Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Lars Martin Johansson

    Male

    Johansson is head of the Swedish Police. He first appears in Leif G. W. Persson’s first book <i>Grisfesten</i> and then returns in a string of novels by the author. He was previously married to Gunilla; they have two children together. After a few years he marries Pia who is 20 years younger. He is a passionate hunter and eventually dies of a stroke.

    Further reading

  • Annika Bengtzon

    Female

    Annika Bengtzon is the creation of the Swedish author and journalist Liza Marklund and possibly Sweden’s best-known journalist. She is married with two children, but she is also a highly competent crime reporter with a bad conscience on account of neglecting her family. Bengtzon is a complex woman who can be hard and tough one minute and reduced to tears the next. Nevertheless, she is portrayed as a highly capable modern professional woman.

    Further reading

  • Karen Pirie

    Female

    She is an overweight workaholic, but also exceptionally skilful when it comes to investigating old, unsolved cases in police novels by Val McDermid. Karen Pirie is the head of the Historic Cases Unit with its head office in Fife in Scotland. Her private life is minimal – but includes a sweetheart, her colleague Phil Parhatka, and she mourns deeply when he is killed on duty. But she soon throws herself into the next ‘cold case’.

    Further reading

  • Christian Hammar

    Male

    Born in the little town of Eslöv, but has lived for many years in the city of Lund where he studies History. He is the main character in three novels by K. Arne Blom. In the first, his wife Monica is murdered, and with the help of police officer Gunnar Mellberg, Christian Hammar can discover the perpetrator. His mistress Margareta Turèll has quite an important role, and like Mellberg, she returns in the following two books.

    Further reading