Photo: Bettmann / Getty Images (1956)
Sample of authors
Kantor, MacKinlay
The author and journalist MacKinlay Kantor was born Benjamin McKinlay Kantor in Webster City, Iowa. His father, John Martin Kantor, a Swedish immigrant, did not stay long in any job and his marriage was a disaster. He abandoned his family when his son was born and from then on all contact with his two children ceased. Benjamin grew up with his mother, Effie McKinlay Kantor, at her parents' house...
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...