Sample of literary figures
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Mma Makutsi
Female
She struggles with her poor skin and unflattering spectacles, but Mma Grace Makutsi has impressively high grades from her secretarial course and is a lady with skin on her nose and a sharp tongue. In Alexander McCall Smith’s suite of novels about The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency in Botswana’s capital Gaborone, Mma Makutsi is first employed, but after a while becomes a part-owner of the agency. She is also happily married to Phuti Radiphuti.
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Rina Lazarus
Female
26 years old, the orthodox Jewess Rina Lazarus is a widow and the single parent of two small boys. In connection with a murder case, she gets to know police officer Peter Decker, and after he has changed religion, she marries him and they have a daughter. Author Faye Kellerman also lets them solve a series of criminal cases, where they take turns at playing the main role, and sometimes share it.
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Gunvald Larsson
Male
Born in the fancy district of Östermalm, Stockholm, in a military family that he despises, he is a Marxist, a snobby dresser, sarcastic and is quick to resort to violence. He is single, almost two metres tall, strong as a bull, has closely set eyes and has the habit of picking between his teeth with a paper knife. Apart from this, Gunvald Larsson is an important member in the police group around Martin Beck in most of the books by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö.
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Brother Cadfael
Male
Brother Cadfael is a former crusader who joined the Benedictines on his return to England. He is a herbalist at a monastery in Shrewsbury in Shropshire where he solves crime. These whodunits by Ellis Peters (a pen name used by Edith Pargeter) are set in England during the turbulent first half of the twelfth century. They have caused a major surge in popular interest in historical crime novels.