Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Martin Beck

    Male

    Few Swedes can have escaped Inspector Martin Beck of the Stockholm police department. A principal character in Maj Sjöwall’s and Per Wahlöö’s ten police novels, he is the typical meticulous, unhappily married, ulcer-suffering inspector in contemporary crime fiction. He has won international fame through the books and a string of adaptations for film and television.

    Further reading

  • Malin Fors

    Female

    Police detective in Linköping and a single mother to daughter Tove after divorcing her husband Janne. Instead, Malin Fors has a number of lovers, one after another, but no relationship lasts very long. She is attractive, with blond hair, usually worn short, and a well-trained, athletic body. She has struggled hard against alcoholism, and finally succeeded, says author Mons Kallentoft.

    Further reading

  • Tuppence Beresford

    Female

    She is actually called Prudence Cowley Beresford, but is known as Tuppence by everyone, including her husband. She is not exactly beautiful, but has a sharp mind and is charming, and she is quite often the one who finds vital clues in the cases that the couple solve in detective stories by Agatha Christie. Now and then the solutions are based more upon Tuppence’s intuition than upon logic. In the last book about them, they are both 70+.

    Further reading

  • Tom Thorne

    Male

    Tom Thorne is a middle-aged, somewhat worse for wear detective inspector in London. In the early books he is dull and conventional. However, his creator, Mark Billingham, has subsequently turned him into a multi-faceted character with bad as well as good qualities. He is persistent and conscientious, but he can also be short-tempered, grumpy and prone to making disastrous mistakes. Well into the series he becomes involved with Seargeant Helen Weeks.

    Further reading