investigator, in San Francisco, California, by Tim Maleeny

Benjamin Weaver: Jewish ex-pugilist hired by gentry to pursue debtors and thieves, in 18th Century London, England, by David Liss

Milo Weaver: field agent with the CIA’s clandestine Department of Tourism, by Olen Steinhauer

David Webb: detective chief inspector in Wiltshire, England, by Anthea Fraser

Decimus Webb: Scotland Yard inspector in 1870s London, England, by Lee Jackson

Marshall Webb: freelance reporter for Harper’s Weekly who secretly pens dime novels, and Rebecca Davies, a child of privilege running a home for desperate women, by Troy Soos

John Webber: a retired, arthritic police inspector, and his friend Mrs. Lizzie Thomas, a Welsh widow, in Flaxfield, Suffolk, England, by Anthony Oliver

Carl Webster: US Marshall in the 1930s and 1940s, by Elmore Leonard

Bailey Weggins: a true crime author, in Warren, Massachusetts, by Kate White

Emily Dagett Weiss: struggling young movie-maker in the early 20th century, in Fort Lee, New Jersey, by Irene Fleming (Kate Gallison)

Morris Weiss: “Yiddish detective” at Weiss and Weiss, in 1950s New York City, by Isidore Haiblum

Nathan Weiss (Hollywood Nate): a cop dreaming of movie stardom, and a cast of characters centered around LAPD’s Hollywood Division, in Los Angeles, California, by Joseph Wambaugh

Scott Weiss: ex-cop owner of Weiss Investigations, and Jim Bishop, an operative at Weiss Investigations with a penchant for violence and a mysterious military past, in San Francisco, California, by Andrew Klavan

Agatha Welch: spinsterish amateur sleuth, in the Virgin Islands and Connecticut, by Veronica Parker Johns

Dr. Lou Welcome: physician caught up in political intrigue, in Washington, DC, by Michael Palmer

Josie Welford: new owner of the White Hart Pub in Kings Duncombe, a West Country village, and Nick Thomas, a Food Standards Agency inspector, in England, by Judith Cutler

Richard Welles: young financial advisor at the investment bank Ambrose and Welles, in Baltimore, Maryland, by John C. Boland

Heather Wells: 28-year-old former teen pop star turned private investigator, in New York City, by Meg Cabot

John Wells: maverick CIA agent, by Alex Berenson

Matt Wells: British crime writer caught up in a web of intrigue, murder, satanism, and mind control, by Paul Johnston

Walker “Bear” Wells: former college football player now serving as a minister in Sugar Land, Texas, by Stephanie Jaye Evans

Squire Wendover and Sir Clinton Driffield, Chief Constable, in rural England, by J.J. Connington

Lyon Wentworth, a children’s book author, and Bea Wentworth, a state senator, in Connecticut, by Richard Forrest

Maria Wern: police detective in the town of Visby, on Gotland island, Sweden, by Anna Jansson

Karl Werthen: lawyer, and Dr. Hanns Gross, the real-life father of modern criminology, in turn-of-the-20th-century Vienna, Austria, by J. Sydney Jones

Sam Wescott: a ghost and ex-husband to Hollis Ball, a reporter, in Maryland, by Helen Chappell

Sheridan Wesley: private investigator in New York City, by Hillary Waugh

Delilah West: private investigator in Orange County, California, by Maxine O'Callaghan

Helen West: Crown Prosecutor in London, England, by Frances Fyfield

Honey West: private eye combination of Marilyn Monroe and Mike Hammer, mostly in southern California, by G.G. Fickling

Jack West, Jr.: adventurer from the Australian Outback, by Matthew Reilly

Molly West: 50-something rural activist in southern Ohio, by Patricia Tichenor Westfall

Theocritus Lucius Westborough: elderly scholar of the Roman Empire, in Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California, by Clyde B. Clason

Michael Westen: covert spy who goes private, in the Burn Notice TV novelization series by Tod Goldberg

Harriet Westerman, mistress of Caveley Park manor, and anatomist Gabriel Crowther, in the 1780s, in West Sussex, England, by Imogen Robertson

Summer “Sam” Westin: wildlife biologist and writer, by Pamela Beason

Aidy Westlake: rookie car-racing driver in England, by Simon Wood

Dr. Hugh Westlake: general practitioner, and his daughter Dawn, in rural Pennsylvania, by Jonathan Stagge (Patrick Quentin)

Anna Weston: veterinarian, and Tim LePage, a detective inspector, on the island of Guernsey, UK, by Eileen Dewhurst

Connor Westphal: newspaper publisher in Flat Skunk, California, by Penny Warner

Justin Westwood: former Providence, RI, cop, retreating to the local police department in East End Harbor, Long Island, New York, by Russell Andrews (David Handler and Peter Gethers)

Reginald Wexford: chief inspector in Sussex, England, by Ruth Rendell

Chas. Wheatley: restaurant critic in Washington, DC, by Phyllis Richman

Jane Wheel: laid off from her advertising job and working as an antique picker to make ends meet, in Chicago, Illinois, by Sharon Fiffer

Murray Whelan: political aide in Australia, by Shane Maloney

Al Wheeler: sheriff’s homicide investigator, in fictional Pine County, near Los Angeles, California, by Carter Brown

Judd Wheeler: chief of police in the fictional town of Prosperity, North Carolina, by Richard Helms

Paul Whelan: 40-something cop turned private investigator in Chicago, Illinois, by Michael Raleigh

Whistler: sentimental private eye in Hollywood, California, by Robert Campbell

Blanche White: middle-aged black domestic in North Carolina, by Barbara Neely

Bob White: expert birder and counselor at Savage High School, near the Twin Cities in Minnesota, in the Birder Murder mysteries by Jan Dunlap

Col. Peregrine White: wounded in the Korean War and retired to Mexico, called in by the FBI to fight communists, by Bart Spicer

Emma Whitecastle: a divorced mom, and the ghost of her pie-baking great-great-great-grandmother, Granny Apples, amateur sleuths, by Sue Ann Jaffarian

Jane Whitefield: Native American (Seneca) guide who helps people disappear, based in Deganawida, New York, by Thomas Perry

Skylar Whitfield: Skylar Whitfield, a small-town good ol’ boy, in Tennessee, by Gregory McDonald

James “Whit” Whitney: tax accountant and reluctant sleuth, based in San Francisco, California, by David Dodge

Mary Whitney: heiress to an industrial empire,and Michael Tanner, a successful public relations executive, in Seattle, Washington, by Carl Brookins

Amilou Whittier, Janey Bascom, and Korine McFail, landscapers and partners in Three Dirty Women Landscaping, Inc., in Pine Grove, by Julie Wray Herman

Edmund Whitty: correspondent for a Victorian tabloid in London, England, by John Gray

Aspen Wicklow: news anchor in Dallas, Texas in the Dallas/Fort Worth TV News romantic suspense series by Laurie Moore

Lola Wicks: former foreign correspondent working for a small newpaper in Magpie, Montana, after being downsized from her job in Kabul, by Gwen Florio

Jonathan Wide: divorced ex-policeman turned private detective, in Gothenburg, Sweden, by Åke Edwardson

Carl Wilcox: ex-convict and Depression-era sign-painter in South Dakota, by Harold Adams

Serena Wilcox: pizza-loving detective, by Natalie Buske Thomas

Jamaica Wild: resource-protection agent for the Bureau of Land Management, in northern New Mexico, by Sandi Ault

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

Carney Wilde: private investigator based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by Bart Spicer

Catherine "Cat" Wilde: antique furniture restorer in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, by Jean Ruryk

Grace Wilde: animal behaviorist who can communicate psychically with animals, in Florida, in the Call of the Wilde series by Laura Morrigan

Oscar Wilde: poet, wit, and playwright, friend of Arthur Conan Doyle, and Robert Sherard, great-grandson of Wordsworth, investigate murders in Victorian England, Scotland, and France, by Gyles Brandreth

Timothy Wilde: ex-bartender and officer in the newly organized police force, in 1845 New York City, by Lyndsay Faye

Joe Wilder: playwright and novelist in New York City, by T.J. Phillips (Tom Savage)

Jonathan Wilder: bird artist in Connecticut, by Ray Sipherd

Victoria and Jason Wilder: mother and son private investigator team, in River City, California, by Michael Siverling

Joe Wilderness: with a dubious past in the military and MI-6 after World War II, now working covertly for his former black market partner in 1963 Berlin, Germany, by John Lawton

Wiley, an unemployed poker player in Portland, Oregon, by Lono Waiwailoe

Hanne Wilhelmsen: lesbian police officer in Oslo, Norway, by Anne Holt

Tom Wilkes: sergeant in the Australian Special Air Service, by David Rollins

Wilkins: police inspector in England, by Francis Beeding

Inspector Wilkins, in 1930s England, by James Anderson

Lila Wilkins: 45-year-old unemployed journalist working as an intern at a literary agency, in the utopian town of Inspiration Valley, North Carolina, in the Novel Idea mysteries by Lucy Arlington (joint pseudonym of Ellery Adams & Sylvia May)

Kate Wilkinson: television producer based in London, England, by Lis Howell

Merry Wilkinson: owner of Mrs. Claus's Treasures, in Rudolph, New York, in the Year-Round Christmas mysteries by Vicki Delany

Elizabeth Will: watercolorist and gallery owner in Dovekey, New Hampshire, by Dorian Yeager

Briony Williams: rookie police officer, later a detective, in London, later Oxford, England, by Jane R. Goodall

Catherine Williams: wealthy widow and midwife in 17th century New England, by Stephen Lewis

Race Williams: the original hard boiled private investigator, in New York City, by Carroll John Daly

Remo Williams: ex-cop and Vietnam veteran, trained in the ancient (and fictional) Korean martial art “Sinanju” by venerable Master Chiun, and agent of CURE, an organization outside the law serving to protect the law, in the Destroyer Series by various authors

Basil Willing: psychiatrist and sleuth, in New York, and later Boston, Massachusetts, by Helen McCloy

Charlie Willis: ex-cop turned studio security agent, in Los Angeles, California, by Lee Goldberg

Ruth Willmarth: farmer in Vermont, by Nancy Means Wright

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

Juanita Wills: librarian in fictional Wyndham, Oklahoma, in the Scrappy Librarian series by Marion Moore Hill

Persis Willum: artist and art gallery assistant, in Long Island, New York, and France, by Clarissa Watson

Wilson: mob enforcer who double-crosses his mafia boss, in Hamilton, Ontario, later on Prince Edward Island, Canada, by Mike Knowles

Fran Wilson: detective sergeant, and Connor O’Neill, chief inspector, in Fowchester, England, by Christine Green

Francesca Wilson: civil servant turned housewife, and John McLeish, DCI, in London, England, by Janet Neel

Zack Wilson and Terry Tallach, young criminal defense lawyers, in Massachusetts, by Ed Gaffney

Robert Wilsop, a recovered Catholic and copywriter for feminine hygiene products, Michael Stark, the oversexed heir-apparent to a herpes ointment fortune, and Monette O’Reilley, a towering lesbian and star player of the Leaping Lesbians soccer team and graphic artist in New York, by David Stukas

Lord Peter Wimsey: pianist, book collector, and criminologist, in London, England, by Dorothy L. Sayers

Jane Winfield: British journalist and music writer, in London, England, by Audrey Peterson 

Caledonia Wingate and Angela Benbow, 70-something admirals’ widows, in southern California, by Corinne Holt Sawyer

Laura Winslow: the false identity of a part-Hopi cyber-investigator, on the Arizona border, by David Cole

Steve Winslow: court room attorney in New York City, by Parnell Hall

Alex Winston: owner of the Hatteras West Inn and Lighthouse in the Blue Ridge Mountain foothills in North Carolina, by Tim Myers

Isabelle “Betts” Winston and her grandmother (Gram) who runs a cooking school in the fictional town Broken Rope, in southern Missouri, in the Country Cooking School mysteries by Paige Shelton

Mattie Winston: nurse turned deputy coroner in the fictional small town of Sorenson, Wisconsin by Annelise Ryan

Sarah Winston: former Air Force wife, now divorced from the police chief in Ellington, Massachusetts, in the Garage Sale mysteries by Sherry Harris

Sophie Winston: event planner in Alexandria, Virginia, in the Domestic Diva mysteries, by Krista Davis

Spencer Churchill (Stoney) Winston: filmmaker at the bottom of the Hollywood food chain, screenwriter, and film workshop teacher, in Los Angeles, California, by Jim Stinson

Brianna Winston-Beaufort: a lawyer who inherits a haunted law firm, in Savannah, Georgia, in the Beaufort & Co. series by Mary Stanton (Claudia Bishop)

Charles Winter: chief of British Secret Service, by Clive Egleton

David Winter: rabbi in West Los Angeles, California, by Joseph Telushkin

Erik Winter: jazz-loving Chief Inspector of police, in Gothenburg, Sweden, by Åke Edwardson

Holly Winter: dog trainer and magazine columnist in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the Dog Lovers mysteries, by Susan Conant

Sergeant John Winters, and Molly Smith, a rookie constable, in the mountain town Trafalgar, British Columbia, Canada, by Vicki Delany

Rosie Winter: an actress during WWII, in Manhattan, New York City, by Kathryn Miller Haines

Stuart Winter: private eye in San Francisco, California, by Alan Russell

William Winter: police inspector, later superintendent, in south London, England, by Gwendoline Butler

Deuce Winters: stay-at-home dad and amateur sleuth, in fictional Rose Petal, Texas, by Jeffrey Allen

Davis and Kitty Winthorpe: in Louisville, Kentucky, by Mike Bradford

Anna Winthrop: Department of Sanitation garage supervisor in Manhattan, New York City, by Evan Marshall

Dave Wintino: brash new cop in New York City, by Ed Lacy

Dr. David Wintringham, Inspector Steven Mitchell of Scotland Yard, and barrister Claude Warrington-Reeve, in England, by Josephine Bell

Pennington “Penny” Wise: psychic private investigator, and his female sidekick Zizi, in New York City and New England, by Carolyn Wells

William Wisting: chief inspector of police and head of CID, in Larvik, Norway, by Jørn Lier Horst

Leonidas Witherall: retired academic and secret pulp fiction author, in Boston, Massachusetts, by Alice Tilton (Phoebe Atwood Taylor)

Hildegarde Withers: schoolma’am in New York, later retired to Los Angeles, California, by Stuart Palmer

Inspector Witherspoon: a policeman, and Mrs. Jeffries, his housekeeper, in London, England, in the Victorian mysteries, by Emily Brightwell

Hannah Wolfe: private investigator in London, England, by Sarah Dunant

Nero Wolfe: private investigator, orchid cultivator, and gourmet, and his assistant, Archie Goodwin, in New York City, by Rex Stout

Nero Wolfe: private eye and gourmet, in New York City, by Robert Goldsborough

Mary Wollstonecraft: the 18th century English feminist, working as a governess at Mitchelstown Castle, in County Cork, Ireland, by Nancy Means Wright

C.F. Wong: feng shui master, and Joyce McQuinnie, his British-Australian teenage intern, based in Singapore (later Shanghai, China), by Nury Vittachi

April Woo: police officer in New York City, by Leslie Glass

Charlie Woodend: detective chief inspector in a village in England, by Sally Spencer (Alan Rustage)

Bernard Woodruff: curmudgeonly author of children’s books, and his brother-in-law, Arthur “Snooky” Randolph, in Connecticut, by Gloria Dank

Sarah Woolson: attorney in 19th-century San Francisco, California, by Shirley Tallman

Carlotta Wren: rich girl now working in Neiman Marcus after her parents skip to avoid prosecution for white-collar crime, in Atlanta, Georgia, in the Body Movers series by Stephanie Bond

Susan Wren: police chief in Hampstead, Kansas, by Charlene Weir

Della Wright: owner of a weaving studio in Briar Hollow, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, in the Weaving mysteries by Carol Ann Martin

Sam Wright, Katherine Murphy, and Grace Stevens, variously featured in the Seattle police trilogy, in Seattle, Washington, by Lowen Clausen

Artie Wu and Quincy Durant, a couple of soldiers of fortune for their company, WuDu Ltd., by Ross Thomas

Lily Wu: sleuth, and her “Watson” Janice Cameron, a writer, first in New York City, then in Hawaii, by Juanita Sheridan

Wyatt: thief in Melbourne, Australia, by Garry Disher

Wyatt: British secret agent, in England, Wales, and Italy, by David Gethin

Jolie Wyatt: radio station reporter and aspiring writer, in Purple Sage, Texas, by Barbara Burnett Smith

Charles Wycliffe: the area CID superintendent in the West Country, England, by W.J. Burley

Glad Wycznewski: 40-something ex-cop from Chicago, and his new wife Ruby, on the NASCAR racing circuit, in the Stock Car Racing mysteries by Joyce and Jim Lavene

Tug Wyler: personal injury and medical malpractice attorney in New York City, by Andy Siegel

Eva Wylie: wrestler and security guard, in London, England, by Liza Cody

Michael Wyman: 50-something philosophy professor and MI-6 agent, based in London, England, by Bob Cook

Merry Wynter: an expert muffin baker who inherits a mansion in fictional Autumn Vale, New York, in the Merry Muffin mysteries by Victoria Hamilton (Donna Lea Simpson)