Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Martine Poirot

    Female

    An investigating judge in the fictive little Belgian town Villette-sur-Meuse, where she lives with her husband, the Swedish Professor Thomas Héger, a specialist in Medieval History, and (eventually) their two children. Martine Poirot – the author Ingrid Hedström is very fond of whodunnnits à la Agatha Christie – is 34 years old when we meet her for the first time. She is attractive and picks her clothes carefully as well as being a skilful and stubborn crime investigator.

    Further reading

  • Gunnar Mellberg

    Male

    A detective inspector, later chief inspector, in Lund, Sweden. He is tall, well-built, smokes a pipe and is interested in gardening. With his wife, he has four children. K. Arne Blom has written five novels (and a book for people with reading impediments) about Gunnar Mellberg. In the first novels, he has a minor yet important role, in the final one it is revealed that he is the son of one of Blom’s main characters, the security agent Loman.

    Further reading

  • John Rebus

    Male

    Rebus is a Scottish detective who usually works in Edinburgh where most of Ian Rankin’s novels about him are set. Rebus is a loner with cooperation issues and he is not always popular with his superiors. He has a drinking problem, he was born in Cardenden, Fife, in 1947 and he has no interest in politics. Rebus eventually retires from his job, but returns to join a cold case team.

    Further reading

  • Harry Friberg

    Male

    Stieg Trenter based his protagonist Friberg on his friend, the photographer K. W. Gullers. Friberg too is a well-known photographer. He is a cheerful, alert man who loves good food and the company of women. It is not he, however, who solves crime, that is the job of Detective Inspector Vesper Johnson. When Trenter died, his wife Ulla continued the series, allowing Friberg to get married.

    Further reading