Sample of literary figures
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Çetin Ìkmen
Male
He is a self-willed detective in the police force of his birth city Istanbul, which he loves with all his heart. But he is well aware of the city’s less savoury sides, and the memory of crimes he has investigated has meant that he chain-smokes and also drinks too much – which greatly upsets his Muslim wife Fatma. Together the couple have a lot of children and the number steadily grows in Barbara Nadel’s books about him.
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Varg Veum
Male
With his books about the private detective Varg Veum, author Gunnar Staalesen transferred American hardboiled noir to a Scandinavian setting – Bergen in Norway. Veum is one of the best-known fictional characters in Norway; he features in several television productions as well as a comic strip. He operates in widely different social settings and is prone to commenting on current affairs.
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Rina Lazarus
Female
26 years old, the orthodox Jewess Rina Lazarus is a widow and the single parent of two small boys. In connection with a murder case, she gets to know police officer Peter Decker, and after he has changed religion, she marries him and they have a daughter. Author Faye Kellerman also lets them solve a series of criminal cases, where they take turns at playing the main role, and sometimes share it.
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Gunnar Barbarotti
Male
His father was Italian, his mother Swedish – and one of the few things they were successful with was their son’s name. Gunnar Barbarotti is a police detective in the fictive Swedish town of Kymlinge. He is a reflecting gentleman with an everyday appearance who is unlucky in his relationships: his first wife leaves him, his second wife dies in the books by Håkan Nesser. When alone, Barbarotti has long conversations with God.