Fictional private investigator featured in 22 novels, including 28-Across, by 40-Across (3 wds.) Crossword Clue

We have the 12-letter answer for Fictional private investigator featured in 22 novels, including 28-Across, by 40-Across (3 wds.) crossword clue, last seen in the Daily Pop Crossword January 18, 2026 puzzle. Let us help you solve the crossword clue that has you stumped so you can finish the puzzle.

Fictional private investigator featured in 22 novels, including 28-Across, by 40-Across (3 wds.) Crossword Answer

→18.

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Helpful Hints

Hint 1: Clue Definitions

INVESTIGATOR (noun)
1. a police officer who investigates crimes
2. a scientist who devotes himself to doing research
FICTIONAL (adjective)
1. formed or conceived by the imagination

More Daily Pop Crossword (1/18/2026) Answers

Across

1. Potato chip brand with an owl's-eye logo

5. "Tarzan of the ___" (Edgar Rice Burroughs novel)

9. Tucked-in part of a dress shirt

12. Novelists Patchett and Brashares

13. Electric Chevy model

14. "How To Be Both" novelist Smith

15. Vows exchanged at the altar (2 wds.)

16. Castaway's bit of land

17. Like many lifelike museum displays

21. Emma Stone comedy film loosely based on "The Scarlet Letter" (2 wds.)

22. "I've Just ___ a Face" (1965 Beatles song)

23. Fannie Flagg's "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop ___"

27. Popeye's "Yes!"

28. Novel by 40-Across featuring 18-Across (2 wds.)

31. "___ a yellow ribbon ... "

32. Firepit stack

33. Group of textbook chapters

35. Charles Duhigg's 2012 bestseller "The Power of ___: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business"

40. Bestselling novelist of 28-Across who created 18-Across (2 wds.)

44. Take steps

45. "The Glass Castle" actress Larson

46. Clickable webpage word

47. "The Bell ___" (Sylvia Plath book)

48. "Chesapeake Shores" actress Diane

49. Ending with "chick"

50. "Mean Girls" actress Gasteyer

51. Zora Neale Hurston's "Their ___ Were Watching God"

52. Attaches a patch, say

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Down

1. Refrain from applying, as a service fee

2. Setting of Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children"

3. "The ___ of Kilimanjaro" (short story by Ernest Hemingway)

4. College applicant's composition

5. We try harder car rental chain

6. Like five-star hotels

7. Jazz great Fitzgerald who won 14 Grammy Awards

8. Instant Pot dishes

9. Marvel miniseries about a superhero who shoots a bow and arrow

10. 'Seinfeld' character played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus

11. "Love Is a ___ Tape" (memoir by rock critic Rob Sheffield)

19. Barack Obama's "Dreams From My Father: A Story of ___ and Inheritance"

20. Clothing part that might split

24. "The Girl With ___ the Gifts" (M.R. Carey novel made into a film starring Glenn Close)

25. Rapper ___ Rida

26. "Horton Hatches the ___" (Dr. Seuss book)

28. "Strangers in the Night" singer Frank

29. Estate beneficiary

30. Tennis legend Arthur who wrote "Days of Grace"

31. "Under the __ Sun": Frances Mayes memoir set in Italy

34. "The Splendid ___" (NPR food show)

36. "Cloud ___" (David Mitchell novel)

37. Where to find a sleeper hit, perhaps (Hyph.)

38. "You didn't fool me" (2 wds.)

39. Little kids

41. Seek divine intervention

42. Staff helper

43. Wine list heading

44. "Lessons in Chemistry" actress ___ Naomi King

All Answers