Meny

Literary figures

Sample of literary figures

  • Kate Brannigan

    Female

    Kate Brannigan is a private detective at Mortensen & Brannigan in Manchester. According to the author, Val McDermid, she dropped out of law school. Brannigan is a tough, quick-witted, independent woman with a great deal of integrity. She refuses to move in with her music journalist partner who lives next-door. She never gives up a case, not even when all the odds are against her.

    Further reading

  • Derek Strange

    Male

    Former police officer who has made a career change and become a private detective in a suite of novels by George P. Pelecanos. He is well-built, with grey hair and beard, and loves music. He has a sporadic relationship with his assistant Janine Baker, and is a ‘reserve dad’ for her son, Lionel. Derek Strange lives alone with his dog, Greco, a boxer. He is sometimes greatly helped by another former police officer, Terry Quinn.

    Further reading

  • Gunnar Barbarotti

    Male

    His father was Italian, his mother Swedish – and one of the few things they were successful with was their son’s name. Gunnar Barbarotti is a police detective in the fictive Swedish town of Kymlinge. He is a reflecting gentleman with an everyday appearance who is unlucky in his relationships: his first wife leaves him, his second wife dies in the books by Håkan Nesser. When alone, Barbarotti has long conversations with God.

    Further reading

  • Peter Decker

    Male

    When he falls in love with the Jewish widow Rina Lazarus, the parents of the divorced single father and police inspector Peter Decker reveal that he is adopted, and that his biological parents were Jews. He changes religion, and can marry Rina. Together, they solve a row of criminal cases in Faye Kellerman’s books, where one of them – or sometimes both of them – plays the main role.

    Further reading