Sample of literary figures
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Francis Hancock
Male
His father was an Englishman, his mother from India. Francis Hancock himself is a funeral director in London during the Second World War, when the Germans bombed the city. His experiences during the First World War, when he was a soldier, have given him mental problems. He is very withdrawn, which doesn’t, however, prevent him from being a clever – albeit reluctant – amateur detective in a suite of books by Barbara Nadel.
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V.I. Warshawski
Female
Victoria Iphigenia Warshawski is a hardboiled private detective in Chicago. She often rescues people on the margins of society and she often she rails against crooked politicians, bigotry, and toned-down political scandals. Her father is Polish and her mother was Jewish – and she has more lovers than she has friends according to the author, Sara Paretsky.
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Asbjørn Krag
Male
Norwegian police officer, who also works as a private detective, created by Stein Riverton (pseudonym for Sven Elvestad). Asbjørn Krag works in Kristiania/Oslo, but solves cases in various parts of Norway. He is athletically built, with an angular face, and works as much with his head as with his muscles. He is unmarried, or rather, married to his work. His literary colleague Knut Gribb is based on Krag.
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Harry Hole
Male
Harry Hole is Jo Nesbø’s creation. Hole is immensely popular among readers even outside Nesbø’s native Norway. He is a police officer with a serious drinking problem and countless scars acquired in the line of duty. His methods are unconventional, he is headstrong and he is unpopular with both his superiors and his colleagues. The stories about him are more like hardboiled American thrillers than traditional detective stories.