Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • 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.

    Further reading

  • Ewert Grens

    Male

    Middle-aged detective chief inspector in Stockholm, ordinary-looking, with thinning hair and a wrinkled face. He suffers from a severe trauma: his wife Anni suffered severe brain damage in an accident that he caused. Now Ewert Grens visits her every day in the care home. His only consolation is the songs sung by Siw Malmkvist, and he is always listening to them in the novels by Anders Roslund – the early novels were written together with Börge Hellström.

    Further reading

  • Angie Gennaro

    Male

    Angela ”Angie” Gennaro is a small, dark, good looking private detective that features in novels by Dennis Lehane. She is working alongside her childhood friend Patrick Kenzie. She is a devout Catholic and therefore reluctant to leave her alcoholic, abusive husband. Kenzie and Gennaro solve crime in a string of hardboiled detective novels set in Boston.

    Further reading

  • Linda Martinez

    Female

    Her mother is English, her father from Jamaica and she (Linda Martinez) is a police officer in Stockholm. She makes a quick career, and becomes the head of the investigative section. She was introduced in a TV series by Jan Guillou and Leif G.W. Persson in the 1990s, and has since then played a more or less large role in several of Persson’s books. She doesn’t like to talk about her private life, but she can be very blunt and direct, and likes strong beer.

    Further reading