Sample of literary figures
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Tom Thorne
Male
Tom Thorne is a middle-aged, somewhat worse for wear detective inspector in London. In the early books he is dull and conventional. However, his creator, Mark Billingham, has subsequently turned him into a multi-faceted character with bad as well as good qualities. He is persistent and conscientious, but he can also be short-tempered, grumpy and prone to making disastrous mistakes. Well into the series he becomes involved with Seargeant Helen Weeks.
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Conny Sjöberg
Male
As an experienced detective chief inspector with Hammarby Police in Stockholm, he leads a well-coordinated team of murder investigators who, for example, deal with cases where children have been hurt. Conny Sjöberg is a middle-aged, unusually ordinary man, happily married to Åsa; they have five children. He is described as handsome, empathetic, sensitive and honest. According to author Carin Gerhardsen, he is partly modelled on her husband Ken.
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Joseph Zimmertür
Male
Psychoanalyst who primarily works in Amsterdam, and who has what one can only call a parodically Jewish appearance. But he is described in positive terms by author Frank Heller (pseudonym for Gunnar Serner): Dr Zimmertür is said to be friendly, diplomatic, well-read and with a good general education – and he is a clever detective and a good judge of character. In his private life, he is a bachelor and has no children, and he has friends in the very best circles.
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Thomas Carnacki
Male
English private detective who has certain similarities with Sherlock Holmes. Thomas Carnacki (his first name is rarely mentioned) doesn’t, however, only chase ordinary criminals, but also ghosts and other supernatural beings. He tells some friends about his cases while he keenly smokes his pipe. William Hope Hodgson only wrote nine short stories about Carnacki, but that sufficed to make the character classic.