Sample of literary figures
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Tiny (Thobela) Mpayipheli
Male
South African warrior from the Xhosa tribe, renowned freedom-fighter – former ANC soldier – but also a Stasi agent and assassin for the KGB. He is the son of a peaceful pastor, and according to author Deon Meyer is a giant of a man with very dark skin and dazzlingly white teeth. Thobela ‘Tiny’ Mpayipheli is a skilled rugby player and for a while lives together with Miriam Nzululwazi, whose death hits him hard.
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Myron Bolitar
Male
Promising, attractive basketball player, who damaged his knee and instead sports agent – and an amateur detective. Myran Bolitar solves a row of murder cases, which usually take place in sports circles, in books by Harlan Coben. He often has girlfriends (but only one at a time) as assistants. He also has a nephew, Mickey, who solves cases in a handful of detective stories for young adults in which his uncle features as a minor character.
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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.
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V.I. Warshawski
Female
Victoria Iphigenia Warshawski is a hardboiled private detective in Chicago. She often rescues people on the margins of society and she often she rails against crooked politicians, bigotry, and toned-down political scandals. Her father is Polish and her mother was Jewish – and she has more lovers than she has friends according to the author, Sara Paretsky.