Richard Poole (character)

Detective Inspector Richard Poole is a character in the crime drama television series Death in Paradise, portrayed by Ben Miller.

A British inspector assigned to Saint Marie to investigate the previous inspector's murder, Poole was instructed to remain on the island as the new police detective. Despite his distaste for the island and inexperience with tropical weather - to the point where he continued to wear his old suits - he often showed a useful knack for making deductive leaps based on minimal information and random events, and favoured making arrests by addressing all the suspects at once before identifying the killer. In series 2 he grew slightly more relaxed. He recommended Fidel for the sergeant's exam. Poole briefly returned to London, but in spite of his distaste for Saint Marie, he chose to return. Richard was murdered in the first episode of Series 3, at a Cambridge university reunion, by Helen Reid, when he threatened to expose her identity theft, and was replaced by DI Humphrey Goodman.

Poole is an "English eccentric with a hatred for island life".^[1] According to Michael Hogan, Poole "harrumphs around Hugh Grant-ishly in his uptight Brit suit and carries a briefcase, endlessly dabbing at his forehead with a hankie." Hogan goes on to argue that Poole is a "bland blend of several dozen "quirky" screen sleuths: a bit of Morse here, a dash of Columbo there, a pinch of Precious Ramotswe and a lug of Jonathan Creek to taste."^[2]

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