Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Harriet Blue

    Female

    She is a police detective in Australia, and has specialised in solving sex crimes. Harriet Blue, called Harry by her friends, was born in 1981, is short in stature (155 cm), has blue eyes and black hair, and is well-known for her stubbornness. The only person close to her is her brother Sam. How she solves her cases is described in books that the American author James Patterson and Australian Candice Fox write together.

    Further reading

  • V.I. Warshawski

    Female

    Victoria Iphigenia Warshawski is a hardboiled private detective in Chicago. She often rescues people on the margins of society and she often she rails against crooked politicians, bigotry, and toned-down political scandals. Her father is Polish and her mother was Jewish – and she has more lovers than she has friends according to the author, Sara Paretsky.

    Further reading

  • William of Baskerville

    Male

    The British Franciscan monk from Baskerville is the main character in just one novel – on the other hand, it is the classic <i>The Name of the Rose</i> by Umberto Eco. It is not just the name Baskerville which makes one think of Sherlock Holmes: William’s own ‘Watson’, Adso, describes him as tall, thin, strong, supple, with a crooked nose and sharp eyes, and aged around fifty. And who was a brilliant logician as early as the 14th century…

    Further reading

  • Francis Hancock

    Male

    His father was an Englishman, his mother from India. Francis Hancock himself is a funeral director in London during the Second World War, when the Germans bombed the city. His experiences during the First World War, when he was a soldier, have given him mental problems. He is very withdrawn, which doesn’t, however, prevent him from being a clever – albeit reluctant – amateur detective in a suite of books by Barbara Nadel.

    Further reading