Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Asbjørn Krag

    Male

    Norwegian police officer, who also works as a private detective, created by Stein Riverton (pseudonym for Sven Elvestad). Asbjørn Krag works in Kristiania/Oslo, but solves cases in various parts of Norway. He is athletically built, with an angular face, and works as much with his head as with his muscles. He is unmarried, or rather, married to his work. His literary colleague Knut Gribb is based on Krag.

    Further reading

  • Malcolm Fox

    Male

    He isn’t loved by his colleagues in the police force, because his job is to investigate occurrences of professional misconduct. Malcolm Fox is a well-built and divorced middle-aged man, who worries about his father’s delicate health and his alcoholic sister – he, himself, has been a teetotaller for a long time. He works in Edinburgh, where he cooperates with another of author Ian Rankins’ main characters: John Rebus.

    Further reading

  • 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.

    Further reading

  • Terry Quinn

    Male

    When he worked as a police officer, he accidentally killed a colleague. As a result, the green-eyed Irishman Terry Quinn left the police force and instead got a job in a shop in Silver Spring, Maryland, which sells second-hand paperbacks and vinyl records. However, he also does some extra work as an active assistant to another former policeman, Derek Strange, who is now a private detective, in books by George P. Pelecanos.

    Further reading