Sample of literary figures
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Alex Cross
Male
After several years as a widower and a single father with three children, the Afro-American police detective Alex Cross married Brianna ‘Bree’ Stone. But he refused to leave the slum district in Washington where the family lives and where he does charity work; but he did exchange his Porsche for a Mercedes. He is athletically built, has a PhD in Psychology and is the main character in a suite of police novels by James Patterson.
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Jane Tennison
Female
A British police detective, originally the main character in a TV-series scripted by Lynda La Plante who wrote a handful of novels about her. On TV she was portrayed by Helen Mirren, and is thus described like her in the books: a middle-aged, well-groomed woman, who is also a tough and realistically portrayed police officer. Later, La Plante has written a series of novels that describe Tennison’s first years in the police force.
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Yashim Togalu
Male
He is tall, well-built, aged between 30 and 40, with curly black hair and a nice moustache. He is also a eunuch, and he investigates murders and other crimes in 19th century Istanbul on the orders of the sultan, whom he faithfully serves. Yashim Togalu is not uninterested in women, according to author Jason Goodwin, but he understandably prefers to devote his time to cooking, French novels and mysteries.
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Tom Ripley
Male
He is charming, handsome and cultivated as well as being a ruthless serial killer and psychopath totally lacking in empathy, the main character in five classic thrillers by Patricia Highsmith. Thomas ‘Tom’ Ripley became an orphan when he was five years old, and was brought up by a callous female relative. He later marries the wealthy Héloïse Plisson, but nevertheless has successfully continued his criminal career.