Meny

Sample of literary figures

  • Gunnar Barbarotti

    Male

    His father was Italian, his mother Swedish – and one of the few things they were successful with was their son’s name. Gunnar Barbarotti is a police detective in the fictive Swedish town of Kymlinge. He is a reflecting gentleman with an everyday appearance who is unlucky in his relationships: his first wife leaves him, his second wife dies in the books by Håkan Nesser. When alone, Barbarotti has long conversations with God.

    Further reading

  • Asbjørn Krag

    Male

    Norwegian police officer, who also works as a private detective, created by Stein Riverton (pseudonym for Sven Elvestad). Asbjørn Krag works in Kristiania/Oslo, but solves cases in various parts of Norway. He is athletically built, with an angular face, and works as much with his head as with his muscles. He is unmarried, or rather, married to his work. His literary colleague Knut Gribb is based on Krag.

    Further reading

  • Guido Brunetti

    Male

    Commissario (Detective Superintendent) Brunetti in the Italian state police, stationed in Venice, solves murder cases in a number of books by American author Donna Leon, herself resident in the city. Brunetti is married to Paola, daughter in an aristocratic family and a university lecturer, and has a lively family life which includes children and his own as well as his wife’s relatives. He also battles against the Italian bureaucracy which doesn’t exactly facilitate his work.

    Further reading

  • Matthew Hope

    Male

    Lawyer Matthew Hope moves with his wife Susan and daughter Joanna from Chicago to Calusa in Florida to work with commercial law for a small law firm. But nothing goes as he wished: thanks to his detective talents, he unwillingly becomes a leading criminal lawyer and his marriage ends in divorce, as we read in the books by Ed McBain (pseudonym for Evan Hunter).

    Further reading