Sample of literary figures
-
Mma Makutsi
Female
She struggles with her poor skin and unflattering spectacles, but Mma Grace Makutsi has impressively high grades from her secretarial course and is a lady with skin on her nose and a sharp tongue. In Alexander McCall Smith’s suite of novels about The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency in Botswana’s capital Gaborone, Mma Makutsi is first employed, but after a while becomes a part-owner of the agency. She is also happily married to Phuti Radiphuti.
-
John March
Male
He was born into a family of affluent bankers who disown him on account of his choice of profession: he has been a rural sheriff for three years, and then a private detective in New York. After the death of his wife, things went downhill for him, but author Peter Spiegelman lets (the approximately 180 cm tall) John March sober up, start drinking orange juice and go out running, as well as manage to acquire strong self-discipline and a new girlfriend, Jane Lu.
-
Harry Kvist
Male
An odd character and an amateur detective: an ex-boxer and prison inmate who works as a debt-collector, is bi-sexual and drinks too much. The setting is Stockholm in the 1930s in a trio of novels by Martin Holmén. Harry Kvist is single, with few friends (but a lot of acquaintances), not particularly bright, but well-built, and he all too often uses his fists when trouble arises.
-
Joe (Joseph) O'Loughlin
Male
He has had a successful career as a psychologist. But Joseph (Joe) O'Loughlin has reason to be depressed: he has separated from his wife Julianne, who later dies, and he suffers from Parkinson’s disease. Nor is he handsome: he has a long, but pear-shaped nose, watery brown eyes and a pale complexion. He also becomes involved in several cases of severe crime in novels by Michael Robotham.