Sample of literary figures
-
Vera Stanhope
Female
An eccentric, middle-aged, controversial detective chief inspector in Northumberland and in a series of police novels by Ann Cleeves. Stanhope is a grim lone wolf and workaholic, in part because as a child she was subjected to sexual abuse by an acquaintance of her single father. She still lives in her childhood home, drives her father’s old Landrover and solves murder cases in her own very special way.
-
Lisbeth Salander
Female
A young punk rocker, computer hacker and cracker with a troubled past, including a spell at a psychiatric ward. She is one of Sweden’s best-known female characters internationally. Salander is the protagonist of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy and the official sequel. She is a highly organized woman on the left of the political spectrum, and when she needs to she is an efficient action heroine.
-
Fin Macleod
Male
A middle-aged, ordinary security director and former police detective in Edinburgh, who moves to the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides after his son has been killed in a road accident. This has also led to the collapse of his marriage with Mona. Fin Macleod is worn-out and sad, but in the so-called Lewis Trilogy by Peter May is involved in crime cases that he solves thanks to his knowledge of the island and its population.
-
Maria Wern
Female
Maria Wern is a young sergeant who balances crime investigations with family life, including an insufferable husband. She later moves to the island of Gotland where she continues to solve crime. The author, Anna Jansson, has also written a number of young adult detective novels that feature Wern’s son, Emil.