Sample of literary figures
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Richard Hannay
Male
He was born in Scotland, learnt German from his father’s business friends, but grew up in South Africa. He was a soldier in the Boer War, but moved back to England in 1914, and was drawn into the first of the adventures that John Buchan wrote about him. Richard Hanney was a spy in the First World War, but subsequently married Mary Lamington, had a son called Peter John, and became a farmer.
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Frank Frølich
Male
Frølich is a sergeant with the Oslo Police, where – in a suite of novels by Kjell Ola Dahl – he works together with a cynical and disillusioned Chief Inspector Gunnarstranda. The two are each other’s opposites, for better or worse. The somewhat younger, extrovert and impulsive Frølich is especially interested in women which often lands him in embarrassing situations in his private life as well as in his work.
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Gordianus
Female
He is called Gordianus the Finder, and is a private investigator in ancient Rome in the days of Julius Caesar. ‘Lawyers’ and orators like Cicero are some of the people who use his services in historical crime novels by Steven Saylor. Gordianus’ wife is the Egyptian Bethesda, previously his concubine whom he had bought as a slave. He lives in Rome until he inherits a farm in Etruria, but later moves back to the city.
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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.