Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Lindsay Gordon

    Female

    Lindsay Gordon is a hardboiled, cynical, lesbian crime reporter and the protagonist of half a dozen novels by Val McDermid. She is a Socialist, feminist jazz lover who tries to cut down on her cigarette and whiskey consumption. Her unorthodox methods are not always appreciated, especially not by the police, but that does not stop her from continuing to harass them.

    Further reading

  • Embla Nystrom

    Female

    Former Nordic champion boxer (light welterweight), now a county police officer in the west of Sweden. She is about 30 years old and muscular, with curly reddish-brown hair and blue-green eyes in a somewhat round face: cute but not pretty, according to her creator Helene Tursten. Having grown up with three brothers, Embla Nystrom knows how to put lads in their place. The man in her life is little Elliot, the son of her ex-husband Jason.

    Further reading

  • Sidney Chambers

    Male

    James Runcie has written a suite of novels about Sidney Chambers, vicar in Grantchester near Cambridge, and describes that character’s activities as an Anglican priest and amateur detective. The good vicar is tall, slim, just over 30 years of age with a high forehead, a hook nose and brown eyes. He is married to the German widow Hildegarde Staunton, and they have a daughter called Anna. Detective Inspector Geordie Keating is a very good friend.

    Further reading

  • Camille Verhœven

    Male

    Author Pierre Lemaitre doesn’t make life easy for his middle-aged detective chief inspector, Camille Verhœven, in Paris. His pregnant wife is tortured to death in the first book: in the fourth book, his girlfriend Anne Forestier is almost killed in connection with a robbery. The short and entirely bald police officer, who isn’t always particularly sympathetic, solves the cases; then he resigns.

    Further reading