Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Peter Decker

    Male

    When he falls in love with the Jewish widow Rina Lazarus, the parents of the divorced single father and police inspector Peter Decker reveal that he is adopted, and that his biological parents were Jews. He changes religion, and can marry Rina. Together, they solve a row of criminal cases in Faye Kellerman’s books, where one of them – or sometimes both of them – plays the main role.

    Further reading

  • Lord Peter Wimsey

    Male

    The English aristocrat (he is the second son of a duke), bibliophile and amateur sleuth Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey is one of the great men of crime fiction and principal character in a long line of classical stories by Dorothy L. Sayers. Witty and erudite, he solves crime with the help of logic, his butler, Bunter, and his friend (later brother-in-law) Inspector Charles Parker.

    Further reading

  • Vesper Johnson

    Male

    Detective Inspector Vesper Johnson is a unique, and very entertaining, character. He is vain with a “beaver” face and rakish moustache; he wears high heels and dyes his hair. Johnson solves crime in a string of novels by Stieg Trenter in which the protagonist is the photographer Harry Friberg. After Trenter’s death, his wife Ulla continued to write her own books about Friberg and Johnson.

    Further reading

  • Cordelia Gray

    Female

    A young private detective in only two novels by P.D. James; many readers have complained that there weren’t any more. She grew up with her foster parents – her mother died an hour after the birth of her daughter – and as an adult became the secretary to the private detective Bernie G. Pryde. When he died of cancer, Cordelia Gray inherited his agency. She is attractive, but despite her successes she is – deep inside – unsure of herself.

    Further reading