Sample of literary figures
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Harry Kvist
Male
An odd character and an amateur detective: an ex-boxer and prison inmate who works as a debt-collector, is bi-sexual and drinks too much. The setting is Stockholm in the 1930s in a trio of novels by Martin Holmén. Harry Kvist is single, with few friends (but a lot of acquaintances), not particularly bright, but well-built, and he all too often uses his fists when trouble arises.
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Cal Weaver
Male
However many problems you have, author Linwood Barclay lets his private detective and former police officer, Cal Weaver, have it even worse. His son, Scott, dies in what is presumed to be suicide, and when he tries to find out what has happened, he becomes a suspect for the murder of a girl. Later, his wife, Donna, is shot dead. He is middle-aged, worn out and depressed, but despite all his setbacks is an effective investigator.
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Barbara Havers
Female
Contrary to many other female police officers in crime fiction Barbara Havers is not a good-looking woman. Her creator, Elizabeth George, claims she made her deliberately unattractive and unkempt. Havers has cooperation issues and she is moody, stubborn and temperamental. Yet she has a functional working relationship with her complete opposite, the well bred, neatly turned out Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley.
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Gordianus
Female
He is called Gordianus the Finder, and is a private investigator in ancient Rome in the days of Julius Caesar. ‘Lawyers’ and orators like Cicero are some of the people who use his services in historical crime novels by Steven Saylor. Gordianus’ wife is the Egyptian Bethesda, previously his concubine whom he had bought as a slave. He lives in Rome until he inherits a farm in Etruria, but later moves back to the city.