Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Mma Ramotswe

    Female

    In Botswana’s capital, Gaborone, Mma Precious Ramotswe runs The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. The cases she works with, don’t usually concern major crimes, but are more about solving everyday problems for the clients. Mma Ratmotswe loves tea and her husband, the kind J.L.B. Matekoni, as well as their two adoptive children: all tenderly described by the Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith.

    Further reading

  • Erik Winter

    Male

    Winter is a detective inspector in Gothenburg, Sweden. Contrary to most other literary detectives he comes from a wealthy family and is well off. He marries a physician, Angela, and they have a child together in Åke Edwardson’s string of books about him. After a period of hard work, the family moves to Spain, but a couple of years later Winter returns to Gothenburg, without his family, and returns to his former job.

    Further reading

  • Maria Wern

    Female

    Maria Wern is a young sergeant who balances crime investigations with family life, including an insufferable husband. She later moves to the island of Gotland where she continues to solve crime. The author, Anna Jansson, has also written a number of young adult detective novels that feature Wern’s son, Emil.

    Further reading

  • Tiny (Thobela) Mpayipheli

    Male

    South African warrior from the Xhosa tribe, renowned freedom-fighter – former ANC soldier – but also a Stasi agent and assassin for the KGB. He is the son of a peaceful pastor, and according to author Deon Meyer is a giant of a man with very dark skin and dazzlingly white teeth. Thobela ‘Tiny’ Mpayipheli is a skilled rugby player and for a while lives together with Miriam Nzululwazi, whose death hits him hard.

    Further reading