Sample of literary figures
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Charlie Chan
Male
Charlie Chan is a Chinese police inspector who works in Honolulu where he lives with his large family. The friendly, polite and calm Chan solves tricky cases in six whodunits by the American author Earl Derr Biggers. Chan is also the protagonist in a couple of dozen films that together with the books have made him a classic character.
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Guido Brunetti
Male
Commissario (Detective Superintendent) Brunetti in the Italian state police, stationed in Venice, solves murder cases in a number of books by American author Donna Leon, herself resident in the city. Brunetti is married to Paola, daughter in an aristocratic family and a university lecturer, and has a lively family life which includes children and his own as well as his wife’s relatives. He also battles against the Italian bureaucracy which doesn’t exactly facilitate his work.
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John H. Watson
Male
Sherlock Holmes’ chronicler and permanent companion in the stories by A. Conan Doyle has given his name to a particular type of character in crime fiction: a detective’s right hand, conversational partner and admiring friend is called ‘a Watson figure’. In books by other authors, Dr Watson has solved cases by himself. The ‘H’ in his name (according to Sherlockian research) stands for Hamish, the Scottish for James.
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Paul Brenner
Male
When we worked as an undercover agent for a crime investigation department in the American army, he revealed dangerous facts which led to him being retired early. But the department needed his knowledge and Paul Brenner reluctantly re-entered the service, explains his creator Nelson DeMille. He then became a colleague of Cynthia Sunhill, and their cooperation developed into a romantic relationship.