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adjunct professor of history at Louisiana State University to whom Raymond Clancy has given access to the plantation’s historical documents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