Sample of literary figures
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Joe (Joseph) O'Loughlin
Male
He has had a successful career as a psychologist. But Joseph (Joe) O'Loughlin has reason to be depressed: he has separated from his wife Julianne, who later dies, and he suffers from Parkinson’s disease. Nor is he handsome: he has a long, but pear-shaped nose, watery brown eyes and a pale complexion. He also becomes involved in several cases of severe crime in novels by Michael Robotham.
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Frank Frølich
Male
Frølich is a sergeant with the Oslo Police, where – in a suite of novels by Kjell Ola Dahl – he works together with a cynical and disillusioned Chief Inspector Gunnarstranda. The two are each other’s opposites, for better or worse. The somewhat younger, extrovert and impulsive Frølich is especially interested in women which often lands him in embarrassing situations in his private life as well as in his work.
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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.
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Kay Scarpetta
Female
Patricia Cornwell’s protagonist is a forensic scientist based in Virginia, USA. She has been described as just over forty years old, blond with several love interests and a few female competitors who do not appreciate her confidence. She is a highly competent forensic investigator and crack shot, which is useful since she is often under threat. Scarpetta likes to cook in her spare time.