Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Perry Mason

    Male

    Perry Mason – known from the books by Erle Stanley Gardner – is probably the most famous defence lawyer of our time. He is obsessed with his job, but little is known about his private life, we do not even know what he looks like. He is unmarried, lives in an apartment and is an excellent driver. When he takes on a case, he does a great deal of criminal investigation of his own.

    Further reading

  • Martin Holmberg

    Male

    An experienced and calm detective inspector in Lund, southern Sweden. After a first unhappy marriage with a frigid woman, he is now happily married to Kerstin, with whom he has four children. Martin Holmberg is a chain smoker and the central character in a police collective. He has a good relationship with his superior officers, first Bengt Thorén, later Seved Olofsson – as well as Stefan Elg and his other colleagues in the town of Himmelsholm.

    Further reading

  • Martin Beck

    Male

    Few Swedes can have escaped Inspector Martin Beck of the Stockholm police department. A principal character in Maj Sjöwall’s and Per Wahlöö’s ten police novels, he is the typical meticulous, unhappily married, ulcer-suffering inspector in contemporary crime fiction. He has won international fame through the books and a string of adaptations for film and television.

    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