Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Ben Cooper

    Male

    Cooper’s father was a policeman and Benjamin, or Ben, followed in his footsteps. He works at the Derbyshire police. Cooper grew up in Derbyshire and many of his investigations take place in the Peak District. He usually works alongside his superior officer, Diane Fry. In Stephen Booth’s novels they are in love; a fact they both refuse to admit it even to themselves.

    Further reading

  • Anna Pigeon

    Female

    Anna Pigeon is a US national park ranger, which is also the profession of her creator, the author Nevada Barr. Pigeon has a complex background that includes periods of substance abuse, and she has a complicated love life. She used to live in New York, but because of her profession she moves around a great deal. She loves animals and she is an active environmentalist.

    Further reading

  • Gerlof Davidson

    Male

    He is a former sea captain, now more than 80 years old, and in need of a walking stick as well as a hearing aid in his daily life. But there is nothing wrong with his memory and deductive reasoning. Old Gerlof – loosely based on author Johan Theorin’s grandfather Ellert Gerlofsson – is the main character, if not always the real problem-solver, in four lauded detective stories set in an Öland island environment with suggested supernatural elements.

    Further reading

  • Harriet Vane

    Female

    At the age of 29, crime writer Harriet Vane stands trial accused of having poisoned her lover. She is shown to be innocent by Lord Peter Wimsey, who falls in love with her and then in some of Dorothy L. Sayers’ novels courts the independent Vane. She participates in his investigations, but is not interested in a more intimate relationship with him. Eventually, however, she gives in, they get married and have three sons.

    Further reading