Sample of literary figures
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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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Lisbeth Salander
Female
A young punk rocker, computer hacker and cracker with a troubled past, including a spell at a psychiatric ward. She is one of Sweden’s best-known female characters internationally. Salander is the protagonist of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy and the official sequel. She is a highly organized woman on the left of the political spectrum, and when she needs to she is an efficient action heroine.
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Lennart Kollberg
Male
Martin Beck’s second-in-command and good friend in the books by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö is Lennart Kollberg, a bohemian, overweight (but in good physical trim) former paratrooper, conscientious objector and Marxist who finally tires of his job in the police and give his notice. Kollberg has two major interests in life: food and his family; his 14-year younger wife, Gun – with whom he often enjoys making love – and their two children.
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Kate Brannigan
Female
Kate Brannigan is a private detective at Mortensen & Brannigan in Manchester. According to the author, Val McDermid, she dropped out of law school. Brannigan is a tough, quick-witted, independent woman with a great deal of integrity. She refuses to move in with her music journalist partner who lives next-door. She never gives up a case, not even when all the odds are against her.