Photo: Chris Harding/Getty Images (2005)
Sample of authors
Herbert, James
James Herbert from England was one of the best-selling and most praised authors of horror fiction in the late 20th century. Several of his novels have been described as classics, even though reviewers – and others, including Stephen King – have pointed out that they are not particularly remarkable from a literary point of view. Herbert was, however, uncommonly skilful when it came to creating hor...
Literary figures
Karen Pirie
Gender: Female
She is an overweight workaholic, but also exceptionally skilful when it comes to investigating old, unsolved cases in police novels by Val McDermid. Karen Pirie is the head of the Historic Cases Unit with its head office in Fife in Scotland. Her private life is minimal – but includes a sweetheart, her colleague Phil Parhatka, and she mourns deeply when he is killed on duty. But she soon throws h...