Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Jason Bourne

    Male

    David Webb was a professional killer and spy when he suffers a total loss of memory after a mission. The CIA quickly changed his name to Jason Bourne, and have used him for several missions of a not particularly honourable nature. His wife was killed in a bombing, but his sons survived – which he didn’t know at first. Robert Ludlum wrote the first books about him, after which he was taken over by other writers.

    Further reading

  • Robbie (Robert) Lewis

    Male

    A jolly, patient and methodical detective sergeant in Oxford, who is the right hand and faithful companion of the somewhat gruffy Chief Inspector Morse in the crime novels by Colin Dexter. Lewis’ first name is rarely mentioned in the books, and in the TV series he is called Robbie. In the novels, he is happily married to Valerie and they have two children; in the later TV series, in which he is the main character, he is an older widower.

    Further reading

  • Maisie Dobbs

    Female

    Young, brave and intelligent private detective who started to work as a domestic when she was only 13 years old. Maisie Dobbs had a benevolent female employer, and got to study nursing and psychology. She fell in love with a doctor who was killed in the First World War, and in 1929 she started her own detective agency. Jacqueline Winspear has written more than a dozen books about her.

    Further reading

  • Vesper Johnson

    Male

    Detective Inspector Vesper Johnson is a unique, and very entertaining, character. He is vain with a “beaver” face and rakish moustache; he wears high heels and dyes his hair. Johnson solves crime in a string of novels by Stieg Trenter in which the protagonist is the photographer Harry Friberg. After Trenter’s death, his wife Ulla continued to write her own books about Friberg and Johnson.

    Further reading