Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Jackson Brodie

    Male

    He is a middle-aged divorced detective, former soldier and police officer, born in Yorkshire but living in London despite the fact that he has never liked southern England. So he is happy to travel north, and some of Kate Atkinson’s novels about him are set in Scotland. Jackson Brodie’s strength as a detective does not lie in logical reasoning, but in his empathy with the afflicted: the victims of crime and their loved ones.

    Further reading

  • Maria Wern

    Female

    Maria Wern is a young sergeant who balances crime investigations with family life, including an insufferable husband. She later moves to the island of Gotland where she continues to solve crime. The author, Anna Jansson, has also written a number of young adult detective novels that feature Wern’s son, Emil.

    Further reading

  • John Puller

    Male

    His father is a legendary general, his mother disappeared when he was little, and his brother was put in prison for betraying his country. According to David Baldacci, John Puller is a mountain of man, and also the best criminal investigator in the American army. He has a good physique, is handsome and irrepressible when he seeks the truth. He has temporary relationships with various women, including the Pentagon general Julie Carson.

    Further reading

  • Diane Fry

    Female

    Detective Diane Fry, who features in a string of novels by Stephen Booth, is a competent investigator, but under the surface she is an insecure and vulnerable woman. She has a complicated relationship with Ben Cooper, one of her subordinates at the police station in the fictional town of Edendale in Derbyshire’s Peak District. They neither can or want to admit that they are in love.

    Further reading