Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Molly Cates

    Female

    A competent professional middle-aged investigative crime journalist, single mother and author. Molly Cates is primarily driven by a strong passion for justice. She works hard at her job, and even though she is attractive and men like her, all of her relationships have quickly broken up. One reason for this – according to author Mary Willis Walker – is that Cates is convinced that her father has been murdered.

    Further reading

  • Tiny (Thobela) Mpayipheli

    Male

    South African warrior from the Xhosa tribe, renowned freedom-fighter – former ANC soldier – but also a Stasi agent and assassin for the KGB. He is the son of a peaceful pastor, and according to author Deon Meyer is a giant of a man with very dark skin and dazzlingly white teeth. Thobela ‘Tiny’ Mpayipheli is a skilled rugby player and for a while lives together with Miriam Nzululwazi, whose death hits him hard.

    Further reading

  • Jakob Studer

    Male

    Perhaps the most famous problem solver in German-language crime fiction is Wachtmeister (approx: sergeant) Jakob Studer, a single elderly gentleman, overweight, with a pale, gaunt face and a heavy moustache. He was created by Swiss-Austrian Friedrich Glauser, is mainly active in the countryside and in small towns and solves his cases with the help of intuition and human knowledge.

    Further reading

  • Francis Hancock

    Male

    His father was an Englishman, his mother from India. Francis Hancock himself is a funeral director in London during the Second World War, when the Germans bombed the city. His experiences during the First World War, when he was a soldier, have given him mental problems. He is very withdrawn, which doesn’t, however, prevent him from being a clever – albeit reluctant – amateur detective in a suite of books by Barbara Nadel.

    Further reading