Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Mma Makutsi

    Female

    She struggles with her poor skin and unflattering spectacles, but Mma Grace Makutsi has impressively high grades from her secretarial course and is a lady with skin on her nose and a sharp tongue. In Alexander McCall Smith’s suite of novels about The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency in Botswana’s capital Gaborone, Mma Makutsi is first employed, but after a while becomes a part-owner of the agency. She is also happily married to Phuti Radiphuti.

    Further reading

  • Emma Sköld

    Female

    A young, good-looking, ambitious and career-minded detective inspector, first in Nacka, then in the county CID. Her father, Evert, had been the head of the county police, author Sofie Sarenbrant tells us. Emma Sköld has a daughter, Ines, together with her partner, Kristoffer. When Emma is badly injured in an inexplicable riding accident, and is in a coma for several months, it turns out that somebody wants to take over her life.

    Further reading

  • Jules-Joseph Maigret

    Male

    French detective inspector and something of an icon within the genre. Maigret was a farmer’s boy who became a cop by chance and quickly earned himself an office at the Paris police headquarters at Quai des Orfèvres. Georges Simenon’s books do not only follow the inspector’s investigations, but also his private life, including a happy, but childless, marriage.

    Further reading

  • Münster

    Male

    Whether the middle-aged detective superintendent in the fictive Maadam has a first name, is unknown – his creator, Håkan Nesser, keeps quiet about that. But Münster’s wife is called Synn, and they live in a happy marriage with two children – which doesn’t prevent him from silently admiring other women. He plays badminton for the exercise, and he succeeds his boss Van Veeteren when the latter leaves the police force.

    Further reading