Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Gavin Troy

    Male

    Troy is a detective in the fictive English county of Midsomer, and Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby’s right hand. In Caroline Graham’s novel, Tory is a clever and intelligent police officer, but his prejudices – he is, for example, a homophobe – and rather abrupt manner speak against him. In the TV series <i>Midsomer Murders</i>, his personality has been ‘corrected’ and he is decidedly more sympathetic, and is still a skilled investigator.

    Further reading

  • Flavia de Luce

    Female

    In the 1950s, the motherless Flavia de Luce was not highly regarded by her father and sisters. She was indeed a rather ordinary and everyday 11-12-year-old (with dental braces), but mature for her age, and determined too, with a mind of her own and smart, and she busied herself with nasty-smelling chemistry experiments. Besides, she solved murders – for which the police resented her – in the books that Alan Bradley has written about her.

    Further reading

  • Richard Hannay

    Male

    He was born in Scotland, learnt German from his father’s business friends, but grew up in South Africa. He was a soldier in the Boer War, but moved back to England in 1914, and was drawn into the first of the adventures that John Buchan wrote about him. Richard Hanney was a spy in the First World War, but subsequently married Mary Lamington, had a son called Peter John, and became a farmer.

    Further reading

  • Adam Stubo

    Male

    Detective inspector in Oslo, later superintendent. Yngvar Stubø – who is often called Adam Stubo in translations – is a middle-aged man with an everyday appearance and who is described as gruff, but is also very fond of children. He meets and builds a family with forensic psychologist Inger Johanne Vik, who is the principal protagonist in a suite of thriller-like novels by Anne Holt, and together the couple solve cases.

    Further reading