Meny

Literary figures

Sample of literary figures

  • Kinsey Millhone

    Female

    Kinsey Millhone is an American private detective with a messy private life. Her parents died in a car crash when she was still young, both her marriages ended in divorce, and her love affairs are brief. On the other hand, she is very good at her job, as a string of novels by Sue Grafton show. She sometimes makes guest appearances in books by other authors.

    Further reading

  • Jimmy Perez

    Male

    Despite the surname, members of the Perez family have lived on the Shetland Islands for several hundred years – they are descendants of shipwrecked Spaniards. He is a police officer, and the main character in a number of police procedurals by Ann Cleeves. Perez starts a relationship with the single mother Fran Hunter in the first book, and suffers badly when he later loses her. He does, however, surface again and returns in several books.

    Further reading

  • Jackson Lamb

    Male

    Misanthropic boss of Slough House, a department for discharged spies and agents in the British MI5. Jackson Lamb, a central figure in a suite of novels by Mick Herron, is a former spy who has gone to seed. He is tall, has an ‘offensive’ face, is cynical and sarcastic, a chain smoker and is careless about his personal hygiene. This doesn’t prevent him and his department from managing to solve several sensitive spy cases.

    Further reading

  • Steve Carella

    Male

    A central figure in Ed McBain’s (pseudonym for Evan Hunter) books about the 87th police district in Isola is Stephen ‘Steve’ Carella. He is of Italian extraction, and in one of the early books he marries the beautiful and deaf-mute Theodora ‘Teddy’ Franklin, with whom he has twin sons. Detective Carella is tall, dark and muscular without being athletic; he gives an impression of strength and energy.

    Further reading