Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Peter Pascoe

    Male

    The well-educated, well brought-up, intelligent but somewhat unimaginative detective Peter Pascoe is the permanent companion to his brusque boss Andy Dalziel in the detective stories by Reginald Hill. Pascoe has problems: apart from Dalziel, he also has a father who has never been able to accept that his son become a policeman instead of a farmer, and he has a wife, Ellie – they have a child together – in a marriage that is in danger of falling apart.

    Further reading

  • Mikael Blomkvist

    Male

    The journalist Carl Mikael Blomkvist was born in Borlänge, but he lives in Stockholm. He was nicknamed Kalle Blomkvist (for a child detective created by Astrid Lindgren), after he solved a series of bank robberies. He is one of the main characters in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy and the official sequel. Blomkvist is editor-in-chief at <i>Millennium</i> magazine and collaborates with his rebellious punk friend Lisbeth Salander.

    Further reading

  • Temperance Brennan

    Female

    Middle-aged but well-preserved and internationally renowned forensic anthropologist, who (in Kathy Reichs’ novels) works in Canada and the USA, as well as other countries. In the first book, Temperance ‘Tempe’ Brennan is newly divorced and a sober alcoholic. Important people in her life are her daughter Kate, who goes to college, police detective Andrew Ryan, with whom she has an on-and-off relationship, and her sister Harriet.

    Further reading

  • Vera Stanhope

    Female

    An eccentric, middle-aged, controversial detective chief inspector in Northumberland and in a series of police novels by Ann Cleeves. Stanhope is a grim lone wolf and workaholic, in part because as a child she was subjected to sexual abuse by an acquaintance of her single father. She still lives in her childhood home, drives her father’s old Landrover and solves murder cases in her own very special way.

    Further reading