Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Lisa Mattei

    Female

    In 2005, Leif G.W. Persson wrote about the young detective inspector Lisa Mattei; ten years later, she is a middle-aged operations manager for the Swedish security services. She made a rapid career, but has a bad conscience because she rarely has time to be with her family, her husband Johan and her daughter Ella. She has private means, and is something of a connoisseur when it comes to clothes, for example. But she is also a gifted and skilful police officer.

    Further reading

  • Evert Backstrom

    Male

    Backstrom is a homophobic, sexist, chauvinist, corrupt, egocentric, complacent, drinking police inspector that looks down on most of his colleagues and fellow human beings. At the same time he is a (to say the least) unconventional and surprisingly good investigator. He appears in more or less prominent roles in a string of police novels by Leif G.W. Persson.

    Further reading

  • V.I. Warshawski

    Female

    Victoria Iphigenia Warshawski is a hardboiled private detective in Chicago. She often rescues people on the margins of society and she often she rails against crooked politicians, bigotry, and toned-down political scandals. Her father is Polish and her mother was Jewish – and she has more lovers than she has friends according to the author, Sara Paretsky.

    Further reading

  • Knut Gribb

    Male

    Scandinavia’s busiest detective: he has solved cases in more than 1,500 stories! He was created by Stein Riverton (pseudonym for Sven Elvestad), but was taken over by a large number of other authors. Even Swedes, which is why the police officer from Oslo has also worked in Sweden. Riverton’s Knut Gribb stories were later published with the main character changed to Asbjørn Krag, which is why the two are like each other.

    Further reading