Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Varg Veum

    Male

    With his books about the private detective Varg Veum, author Gunnar Staalesen transferred American hardboiled noir to a Scandinavian setting – Bergen in Norway. Veum is one of the best-known fictional characters in Norway; he features in several television productions as well as a comic strip. He operates in widely different social settings and is prone to commenting on current affairs.

    Further reading

  • 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.

    Further reading

  • Mervyn Bunter

    Male

    Second only to Wodehouse’s incomparable Jeeves, Bunter is regarded as the most famous butler of a classic English type. He is Lord Peter Wimsey’s patient and always correct butler in the classic detective stories by Dorothy L. Sayers, and he also carries out with honour some scouting missions. He only loses his temper when the housekeeper washes the dusty, carefully stored bottles of port wine.

    Further reading

  • Frank Frølich

    Male

    Frølich is a sergeant with the Oslo Police, where – in a suite of novels by Kjell Ola Dahl – he works together with a cynical and disillusioned Chief Inspector Gunnarstranda. The two are each other’s opposites, for better or worse. The somewhat younger, extrovert and impulsive Frølich is especially interested in women which often lands him in embarrassing situations in his private life as well as in his work.

    Further reading