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Portrait of Kate Atkinson Photo: Martin Hunter / TT (2008)

Sample of authors

Atkinson, Kate

The British author Kate Atkinson was born in York, her father was a shopkeeper. She read English literature at Dundee University, graduating with an MA in 1974. She did postgraduate studies in American literature, but left university and worked as a legal secretary, home help and teacher. She began her writing career by publishing romantic short stories in women’s magazines. Kate Atkinson has b...

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Literary figures

Merci Rayborn

Gender: Female

Female police detective, based in Orange County in California and featured in a trilogy by T. Jefferson Parker. Merci Rayborn is young, attractive, stubborn and devoted to her work – but is dogged by misfortune. Already in the first book, she makes a mistake which leads to the death of an older colleague – and he is the father of her as-yet-unborn son. As a single mother, she solves crimes where h...

Further reading