Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Gerlof Davidson

    Male

    He is a former sea captain, now more than 80 years old, and in need of a walking stick as well as a hearing aid in his daily life. But there is nothing wrong with his memory and deductive reasoning. Old Gerlof – loosely based on author Johan Theorin’s grandfather Ellert Gerlofsson – is the main character, if not always the real problem-solver, in four lauded detective stories set in an Öland island environment with suggested supernatural elements.

    Further reading

  • Kristina Vendel

    Female

    Female detective inspector with the police in Huddinge, Stockholm. Her father had fled from East Germany to Sweden; Kristina Vendel’s marriage to Johan is in trouble and eventually breaks up. She has light hair, grey-green eyes, and studied Philosophy before she started at Police College. She has a tough time at work, and is often abused in several ways, Theodor Kallifatides tells us.

    Further reading

  • Morten Dahl-Nielsen

    Male

    He can’t be described as handsome, Chief Inspector Morten Dahl-Nielsen in Lund: a hunchbacked, somewhat overweight middle-aged man with hair that is thinning out more and more. And nor does he like his job, even though he is a clever and appreciated police detective. He divorced his wife Marja many years ago, but starts a relationship with his colleague Marianne Ingelstam, author K. Arne Blom tells us.

    Further reading

  • Hercule Poirot

    Male

    The Belgian private detective Hercule Poirot worked for the Belgian police until Agatha Christie transferred him to England. Poirot is characterised by his vanity, his strong French accent, his egg-shaped head and his impressive moustache, and he solves crime in a string of classic whodunits. Poirot eventually became so famous that <i>The Times</i> published an obituary when Christie killed him off in one of her books.

    Further reading