Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Victor Legris

    Male

    In the late 19th century, he runs a bookshop, Librairie Elzévir, in Paris together with his Japanese adoptive father Kenji Mori. In his free time, Victor Legris is an enthusiastic amateur detective and photographer. He is something of a clothes snob, is athletically built and has an appearance that interests women. Claude Izner (pseudonym for Liliane Korb and Laurence Lefèvre) has written a suite of novels about him.

    Further reading

  • George Smiley

    Male

    He is rather fat, has been said to liken a toad, and is married to the beautiful and forever unfaithful Lady Ann Sercombe. Besides which, George Smiley is a lethal agent with the British Secret Service in a suite of novels by John Le Carré. Before retiring, he also becomes the director of the secret service. In some of the early books, he is however more active as a detective.

    Further reading

  • Cordelia Gray

    Female

    A young private detective in only two novels by P.D. James; many readers have complained that there weren’t any more. She grew up with her foster parents – her mother died an hour after the birth of her daughter – and as an adult became the secretary to the private detective Bernie G. Pryde. When he died of cancer, Cordelia Gray inherited his agency. She is attractive, but despite her successes she is – deep inside – unsure of herself.

    Further reading

  • Liz (Elizabeth) Carlyle

    Female

    The quick-thinking British secret agent Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Carlyle has worked since 1994 for MI5 and later MI6. She is – according to author Stella Remington – 34 years old in the first book about her, is 168 cm tall, has brown hair and greyish-blue eyes and is described as pretty. She lives in a simple little flat in London and is single, but she satisfies her sexual needs with a married man that she is not in love with.

    Further reading