Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Peter Diamond

    Male

    Peter Diamond is a police officer, formerly stationed in London, and now working in Bath in Somerset. He is 50+, a widower and overweight with abominable dietary habits – ‘an ambulatory heart attack’, according to his creator Peter Lovesey. Already in the early books, Diamond left the police service, but returned after a couple of novels. Through his stubbornness and the way he ignores orders, he solves a number of sensitive cases.

    Further reading

  • Çetin Ìkmen

    Male

    He is a self-willed detective in the police force of his birth city Istanbul, which he loves with all his heart. But he is well aware of the city’s less savoury sides, and the memory of crimes he has investigated has meant that he chain-smokes and also drinks too much – which greatly upsets his Muslim wife Fatma. Together the couple have a lot of children and the number steadily grows in Barbara Nadel’s books about him.

    Further reading

  • Van Veeteren

    Male

    Despite his successful career as a detective chief inspector, he tires of his job, and starts afresh as an antiquarian bookseller. But he continues to play an important role in Håkans Nesser’s books about the police in Maardam. Van Veeteren is a well-built and heavy man, he has a bass voice, is divorced and has been operated for stomach cancer. He is very fond of classical music and dark beer, and likes to chew on a toothpick.

    Further reading

  • Harry Friberg

    Male

    Stieg Trenter based his protagonist Friberg on his friend, the photographer K. W. Gullers. Friberg too is a well-known photographer. He is a cheerful, alert man who loves good food and the company of women. It is not he, however, who solves crime, that is the job of Detective Inspector Vesper Johnson. When Trenter died, his wife Ulla continued the series, allowing Friberg to get married.

    Further reading