Character List for The Cutting Season

The Gray Extended Family

Caren Gray—the protagonist; general manager of a Louisiana plantation called Belle Vie, now being run as an event space and historical site; Caren grew up on this estate when the Clancy family lived there, and she knew Raymond and Bobby Clancy as children

Helen Gray—Caren’s mother, now deceased; she was the cook for Belle Vie for 32 years, including when Caren was growing up

Glenn Carle—Caren’s father, also deceased; he was a doctor in New Orleans with a wife and two children

Morgan Ellis—Caren’s nine-year-old daughter

Eric Ellis—Morgan’s father, a lawyer in President Obama’s Office of Urban Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Lela Gramm—Eric’s fiancé

Jason—Caren’s great-great-great grandfather, born a slave and brought to the Belle Vie plantation when he was a boy; he stayed after he was freed by the Civil War, but went missing shortly thereafter

The Clancy Extended Family

Leland James Clancy—the patriarch, now retired; his recently deceased wife was responsible for restoring the plantation in 1966, getting it recognized by the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism, and writing the script for the enactment that the Belle Vie Players perform

Raymond Clancy—eldest son of Leland; he’s a civil attorney in Baton Rouge and runs the family business, which makes him Caren’s boss

Bobby Clancy—the youngest son of Leland; he’s recently come back to the area

William P. Tynan—the government-appointed plantation overseer after the Civil War and the last person to see Jason alive; the federal government eventually deeded Tynan title to the land, which he left to his youngest daughter when she married James Clancy, an ancestor of Leland’s

The Belle Vie Players and Other Employees

Letty Herrera—the housekeeper hired by Caren to help with Caren’s daughter, Morgan

Luis—head of the Belle Vie maintenance crew

Miguel—member of Belle Vie maintenance crew; when Caren becomes aware of his undocumented status, she has to fire him

Lorraine Banks—current cook for Belle Vie

Pearl—Lorraine’s line cook in the Belle Vie kitchen

Gerald—Belle Vie security guard

Danny Olmsted—an adjunct professor of history at Louisiana State University to whom Raymond Clancy has given access to the plantation’s historical documents

Donovan Isaacs—one of the young Belle Vie Players who has begun questioning the narrative the Players enact for tourists since he began attending a local community college

Ennis Mabry—one of the older Belle Vie Players; he substitutes for Donovan Isaacs when Donovan doesn’t show up for performances

Nikki Hubbard—one of the Belle Vie Players

Bo Johnston—one of the Belle Vie Players

Shauna Hayes—one of the Belle Vie Players

Dell Blanchett—one of the Belle Vie Players

Cornelius McCrary—one of the Belle Vie Players

Eddie Knoxville—one of the Belle Vie Players

Val Marchand—one of the Belle Vie Players

Kimberly Reece—one of the Belle Vie Players

Terry “Shep” Shepard—one of the Belle Vie Players

Other Characters

Betty Collier—Donovan’s 80-year-old grandmother with whom he lives

Hunt Abrams—the project manager for Groveland Corporation, which took over the lease of the cane fields that border the grounds of Belle Vie and that the Clancy family owns; he’s Avalo’s boss and has a bit of checkered career with Groveland

Inés Avalo—the murdered woman, a migrant cane worker

Gustavo Orellana—Avalo’s boyfriend, also a cane worker

Father Akerele—the Nigerian priest at The Feast of St. Joseph Holy Trinity Church where Avalo and other cane workers worshipped

Larry Becht—a highly regarded Republican strategist working on game plan for Raymond Clancy’s possible Democratic candidacy for U. S. Senator

Lee Owens—a reporter for the Times-Picayune who’s looking into the Groveland Corporation and the Avalo murder

The Sheriff’s Department

Detective Nestor Lang—a detective in the Criminal Investigation Division of the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Department, investigating the Avalo murder

Deputy Harris—a member of the Sheriff’s Department; he was the first one on the scene when Caren about the dead woman found on the property

Detective Jimmy Bertrand—a detective in the Criminal Investigation Division of the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Department, investigating the Avalo murder

Dr. Frank Allard—the coroner for Ascension Parish

October 2024 Author Video for Philip Kerr

 

October 2024

Philip Kerr

Metropolis

FYI, it was about 8 minutes in when Windows stopped the video during our meeting on Monday.

Mystery Books Group October Meeting

 

OLLI Mystery Books Group

October 14 at 12:00 pm

Philip Kerr

Metropolis

Here is an article about Philip Kerr written after his death.  There a quite a few links to other good articles.

http://www.shotsmag.co.uk/feature_view.aspx?FEATURE_ID=391

The world of mystery fiction can only lament the extinguished flame of one of its most outstanding practitioners with the sudden death of Philip Kerr, who died on Friday at the age of sixty-two.

In 1989, a young British journalist performed a magic trick. Though born in Edinburgh and living in London, Kerr wrote the nearest pastiche to Raymond Chandler’s quintessentially American literary style yet achieved, transcending the scores—no, hundreds—who had attempted it before he did.

See you there.

Character List for Metropolis

*Characters who existed in real life in Weimar Germany

Berlin Criminal Police

Bernhard “Bernie” Gunther—the narrator; a detective, recently promoted from Vice to the Murder Commission (“the murder wagon”); aka “Helmut Zehr,” for a short period of undercover work

*Bernhard Weiss—Chief of the Criminal Police for Berlin and Gunther’s boss

*Ernst Gennat—a senior homicide detective with the Murder Commission, considered one of the best and the most senior after Weiss; Gunther’s supervisor and role model, aka “the Big Buddha”

Inspector Kurt Reichenbach—the detective that Gunther beat out for the position on the Murder Commission, presumably because Reichenbach was considered too quick to anger

Hans Gross—the police photographer on the murder wagon; nicknamed Cecil B. DeMorgue

Frau Eva Künstler—the police stenographer on the murder wagon

Miczek—uniformed beat cop at the scene of Kleiber’s murder

*Karl Zörgiebel—aka the ViPoPra; the Berlin chief of police and Weiss’s boss

*Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld—physician and sexologist who advised police on the Selesian Station case; his theories interest Weiss enough to recommend that Gunther speak to him

Commissar Johann Körner—lead detective at the scene of Eva Angerstein’s murder

Otto Trettin—detective who joins the team on the Gnadenschuss case following his return from a sanitarium where he was treated for drug addiction

Paul Mendel—expert in firearms and runs the police firearms lab

Victims

Frieda Ahrendt—a murdered woman in a cold case that Gunther had worked in Schöneberg the previous year; she was identified by fingerprints since all that was found of her were some body parts, including her hands, wrapped in brown paper and buried; no family had been found

Mathilde Luz—the first Selesian Station murder victim; in the case file Gunther reads when he first joins the Murder Commission

Helen Strauch—the second Selesian Station murder victim; in the case file Gunther reads when he first joins the Murder Commission; Reichenbach had been the detective on the case

Fritz/Louise Pabst—the third Selesian Station victim, a transvestite prostitute who survives the murderer’s attack; in the case file and described to Gunther soon after he joins the Murder Commission

“Mustermann”—cop-speak for an unnamed victim

Bruno Kleiber—the first murder case that Gunther is called out on with the murder wagon; Kleiber ran a street roulette wheel called Little Monte Carlo

Eva Angerstein—the second murder case that Gunther is called out on with the murder wagon; Eva Angerstein worked as a stenographer but was also thought to be a “payday” prostitute, so her murder is considered part of the Silesian Station cases, although there are troubling differences

Werner Schlichter-first victim of Dr. Gnadenschuss; a former sergeant in 180th Infantry shot in the spine at the Battle of the Somme

Oskar Heyde—second victim of Dr. Gnadenschuss; in 50th Reserve Division, blown up by a mine at the Third Battle of Ypres; received the Iron Cross

Werner Jugo—third victim of Dr. Gnadenschuss; in 27th Field Artillery Division, hit by mortar fire at the Battle of Amiens

Walther Frölich—fourth victim of Dr. Gnadenschuss; corporal in Third Army’s Ninth Landwehr Division, shot at Verdun

Johann Tetzel—fifth victim of Dr. Gnadenschuss; a veteran who had given Gunther information on Prussian Emil

Willi Beckmann—a man killed in the street by a man with a machine gun; Gunther is an eye-witness to this murder

Murderers

Winnetou—the media nickname for a murderer suspected of killing prostitutes by hitting them in the head and scalping them; the official file name used by the police was Silesian Station; Winnetou was the name of a fictional Native American character in several novels written by real-life German author Karl May in the early 1900s

Herbert Kolbe—the man Bruno Kleiber paid to be his “watchdog”

Dr. Gnadenschuss—the pseudonym of an anonymous letter-writer (to the Berliner Tageblatt) who claims credit for a series of point-blank murders of disabled war veterans

Hugo Gediehn—kills a man in the street with a machine gun; Gunther is eye-witness and recognizes Gediehn from the bar where Gunther had gone looking for Prussian Emil

Important Witnesses

*Daisy Torrens—an American actress who had been seen with Eva Angerstein at the Kakadu the night she was murdered; Torrens claims Eva was her drug buyer; Torrens is also Albert Grzesinski’s secret mistress

Herbert Kolbe—the man Bruno Kleiber paid to be his “watchdog”

Stephan Rühle—a “resident” at the Palme (homeless shelter) who claims to be an eyewitness to one of the Dr. Gnadenschuss murders and to have recognized the murderer to have been a policeman

Emil Müller—aka Prussian Emil; a drug dealer, a lookout for burglars, and a sometime beggar who pretends to be a disabled veteran but is part of a criminal ring

Rudi Geise—Daisy Torrens’s former boyfriend (before Grzesinski); he works for Fritz Lang’s film company and seems to hate women; also, he was seen with Eva Angerstein the night she was murdered

Ernst Engelbrecht—a former cop with expertise on local crime syndicates, who gives Gunther information on Erich Angerstein and the German Middle Ring

Helga—the lover of the man killed in the street; Gunther recognizes her as Gediehn’s companion from the bar where Gunther had gone looking for Prussian Emil

Gunther’s Friends and Neighbors

Frau Weitendorf—Gunther’s landlady at the boarding house where he lives; aka “The Golem”

Robert Rankin—an English writer who rents the 3rd floor rooms directly below Gunther’s at Frau Weitendorf’s

Fischer—a Bavarian whom Gunther suspects is either a traveling salesman or a crook

Rosa Braun—a young woman who lives on the upper floor at Frau Weitendorf’s; she dresses in masculine clothing (a white tuxedo) to play saxophone in a dance band

Brigitte Mölbling—the make-up artist at Neues Theater who helps Gunther assume the disguise of a homeless, disabled veteran when he goes undercover

Berlin Politicians/Influencers

*Albert Grzesinski—Prussian Minister of the Interior, formerly Berlin’s chief of police; he has a secret mistress, the American actress Daisy Torrens

*Theodore Wolff—editor-in-chief of the Berliner Tageblatt

*Arthur Nebe—police commissioner of Prussian Police Officers’ Association

*Thea von Harbou—screenwriter for, and the wife of, Fritz Lang; Reichenbach asked Gunther to help her with police background on an idea she’s working on for a new film

*Fritz Lang—famous film director of such movies as Metropolis and M

Erich Angerstein—syndicate leader of the German Middle Ring; he is Eva Angerstein’s father

September 2024 Author Video for Sujata Massey

 

September 2024 

Sujata Massey

The Satapur Moonstone

Character List for "The Satapur Moonstone"

Bombay Characters

P. J. “Perveen” Mistry, Esq.—a Bombay solicitor working in her father’s law firm, Mistry Law; she has taken back her maiden name after separating from her husband, Cyrus Sodawalla

Jamshedji Mistry, Esq.—Perveen’s father and owner of Mistry Law

Camellia Mistry—Perveen’s mother

Gulnaz Mistry—Perveen’s sister-in-law

Alice Hobson-Jones—Perveen’s friend and classmate from Oxford

Sir David Hobson-Jones—Alice’s father; one of the British governor’s top three councilors in India

Associated with the Kolhapur Agency

Colin Wythe Sandringham—the Kolhapur Agency’s British political agent for Satapur; he lives at the circuit house

Rama—Colin’s cook and assistant at the circuit house

Dr. Graham Andrews—British doctor for the Satapur region

Owen McLaughlin—Colin’s predecessor as political agent for Satapur

Yazad and Vendana Mehta—a couple who live near the circuit house (in an estate they call “Heaven’s Rest”); Vendana has mysterious ties to the Satapur royal family

Roderick Ames—despite his English-sounding name and Welsh accent, an Indian electrical engineer who is doing work for the Kolhapur Agency

Members of the Satapur Royal Family

Prince Jiva Rao—the 10-year-old son of the late Maharaja Mahendra Rao; he is next in line of succession when he comes of age at 18

Prince Pratap Rao—the older son of the late Mahendra Rao; he was briefly maharaja until he was mysteriously killed in what looked like a hunting accident

Princess Padmabai Rao—the youngest child of the late Mahendra Rao

Maharani Mirabai Rao—the wife of the late Mahendra Rao and the mother of Pratap, Jiva, and Padmabai; she’s also referred to as the choti-rani; before her marriage, she was Keya of Bhor

Maharaja Mahendra Rao—the next-to-last maharaja, son of Mohan and Putlabai Rao and younger brother of Prince Swaroop

Prince Swaroop—Mahendra Rao’s older brother, the current “prime minister” of Satapur

Maharani Putlabai Rao—the “dowager maharani,” Mahendra and Swaroop Rao’s mother and the widow of their father Mohan Rao; she’s also referred to as the rajmata

Maharaja Mohan Rao—Mahendra and Swaroop Rao’s father; he signed the original agreement between the British government and the royal family for the administration of Satapur

Members of the Satapur Royal Court

Aditya—the jester (buffoon or “yerda”) at the royal palace

Mr. Basu—the aging tutor to two generations of Rao children, currently Jiva and Padmabai; he is also officially the palace officer

Chitra—the maid assigned to assist Perveen at the palace

Jaginder Dhillon—Swaroop’s employee, formerly the palace officer at the Satapur palace

Archana—Putlabai Rao’s favorite lady-in-waiting

Swagata—one of Putlabai’s ladies-in-waiting; Chitra’s mother

Other Satapur Characters

Pratik—the postman who delivers the mail in Satapur

Charan—Pratik’s assistant

Lakshman—the village businessman who runs the palanquin rental

Baburam—responsible for maintaining the hunting lodge

August 2024 Author Video - Jonathan Lethem

 

August 2024

Jonathan Lethem

Motherless Brooklyn 

Character List for Motherless Brooklyn

Motherless Brooklyn (the crew from St. Vincent’s Home for Boys) aka the “Minna Men”

Lionel Essrog—aka “Freakshow,” aka “Alibi,” aka “Crazyman”; the narrator, who has Tourette’s syndrome

Gilbert “Gil” Coney—a tough guy, but tolerant of and close to Lionel; on stakeout with Lionel at beginning of book

Tony Vermonte—the oldest of the crew and favored by Frank Minna

Danny Fantl—a black kid who passes for white, a basketball player, the first to be sent for driving lessons, and the one chosen for private deliveries

The Minnas and Their “Associates”

Frank Minna—owner of a “car service” business (L & L) that’s a cover for a “detective agency” that’s a cover for something else; he plucked the Motherless Brooklyn crew from St. Vincent’s when they were teens; they work for him

Gerard Minna—Frank’s older brother who spirited Frank out of town a few years after Frank first hires Motherless Brooklyn; he didn’t return when Frank came back three years later at Carlotta’s death

Carlotta Minna—Frank and Gerard’s mother; Frank “inherited” her apartment when he returned

Julia Minna—the woman Frank Minna met and married while he was away with Gerard

Ullman—an accountant

“the giant”—a Polish strongman . . . . if he exists

Alphonso Matricardi

Leonardo Rockaforte—aka “the Clients”; shadow figures connected with some of Frank Minna’s “detective” work who seemed to make Minna uneasy

Characters Connected with the Yorkville Zendo

Kimmery—one of the students at the Yorkville Zendo; she’s the girl who entered the Zendo before Frank Minna on the day of the “stakeout” at the beginning of the book

Wallace—an “old hippie” who’s a serious student and “stoic sitter” at the Zendo

Jerry-Roshi—the roshi (leader) of the Zendo; he turns out to be Gerard Minna

The “Law”

Lucius Seminole—the homicide detective in charge of finding Frank Minna’s killer

Loomis—aka “the garbage cop”; a friend of Gilbert Coney who works as a sanitation inspector

Character List for Jar City

Erlendur—Detective Inspector with the Reykjavik police

Sigurdur Oli—colleague

Elinborg—colleague

Eva Lind—daughter of Erlender, with a history of drug addiction

Sindri Snar—Erlender’s son out of rehab for the third time; only barely mentioned in this story

Olafur—father and sons who discovered the body. They lived upstairs.

Holberg—murder victim, rapist

Fjola and Birna—twins who had been attacked the same day Holberg was murdered

The Attacker—young man in a green army jacket

The Pilot—another neighbor of Holberg

The couple from Gardabaer—parents of the bride who ran away after her wedding

Disa Ros—missing bride

Viggo—bridegroom

Audur—child who died when she was four years old

Kolbrun—Audur’s mother, committed suicide three years after her daughter’s death

Marion Briem—retired police person known to Erlendur for thirty years

Elin—Kolbrun’s sister

Runar—policeman who failed to investigate Kolbrun’s rape allegations

Gretar—friend of Holberg, with him when he met Kolbrun, missing

Ellidi—friend of Holberg, with him when he met Kolbrun, currently in prison for assault

Klara—Gretar’s sister

Theodora—Gretar’s mother

Eddi—Eva Lind’s dealer

The pathologist—who discovered Audur’s brain is missing

Hanna—the professor who helps him find Eydal

Eydal—the scientist who has Audur’s brain

Katrin—the other rape victim

Albert—Katrin’s husband

Einar—Katrin’s son

Einar’s daughter—died of the same disease as Audur

Ragnar—the head of forensics

Karitas—director of the Genetic Research Center

June 2024 Author Video - Stacey Abrams

Here is an interview and review of Stacey Abrams book, While Justice Sleeps.

 

Character List for While Justice Sleeps

SCOTUS Characters

Chief Justice Teresa Roseborough—the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Debi Starnes—one of Roseborough’s secretaries

Mary Gonzalez—one of Roseborough’s secretaries

Justice Howard Jefferson Wynn—a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; in a coma at Bethesda Naval Hospital from the beginning of the book, possibly by his own hand

Avery Olivia Keene—one of Justice Wynn’s law clerks; unbeknownst to her, he has given her power of attorney and guardianship over him in the event of incapacitation; she is the main protagonist

Matt Brewer—Justice Wynn’s other law clerk; dismissed by the Court when he’s discovered to be the source of leaks

Gary Stewart—the SCOTUS press secretary

Characters Connected to Justice Wynn (outside of SCOTUS)

Jared Wynn—Justice Wynn’s estranged son (Wynn sent him to live with his mother’s sister after his mother, Wynn’s first wife, died; the two have barely spoken since)

Celeste Turner-Wynn—Justice Wynn’s second wife, whom he was in the midst of divorcing when he fell ill; she believes she’s the rightful guardian

Jamie Lewis—Howard Wynn’s nurse, who finds him in distress and calls U.S. Marshalls who arrange for his transport

Noah Fox—a lawyer with the wills and estates division of Wynn’s law firm, Lowry Kihneman; he’d been responsible for drafting all the documents involved with Wynn’s estate plans as Wynn dictated them

Dr. Michael Toca—Wynn’s neurologist at Bethesda Naval Hospital

Characters Connected to Avery Keene

Rita Keene—Avery’s mother, a long-time alcoholic and drug addict

Ling Yin—Avery’s roommate and long-time friend; a doctor

U.S. Government Officials and Those Connected

President Brandon Stokes—current President of the United States; as Vice President, he succeeded President Warren Cadres, who died in office

Major William Vance—the President’s liaison from the Department of Homeland Security

Dr. Elizabeth “Betty” Papaleo—aka “Wilma”; head of Strategy, Policy & Budget for the Science and Technology Directorate within the Department of Homeland Security

Phillips—lead member of a “skunk-works” team reporting to Vance

Castillo—a member of Vance’s skunk-works team

Special Agent Robert Lee—an FBI special agent “loosely attached” to the Office of Law Enforcement Coordination and coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security

Eliza Leighton—one of the FBI agents reporting to Lee and assigned to Avery’s security detail

David Ralston—the U.S. Solicitor General; argues the U.S. position in the SCOTUS hearing on Avery’s filing to reverse her resignation as Wynn’s guardian

Characters Connected to Various Biotech Companies

Dr. Indira Srinivasan—head of Advar Biogenetics, an Indian company (HQ: Bangalore, India) attempting to acquire the U.S. company GenWorks; the U.S. President’s opposition to this acquisition is the basis of the case currently before SCOTUS—the root of the plot of the book

Nigel Cooper—the founder and president of GenWorks, the U.S. company (HQ: Chapel Hill, NC) that is the target of Advar’s acquisition attempt; if the acquisition is successful, Cooper would head the American division of Advar

Dr. Ani Kumar Ramji—a scientist in hiding, formerly with Hygeia (an Indian company acquired and quietly buried within Advar) and a lead in its ethically questionable Tigris project (which was also buried in the Advar acquisition)

June 2024 Mystery Book Group Meeting

 

OLLI Mystery Books

June 10, 2024 at 12 Noon

Conference Room

OLLI Building

May 2024 Author Videos - William Kent Krueger

 

Here is the author video for May 2024 in case you missed it.  I’m also including the Krueger video from 2019 if you are interested.  It has some nice scenes of Krueger canoeing across a serene lake in Minnesota.

2024

Iron Lake

2019

Northwest Angle

Character List for Iron Lake

The O’Connors

Corcoran “Cork” O’Connor—the protagonist; ¼ Anishinaabe (Ojibwe); the former sheriff in Aurora, Minnesota; may or may not have heard the Windigo call his name

Nancy Jo O’Connor—Cork’s wife (although they are currently separated) and a local lawyer, often representing the Anishinaabe, but currently managing Sandy Parrant’s legal affairs

Rose—Jo’s unmarried older sister who lives with the O’Connors and manages the household

Jenny O’Connor—the O’Connor’s 14-year-old daughter

Anne O’Connor—the O’Connor’s 11-year-old daughter

Stevie O’Connor—the O’Connor’s 5-year-old son

Molly Nurmi—waitress at Johnny’s Pinewood Broiler and Cork’s love interest

The Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) and Families

Sam Winter Moon—a friend of Cork’s father, mentor to Cork after Cork’s father died, and former owner of Sam’s Place, which he left to Cork when he died

Henry Meloux—aka “Mad Mel”; an elder and Midewiwin (medicine man) who’s said to know how to kill a Windigo

Ernie Meloux—Henry’s nephew; works at the Chippewa Grand Casino, attaching inventory tags to equipment

Wanda Manydeeds—a member of the tribal council and activist for the Anishinaabe; also a Midewiwin

Joe John LeBeau—Wanda’s brother and Darla’s husband; a former Aurora High School basketball star whose college career was cut short by injury; after an off-again-on-again history of drink, he’d vanished a couple of months earlier

Darla LeBeau—Joe John’s wife, who initially reports their son, Paul, missing but then seems uninterested in getting law enforcement involved

Paul LeBeau—Joe John’s and Darla’s 14-year-old son who goes missing at the end of his newspaper route in a snowstorm

Vernon Blackwater—recently deceased chairman of the tribal council and operator of a lumber mill on the Iron Lake Reservation

Russell Blackwater—Vernon’s son, a former militant member of AIM (American Indian Movement); now the manager of the Chippewa Grand Casino; may or may not have heard the Windigo call his name

Aurora “Officials” and Other Residents

Judge Robert Parrant—wealthy retired judge; found dead by apparent suicide in the opening chapters

Sandy Parrant—the judge’s son and newly elected U.S. Senator representing Minnesota; he has a goal of running for President in six years

Stuart “Stu” Grantham—a realtor, a “property consultant” for Game Tech, and a member of county board of commissioners (a probable conflict of interest)

Wally Schanno—the current sheriff of Aurora who was elected after a recall vote ousted Cork; also (in a probable conflict of interest) has a contract to provide security for Game Tech

Arletta Schanno—Wally’s wife, currently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s

Ed Larson—captain and longest-serving member of the sheriff’s office

Cy Borkmann—deputy in sheriff’s office

Jack Wozniak—young rookie officer in sheriff’s office

Sigurd Nelson—a mortician and the current county coroner (an elected position) although he has no forensics experience; also (in a probable conflict of interest) a “personnel consultant” with Game Tech

Father Tom Griffin—aka St. Kawasaki; a priest who came to town about 1.5 years ago to help Father Kelsey at the Catholic Church

Ellie Gruber—Father Kelsey’s housekeeper at the rectory

Helmuth “Hell” Hanover—editor of the local newspaper, The Aurora Sentinel; his reporting seems to be fair, but his editorials lean against Cork; also, he has sympathies with the Minnesota Civilian Brigade (a militia-type group that opposes “preferential” treatment of Native Americans)

Harlan Lytton—a loner with a troubled past whose mother used to work for Judge Parrant; owns a mean dog called Jack the Ripper; may or may not have heard the Windigo call his name

Arnold Stanley—an Aurora resort owner whom Cork had shot during a standoff over Iron Lake fishing rights between the Anishinaabe and Aurora; this event had led to Cork’s being recalled as sheriff

April 2024 Author Video - Virginia Feito

 

An interview and review of Virginia Feito’s book, Mrs. March.

Characters for Mrs. March

Mrs. Agatha (Kirby) March—the protagonist; married to George March

George March—Mrs. March’s husband, well-known author who has just published a book that’s getting a lot of press

Johanna—the main character in George March’s new book; Mrs. March is concerned that George has based this character on her

Jonathan March—the Marches’ 8-year-old son

Paulette “Paula” March—George March’s daughter by a previous marriage (a photo more than a character)

Barbara March—George March’s mother

Martha—the Marches’ housekeeper

Lisa—Mrs. March’s older sister; married to Fred

Edgar—George March’s editor

Zelda—George March’s literary agent

Gabrielle Lynne—a book jacket designer who attends the party Mrs. March gives for George’s book (her cigarette case is the one Mrs. March steals)

Kiki—Mrs. March’s make-believe childhood “friend”

Alec Miller—a neighbor boy who goes to the same school as Jonathan March

Sheila & Bob Miller—Alec’s parents; Mrs. March seems to rely on Sheila for Jonathan-related activities (school pick-ups and drop-offs, play dates, etc.)

Sylvia Gibbler—a twenty-something murder victim, currently in the news

Amy Bryant—Sylvia Gibbler’s friend and co-worker, currently living with Gibbler’s grandmother, Babka

Jennifer—the woman George March admits to having an affair with

REMINDER: April 8, 2024. Mystery Books Group Meeting

 

April 8, 2024

12 Noon

Virginia Feito

Mrs. March

In case you are interested, here are links to two articles about Virginia Feito and her first book, Mrs. March.

Her book was optioned for a movie before it was even published.

Hope to see you there!

https://www.vogue.com/article/virginia-feito-mrs-march

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/13/1027537478/in-mrs-march-a-judgmental-high-society-woman-is-gaslit-to-the-brink-of-madness

Jussi Adler-Olsen, March 2024 Mystery Books Author Video

 

March 2024 Author Jussi Adler-Olsen

Here, in case you missed our meeting or want to see it again, is the March Author Video of Jussi Adler-Olsen.  Thanks to all of you who attended especially to Sally Sapunor for such a great job facilitating.

Don’t forget to click on the CC icon or the Gear icon for subtitles.

Character List for The Scarred Woman

Department Q

Deputy Chief Inspector Carl Mørck—the head of Department Q, an unsolved crimes (cold case) unit of the Copenhagen Police HQ; HQ is on the second floor, and Department Q is in the basement

Hafaz el-Assad—a Syrian immigrant and self-appointed investigator in Department Q; his exact background is a bit of a mystery; Carl thinks of him as “Curly”

Rose Knudsen—an office-worker-turned-investigator in Department Q; she appeared in Department Q in 2008, having previously flunked out of the police academy after failing the driving test

Gordon Taylor—on long-term “loan” from Bjørn’s team; he sticks around because he’s smitten with Rose

Others Connected to Copenhagen Police HQ

Marcus Jacobsen—the former head of homicide in the now-defunct Department A and Carl’s former boss; now retired for four years but obsessed with the Gundersen case

Lars Bjørn—Jacobsen’s successor and Carl’s current boss; officially in charge of the Rigmor Zimmerman case, the Gunderson case, the nightclub robbery, and the hit-and-run cases

Bente Hansen—police superintendent

Terje Ploug—an investigator on the nightclub robbery case

Lars Pasgård—lead investigator on the Zimmerman case

Catarina Underberg Sørensen—a gatekeeper on the second floor

Lis—secretary for homicide department

Tomas Laursen—the canteen manager at Police HQ; he was formerly a forensic technician with the police

Janus Staal—head of communications for police

Oleg Borg-Pedersen—Station 3 TV producer to whom Bjørn has given permission to “shadow” Department Q on their investigations

Mona Ibsen—police psychotherapist with whom Carl was previously romantically involved, although he hasn’t spoken to her in years

The Zimmermans

Fritzl Zimmerman—the patriarch, a former German (Nazi) army officer (supposedly wanted at one time by Poland for war crimes as Sturmbannführer Bernhard Krause); dead under unusual circumstances in 2004

Rigmor Zimmerman—Fritzl’s wife and Denise’s grandmother; she’s murdered early in the story

Birgit Zimmerman—Denise’s mother and Rigmor’s daughter

James Lester Frank—aka Mark Johnson; Denise’s father and Birgit’s ex-husband (divorced when Denise was 7 years old); an American serviceman and subsequently a U.S. Army deserter

Dorrit “Denise” Frank Zimmerman—Rigmor’s granddaughter and Birgit’s daughter; she is also a client of Svendsen’s at the social security office

Connected Through the Vesterbro Social Security Office

Anne-Line “Anneli” Svendsen—the unhappy case worker

Michelle Hansen—one of Svendsen’s clients; she’s been living with Patrick Pettersen but illegally claiming benefits for another rented room

Patrick Pettersen—Hansen’s boyfriend; he works as a bouncer at the Victoria nightclub

Jazmine Jørgensen—one of Svendsen’s clients who works the system using serial pregnancy and adoption

Birna Sigurdardottir—a social security office client; she’s purportedly the leader of a girl gang called Black Ladies

Senta Berger—aka Oline Anjou, aka Anja Olsen; a client from the social security office where Anneli worked prior to Vesterbro

Bertha “Roberta” Lind—a client from the social security office where Anneli worked prior to Vesterbro

Connected to 2004 Gundersen Case

Stephanie Gundersen—a temporary school teacher at Bolman’s Independent School in Østre Anlæg; her murder is one of HQ’s older cases but still not officially transferred to Department Q

Mogens Iversen—a 42-year-old man who tries to confess to Gundersen’s murder as well as to Rigmor’s murder

Connected to the Habersaat Case

Christian Habersaat—retired police investigator on the Danish island of Bornholm who contacted Carl to take over a case Habersaat had been obsessed with for over 20 years (the death of Alberte Goldschmid); he committed suicide in 2014 after Carl turned him down, which led to Carl’s team taking the case; his resemblance to Arne Knudsen made this a difficult case for Rose

June Habersaat—Christian’s wife, who confessed to Carl’s team on her deathbed that she’d murdered Alberte Goldschmid

Alberte Goldschmid—the 19-year-old victim of a hit-and-run that threw her body into a tree where it hung for days before someone noticed

(This case forms the basis for Department Q #6, The Hanging Girl.)

Rose Knudsen’s Family & Friends

Arne Knudsen—Rose’s abusive father; he was killed in a 1999 steel plant accident in front of her

Vicky Knudsen—Rose’s next oldest sister, one year younger

Yrsa Knudsen—Rose’s next sister, two years younger

Lise-Marie Knudsen—Rose’s youngest sister, four years younger

Benito Dion—Rose’s former therapist, now dead

Karoline Stavensager—aka Kinua von Kunstwerk; Rose’s best friend in middle school; now a painter

Leo M. Andresen—former steel plant employee and a member of a historical society for retired employees

Benny Andersson—a former steel plant employee

Carl Mørck’s Family & Friends

Hardy—Mørck’s former police partner who was severely injured saving Carl’s life and became quadriplegic (2007); Carl has taken him in and supports his care; Hardy had worked with Jacobsen on the Gundersen case

Morten—Hardy’s caregiver; he also cooks for Carl and Hardy

Mika—Hardy’s physical therapist and masseur; also Morten’s (ex?) boyfriend

Vigga—Carl’s ex-wife; she left him in 2005

Jesper—Carl’s 25-year-old stepson; he continued to live with Carl for years after his mother’s divorce from Carl, but has mostly moved out now

Karla Alsing—Vigga’s mother who’s currently in a nursing home; Carl is her favorite