Sample of literary figures
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Temperance Brennan
Female
Middle-aged but well-preserved and internationally renowned forensic anthropologist, who (in Kathy Reichs’ novels) works in Canada and the USA, as well as other countries. In the first book, Temperance ‘Tempe’ Brennan is newly divorced and a sober alcoholic. Important people in her life are her daughter Kate, who goes to college, police detective Andrew Ryan, with whom she has an on-and-off relationship, and her sister Harriet.
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Tom Ripley
Male
He is charming, handsome and cultivated as well as being a ruthless serial killer and psychopath totally lacking in empathy, the main character in five classic thrillers by Patricia Highsmith. Thomas ‘Tom’ Ripley became an orphan when he was five years old, and was brought up by a callous female relative. He later marries the wealthy Héloïse Plisson, but nevertheless has successfully continued his criminal career.
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Arto Söderstedt
Male
A Finland-Swedish top lawyer who tired of his job and moved with his family to Sweden where he trained to become a police officer. After a spell in Västerås, Arto Söderstedt was transferred to the Swedish Police Board’s special A-group unit, which Arne Dahl (pseudonym for Jan Arnald) has written about. After the group was split up, he returned in Dahl’s books about the international police force OPCOP.
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Flavia de Luce
Female
In the 1950s, the motherless Flavia de Luce was not highly regarded by her father and sisters. She was indeed a rather ordinary and everyday 11-12-year-old (with dental braces), but mature for her age, and determined too, with a mind of her own and smart, and she busied herself with nasty-smelling chemistry experiments. Besides, she solved murders – for which the police resented her – in the books that Alan Bradley has written about her.