Meny

Literary figures

Sample of literary figures

  • George Smiley

    Male

    He is rather fat, has been said to liken a toad, and is married to the beautiful and forever unfaithful Lady Ann Sercombe. Besides which, George Smiley is a lethal agent with the British Secret Service in a suite of novels by John Le Carré. Before retiring, he also becomes the director of the secret service. In some of the early books, he is however more active as a detective.

    Further reading

  • Joe Ashworth

    Male

    He is a detective sergeant in Northumberland, married and with a daughter Jessie. He is also a faithful companion to the eccentric and unconventional Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope in a suite of police novels by Ann Cleeves. Ashworth is one of the few people in whom Vera trusts – she regards him more like a son. However, she is forever forgetting what his wife and daughter are called…

    Further reading

  • 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.

    Further reading

  • Karen Pirie

    Female

    She is an overweight workaholic, but also exceptionally skilful when it comes to investigating old, unsolved cases in police novels by Val McDermid. Karen Pirie is the head of the Historic Cases Unit with its head office in Fife in Scotland. Her private life is minimal – but includes a sweetheart, her colleague Phil Parhatka, and she mourns deeply when he is killed on duty. But she soon throws herself into the next ‘cold case’.

    Further reading