Sample of literary figures
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Martin Beck
Male
Few Swedes can have escaped Inspector Martin Beck of the Stockholm police department. A principal character in Maj Sjöwall’s and Per Wahlöö’s ten police novels, he is the typical meticulous, unhappily married, ulcer-suffering inspector in contemporary crime fiction. He has won international fame through the books and a string of adaptations for film and television.
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Alex Recht
Male
In the Stockholm C.I.D., Detective Chief Inspector Alex Recht is something of a legend. With more than 30 years’ service and a large number of hard-to-solve cases behind him, he starts – even though he loves his job – to look forward to retirement and to being able to spend more time with his wife, Lena, with whom he has been married almost as long as he has been a police officer. In the books by Kristina Ohlsson he usually works together with Fredrika Bergman.
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Martin Holmberg
Male
An experienced and calm detective inspector in Lund, southern Sweden. After a first unhappy marriage with a frigid woman, he is now happily married to Kerstin, with whom he has four children. Martin Holmberg is a chain smoker and the central character in a police collective. He has a good relationship with his superior officers, first Bengt Thorén, later Seved Olofsson – as well as Stefan Elg and his other colleagues in the town of Himmelsholm.
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Varg Veum
Male
With his books about the private detective Varg Veum, author Gunnar Staalesen transferred American hardboiled noir to a Scandinavian setting – Bergen in Norway. Veum is one of the best-known fictional characters in Norway; he features in several television productions as well as a comic strip. He operates in widely different social settings and is prone to commenting on current affairs.