Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Vera Stanhope

    Female

    An eccentric, middle-aged, controversial detective chief inspector in Northumberland and in a series of police novels by Ann Cleeves. Stanhope is a grim lone wolf and workaholic, in part because as a child she was subjected to sexual abuse by an acquaintance of her single father. She still lives in her childhood home, drives her father’s old Landrover and solves murder cases in her own very special way.

    Further reading

  • Salvo Montalbano

    Male

    Commissario Montalbano, named by the author Andrea Camilleri for the Spanish crime writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, was born in Sicily, and he works in the fictional town of Vigàta there. He is short-tempered and stubborn, which causes a great deal of problems, but deep down he is a hardworking, energetic professional who is in a long-distance relationship with his fiancé, Livia Burlando.

    Further reading

  • 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.

    Further reading

  • Jason Bourne

    Male

    David Webb was a professional killer and spy when he suffers a total loss of memory after a mission. The CIA quickly changed his name to Jason Bourne, and have used him for several missions of a not particularly honourable nature. His wife was killed in a bombing, but his sons survived – which he didn’t know at first. Robert Ludlum wrote the first books about him, after which he was taken over by other writers.

    Further reading