Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Dexter Morgan

    Male

    A handsome, friendly and always well-dressed forensic technician, born in 1971 and married to Rita Bennett whose two children he is very fond of. In secret, he is a serial murderer lacking in empathy, as is revealed by author Jeff Lindsay (pseudonym for Jeffry P. Freundlich). Dexter Morgan saw his mother being murdered and is encouraged by his stepfather, who is a police officer, to kill major criminals who have evaded justice.

    Further reading

  • Lisa Mattei

    Female

    In 2005, Leif G.W. Persson wrote about the young detective inspector Lisa Mattei; ten years later, she is a middle-aged operations manager for the Swedish security services. She made a rapid career, but has a bad conscience because she rarely has time to be with her family, her husband Johan and her daughter Ella. She has private means, and is something of a connoisseur when it comes to clothes, for example. But she is also a gifted and skilful police officer.

    Further reading

  • Archie Goodwin

    Male

    The voluminous private detective Nero Wolfe, created by Rex Stout, rarely leaves home. He lets his secretary, Archie Goodwin, do the legwork, and Goodwin is not a bad detective either. He is good looking, polite, tough when he needs to be, quick-witted and he can memorize interrogations word for word. He is usually the narrator in the Nero Wolfe books. His employer would never have been able to solve crime as elegantly as he does without him.

    Further reading

  • Karen Pirie

    Female

    She is an overweight workaholic, but also exceptionally skilful when it comes to investigating old, unsolved cases in police novels by Val McDermid. Karen Pirie is the head of the Historic Cases Unit with its head office in Fife in Scotland. Her private life is minimal – but includes a sweetheart, her colleague Phil Parhatka, and she mourns deeply when he is killed on duty. But she soon throws herself into the next ‘cold case’.

    Further reading