Sample of literary figures
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Evert Backstrom
Male
Backstrom is a homophobic, sexist, chauvinist, corrupt, egocentric, complacent, drinking police inspector that looks down on most of his colleagues and fellow human beings. At the same time he is a (to say the least) unconventional and surprisingly good investigator. He appears in more or less prominent roles in a string of police novels by Leif G.W. Persson.
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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.
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Kinsey Millhone
Female
Kinsey Millhone is an American private detective with a messy private life. Her parents died in a car crash when she was still young, both her marriages ended in divorce, and her love affairs are brief. On the other hand, she is very good at her job, as a string of novels by Sue Grafton show. She sometimes makes guest appearances in books by other authors.
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Easy (Ezekiel) Rawlins
Male
Afro-American war veteran, who in the late 1940s established himself as a private detective in Los Angeles. In the books by Walter Mosley we get to follow his life during the decades that follow. For example, Ezekiel Porterhouse ‘Easy’ Rawlins gets married to Regina, they have a daughter Edna and adopt the dumb Jesus. Easy is a pleasant, quick-thinking and nice-looking man and he uses fantastic, contemporary slang.