Sample of literary figures
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Cordelia Gray
Female
A young private detective in only two novels by P.D. James; many readers have complained that there weren’t any more. She grew up with her foster parents – her mother died an hour after the birth of her daughter – and as an adult became the secretary to the private detective Bernie G. Pryde. When he died of cancer, Cordelia Gray inherited his agency. She is attractive, but despite her successes she is – deep inside – unsure of herself.
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Maisie Dobbs
Female
Young, brave and intelligent private detective who started to work as a domestic when she was only 13 years old. Maisie Dobbs had a benevolent female employer, and got to study nursing and psychology. She fell in love with a doctor who was killed in the First World War, and in 1929 she started her own detective agency. Jacqueline Winspear has written more than a dozen books about her.
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William Wisting
Male
Norwegian author Jørn Lier Horst is a former police officer, and his main character has the same profession: William Wisting is a middle-aged police detective in Larvik. He has a big head, a sharply defined face with high cheekbones, and his hair is going grey. He has been a widower for some years, and even though he likes his job he is looking forward to retiring so he can spend more time with his daughter Line and his granddaughter Amalie.
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Harriet Vane
Female
At the age of 29, crime writer Harriet Vane stands trial accused of having poisoned her lover. She is shown to be innocent by Lord Peter Wimsey, who falls in love with her and then in some of Dorothy L. Sayers’ novels courts the independent Vane. She participates in his investigations, but is not interested in a more intimate relationship with him. Eventually, however, she gives in, they get married and have three sons.