Meny

Literary figures

Sample of literary figures

  • Matthew Hope

    Male

    Lawyer Matthew Hope moves with his wife Susan and daughter Joanna from Chicago to Calusa in Florida to work with commercial law for a small law firm. But nothing goes as he wished: thanks to his detective talents, he unwillingly becomes a leading criminal lawyer and his marriage ends in divorce, as we read in the books by Ed McBain (pseudonym for Evan Hunter).

    Further reading

  • Adam Dalgliesh

    Male

    Adam Dalgliesh is a successful, much respected detective inspector and poet that features in novels by P.D. James. In her first book about him, she spelt his name Dalgleish, which has caused some confusion. He is a typical soft-spoken, straightforward, pragmatic English gentleman who operates more like a classic private detective than a Scotland Yard DI. He conducts himself with ease in all kinds of geographical and social settings.

    Further reading

  • Maisie Dobbs

    Female

    Young, brave and intelligent private detective who started to work as a domestic when she was only 13 years old. Maisie Dobbs had a benevolent female employer, and got to study nursing and psychology. She fell in love with a doctor who was killed in the First World War, and in 1929 she started her own detective agency. Jacqueline Winspear has written more than a dozen books about her.

    Further reading

  • Harriet Blue

    Female

    She is a police detective in Australia, and has specialised in solving sex crimes. Harriet Blue, called Harry by her friends, was born in 1981, is short in stature (155 cm), has blue eyes and black hair, and is well-known for her stubbornness. The only person close to her is her brother Sam. How she solves her cases is described in books that the American author James Patterson and Australian Candice Fox write together.

    Further reading