Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Adelia Aguilar

    Female

    Her full name is Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar, she lives in the 12th century and is a doctor. She is sent from Sicily to England to assist in the investigation of the murder of a child, and solves the case. Afterwards, she reluctantly stays in the country. She is dark-blond, beautiful and slim, and the unmarried mother of daughter Allie whose father is a bishop, we are told by Ariana Franklin (pseudonym for Diana Norman).

    Further reading

  • Martin Beck

    Male

    Few Swedes can have escaped Inspector Martin Beck of the Stockholm police department. A principal character in Maj Sjöwall’s and Per Wahlöö’s ten police novels, he is the typical meticulous, unhappily married, ulcer-suffering inspector in contemporary crime fiction. He has won international fame through the books and a string of adaptations for film and television.

    Further reading

  • Lennart Kollberg

    Male

    Martin Beck’s second-in-command and good friend in the books by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö is Lennart Kollberg, a bohemian, overweight (but in good physical trim) former paratrooper, conscientious objector and Marxist who finally tires of his job in the police and give his notice. Kollberg has two major interests in life: food and his family; his 14-year younger wife, Gun – with whom he often enjoys making love – and their two children.

    Further reading

  • George Smiley

    Male

    He is rather fat, has been said to liken a toad, and is married to the beautiful and forever unfaithful Lady Ann Sercombe. Besides which, George Smiley is a lethal agent with the British Secret Service in a suite of novels by John Le Carré. Before retiring, he also becomes the director of the secret service. In some of the early books, he is however more active as a detective.

    Further reading