There were too many unsavoury characters lurking about, and Cissie was not only young and pretty but had a friendly loving nature that could easily lead her into trouble.

'However - since you seem so terribly concerned, Detective Coppola - we'll make sure our security staff is watching for any suspicious-looking characters lurking about the library at three o'clock tomorrow afternoon.'

In an audio review of Strong Bad and the rest of the Homestar Runner characters, National Public Radio said "There are lots of nasty characters lurking in the shadowy corners of the World Wide Web.

We've had the occasional report of undesirable characters lurking round the hospital.

'Management like that, bound to be some unsavoury characters lurking in the background.'

If cyberspace has become an after-school playground, parents may be surprised at some of the characters lurking there.

And Ray, the wounded tennis player, actually limped for half a block for the benefit of other characters lurking in the darkness.

By now, you've probably locked your doors, not because of any suspicious characters lurking in the area, but because there's no one lurking anywhere, it seems, in this desolate wasteland, minutes from the Newark-Harrison border.

The land is converted into 'Halloweenland' in October, with many pumpkins and other scary characters lurking around every corner.

By this time there were hardly any people left in the lower Forum, but there were several rather suspicious characters lurking in the Comitia well with their noses poking above the top tier.