Photo: Colin McPherson/Corbis via Getty Images (2004)
Sample of authors
Rimington, Stella
Dame Stella Rimington is a British author of spy novels. She is a former intelligence officer, she was the first female Director General of the British intelligence service MI5 and also the first director general who made her name publicly known. Stella Rimington was born Stella Whitehouse in South London. She moved with her family to Essex in 1939 to get away from the danger of living in...
Literary figures
Piet van der Valk
Gender: Male
An independent, eccentric and short-tempered detective superintendent with the police in Amsterdam, the main character in a suite of police novels by Englishman Nicolas Freeling. Piet van der Valk is arrogant, but also critical of society and empathetic. He is married to Arlette with whom he has two sons and an adopted daughter. He is killed during an investigation, and his wife takes over the...