In 1955, when Patricia Highsmith introduced us to the character of Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley , the most well known series characters of the time were probably Sherlock Holmes and Miss Marple. Of course, there is much to like about Holmes. He&8217;s intelligent, witty, resourceful, clever, and he would certainly be the type of guy with whom you&8217;d want to have dinner. Miss Marple is equally as engaging a character as Holmes and a wide range of readers found her unobjectionable. Then Highsmith came along with Ripley who is the complete opposite of Holmes or Marple, or any series character before or since. In a traditional sense, there is nothing to like about Tom Ripley. You wouldn&8217;t want to eat with him or be friends with him; you wouldn&8217;t even want to know him. He has none of the admirable qualities that most people expect in a protagonist, much less in a series character. Instead of solving crimes, he commits them; instead of helping others, he is self-serving; instead of trying create order in the world, he creates disorder.