Meny

Literary figures

Sample of literary figures

  • Meyer Meyer

    Male

    Max Meyer, of Polish-Jewish extraction, had a curious sense of humour: he named his son Meyer Meyer. The name contributed to the boy becoming the victim of bullies in school. As an adult, he turned completely bald, became a police detective, patient, and is married to the motherly Sarah with whom he has three children. He works in the 87th police district in Isola in police novels by Ed McBain (pseudonym for Evan Hunter).

    Further reading

  • Vincent Ruiz

    Male

    The colour of his face shows that he drinks too much. Otherwise he is big and strong – not least as regards language – with a broken nose. Vincent Ruiz has a history of 43 years as a police officer in London, three marriages and just as many divorces. He does, however, have good contact with his ex-wives as well as his children. And even though he is now retired, he still catches villains in Michael Robotham’s novels.

    Further reading

  • Hercule Poirot

    Male

    The Belgian private detective Hercule Poirot worked for the Belgian police until Agatha Christie transferred him to England. Poirot is characterised by his vanity, his strong French accent, his egg-shaped head and his impressive moustache, and he solves crime in a string of classic whodunits. Poirot eventually became so famous that <i>The Times</i> published an obituary when Christie killed him off in one of her books.

    Further reading

  • Judy Hammer

    Female

    Superintendent Judy Hammer is head of a police department in North Carolina, Virginia, where she has to deal with both city crime and stubborn islanders in a short suite of novels by Patricia Cornwell. Hammer is a middle-aged, unhappily married but very fond of her young colleague Andy Brazil, who becomes her right hand. In the books about them, realistic police work is combined with some less realistic elements.

    Further reading