Yusaku Kudo

Yusaku Kudo was already noted for his sharp intellect and deductive abilities at a young age. He met Inspector Juzo Megure and became a good friend and valuable adviser to him in solving very difficult cases. While he often assisted the police, Yusaku's primary aspiration was that of a writer. Quickly attracting acclaim in his early twenties as a young novelist, he encountered the girl whom he resolved to marry: Yukiko Fujimine, an already famed and beautiful actress. While taking her out in an expensive restaurant to make his proposal, he was involved in a murder case which he solved brilliantly, and right afterward proposed to a startled Yukiko - which she accepted (twenty years later, his son Shinichi would become involved in a follow-up of the exact same case in the exact same restaurant, but unlike Yusaku he wouldn't be able to profess his feelings to his own love, Ran Mouri).

Yusaku's detective stories have won international acclaim, especially his novels involving the character called Night Baron, who has become a popular cultural item. He prefers to be known as a novelist, despite multiple demonstrations of a Mycroftian tendency to solve a case before Shinichi reaches the same conclusions (as in the OVA where Shinichi was trying to prove the alibi involving, supposedly, a black labrador dog). In the course of his career, he also encountered the first Kaitou Kid and struck a sort of competitive friendship with him; it is implied that Yusaku knew Kid's identity, but chose to chase Kid only during heists in order to foil the theft and no further.

After Shinichi becomes Conan, Yusaku learns from Agasa what occurred, and stages an elaborate false kidnapping to drive home to Conan what the stakes are if he is caught by the Black Organization. He offers to take Conan to a new life in America, but understands when Shinichi refuses due to a desire for independence and feelings for Ran - though Yusaku doesn't expect that resolve to last. He and Yukiko occasionally check up on Conan, but seem content to respect Shinichi's wishes to pursue the Black Organization without their help.

Yusaku Kudo possesses a very sharp intellect and observation skills, traits which his son inherited, though Yusaku's own abilities remain more well-honed. He demonstrates in multiple cases an ability to operate several steps ahead of both Shinichi and criminals, able to discern the truth with much few clues than his son. Despite this, he chooses to not get involved unless Shinichi/Conan appears unable solve the case alone in time to save the intended victim. His success as a novelist is to a large part based on his keen understanding of the criminal mind, as his most famous recurring character is a criminal. While he is an excellent author, he will occasionally blow off his editors in order to do other things, such as travel with Yukiko. He is very laid back and calm, never seen to lose his temper. Some might think him too laid back, as he often took his son to crime scenes before Shinichi was eleven, and showed no concern over six-year-old Shinichi dragging Ran and Agasa into a potentially dangerous area of town to investigate a code. The only time he has been shown to be caught off-guard or stressed by a situation is after the false kidnapping, when Shinichi, as pay-back for the prank, alerts Yusaku's editors to his location and they force him to make up for missing his deadlines. His less tolerable personality traits include a certain cockiness and a very bad touch at making humor.

Yusaku loves to read, and is the one who compiled the massive library of mystery fiction Shinichi read as a child. His love of Sherlock Holmes is briefly explored in the non-canon 6th movie, 'The Phantom of Baker Street', wherein Yusaku and Agasa helped develop one of the Cocoon VR modules as 19th Century London and included Holmes, Watson, and Irene Adler as non-playable characters modeled visually after Yusaku, Agasa, and Yukiko, respectively.

(Source: Detective Conan World)