Sample of literary figures
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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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Thóra Gudmundsdóttir
Female
When we meet her in Yrsa Sigurðardóttir’s first crime novel, skilful lawyer Þóra Guðmundsdóttir is 36 years old and the single mother of a son Gylfi, 16, and a daughter Sóley. She is divorced from her husband Hannes, but later embarks upon a relationship with the German police officer Matthew Reich. He is blond with long hair, high cheek bones and walnut-shaped blue eyes. And he is also the part-owner of a legal firm in Reykjavik.
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Ewa Moreno
Female
She is pretty, dark and intelligent, and also a police detective in author Håkan Nesser’s fictive town Maardam. She does, however, work on her own sometimes. Ewa Moreno has a platonic crush on her married colleague Münster, but first has relationships with the currency dealer Claes Bradher and later with her neighbour Mikael Bau. She appreciates well-prepared food and a glass of wine, and having a shower – for a long time.
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Charlie Chan
Male
Charlie Chan is a Chinese police inspector who works in Honolulu where he lives with his large family. The friendly, polite and calm Chan solves tricky cases in six whodunits by the American author Earl Derr Biggers. Chan is also the protagonist in a couple of dozen films that together with the books have made him a classic character.