I see Hawke pretty much as a merc. Or rather someone that starts out simply doing what she needs to do to survive. Coin and status to survive and protect her family. That's why at the end of the Deep Roads--you have wealth, but it feels empty now.
But still essentially I see Hawke taking these jobs and quests to survive and ultimately getting caught up in the madness that is Kirkwall.
Private detective? Nah. Hawke's just someone looking to get rich but it ultimately ends up meaningless.
It was another dark night in the city. Kirkwall's streets always stank the same -- offal and pollution from the harbor, salt air, unwashed human bodies, and underneath it all, the smell of the first roses of spring. Their fragrance rose into the dank night air and died underneath the crushing weight of the grime that permeated the cobblestones. The air was warm and welcoming, which was the first thing I didn't trust. The lists of things I didn't trust was a long one, though, and started with the people at my back. Every one of them was nursing their own grudges and pushing their own agendas. The dream of getting rich and getting out seemed further and further away every day.
"Plenty of bad people out at night," the dwarf offered. "And someone will always pay for their removal."
I don't actually remember the line off the top of my head. Anyway. My point is "I can see it!"
Private detective? Nah. Hawke's just someone looking to get rich but it ultimately ends up meaningless.
Eh, that's most PIs.
:-)
I like to think that Hawke is like Batman.
I don't really recall Hawke doing too much investigating. S/he was mainly a sellsword who took odd jobs that usually involved killing people. The only reconnaisance mission I remember was "Secret Rendezvous," but that ended in killing everyone present after overhearing their conversation...
The killing part sort of fits if Kirkwall were like Sin City. You either fight to make great allies, or your fight to end up making more enemies. You'll still get hurt in the process.
Something occurred to me today, while I was reading up on medieval history, about this thread and DAI.
We associate "inquisitions" and "inquisitors" with the Medieval Church's attempts to find and purge heresy (frequently using torture). We think Spanish inquisition, and witch hunts (though technically inquisitors were not supposed to hunt witches as the church kept reminding them).
But in the actual middle ages, the term "inquisitor" was much more broad. In legal systems outside of England's (which was very unique), an inquisitor was a secular title too, and referred to a jurist who was half-judge and half-detective. They would investigate crimes, and then they would judge them.
So "inquisitor" is the closest term the Middle Ages had to "detective." Detectives as we know them wouldn't exist until early-modern France and the Holy Roman Empire in the 1600s, and the Bow Street Runners in England in the 1700s.
So maybe we'll get a detective in the next game too 
I don't really recall Hawke doing too much investigating. S/he was mainly a sellsword who took odd jobs that usually involved killing people. The only reconnaisance mission I remember was "Secret Rendezvous," but that ended in killing everyone present after overhearing their conversation...
Actually, Secret Rendezvous' primary objective was to kill everyone present at the meeting. The recon was the bonus lol.
In any case, Hawke can investigate a number of things throughout the game. While most of them do end in combat of some sort, they are investigations just the same. Wayward Son has Hawke tracking down leads to find Feynriel. This one can end peacefully if Varric is present, though I prefer to simply toss my dagger at the guy's neck, though another lead has to die (Danzig). Enemies Among Us has Hawke tracking down a missing Templar, going through channels that the Templars themselves (or at least Cullen) had no luck with. Hawke also investigates the missing qunari delegate for the viscount, tracking down a lead for stolen saar-qamek, etc..
Personally, I don't mind this dynamic. These daggers will wash the scum of Kirkwall from its gutters.
To me personally I just always thought off hawk as one of those Adventures from the 19th century my headcanon for the years varric left out were hawk all over thedas, hence the reason his manor is filled with stuff he accumulates after he travels. But I definetly see where people are coming from with the detective/spy angle.
It bothers me how the scattered codex are mostly unneccessary. What's happening in the immediate quests is more important than reading some notes. The Band of Three was a lost opportunity to shape the more hidden areas of Kirkwall. Finding related book and notes would have made investigating more worthwhile.
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