Sample of literary figures
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Hafez el-Assad
Male
He is simply called Assad by his colleagues in the crime novels by Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen. Despite lacking formal qualifications, he is employed in the police department’s so-called ‘cold-case’ group. He generously shares of his knowledge of, for example, various types of weapons, but is not keen to talk about himself. Assad has his roots in an Arab country, probably Syria, and has certain difficulties with the Danish language.
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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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Gunvald Larsson
Male
Born in the fancy district of Östermalm, Stockholm, in a military family that he despises, he is a Marxist, a snobby dresser, sarcastic and is quick to resort to violence. He is single, almost two metres tall, strong as a bull, has closely set eyes and has the habit of picking between his teeth with a paper knife. Apart from this, Gunvald Larsson is an important member in the police group around Martin Beck in most of the books by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö.
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Terry Quinn
Male
When he worked as a police officer, he accidentally killed a colleague. As a result, the green-eyed Irishman Terry Quinn left the police force and instead got a job in a shop in Silver Spring, Maryland, which sells second-hand paperbacks and vinyl records. However, he also does some extra work as an active assistant to another former policeman, Derek Strange, who is now a private detective, in books by George P. Pelecanos.