March 2025 Author’s Video

 

March 2025 Author’s Video for Liv Constantine

March 2025

Liv Constantine

The Senator’s Wife

Character List for The Senator's Wife

The Chase and Montgomery Families

Sloane (Emerson) Chase Montgomery—the wife of Senator Whitaker Montgomery; she is the widow of Senator Robert Chase, who was killed in an accidental domestic shooting

Emmy Chase—Sloane and Robert Chase’s adult daughter

Rosemary Chase—Robert Chase’s mother, Sloane’s mother-in-law, and Emmy’s grandmother

Camille Chase—Rosemary’s daughter and Robert’s sister

Senator Whitaker “Whit” Montgomery—Sloane’s current husband; he is the widower of Peg Montgomery

Peg (Barkley) Montgomery—former wife of Whit, cousin of Robert Chase, and Rosemary’s niece; she was killed in the same accidental domestic shooting that killed Robert Chase

The Politicians, Donors, and Lobbyists

President Marshall Beckermann—current POTUS and a former senator

Anne Beckermann—current FLOTUS and a good friend of Sloane

Vice President Chester Bishop—current Vice President recently appointed by Beckermann to replace the elected VP who died a year before; a friend of Whit who seems to be working with him on a project

Congresswoman Faye Chambers—congresswoman and a friend of Rosemary Chase; she seems to be working on a project with Whit Montgomery

Congressman Frank Horner—congressman who seems to be working on a project with Whit Montgomery

Dominic Peterson—a lobbyist for, and president of, Redstone Consulting who seems to be working on a project with Whit Montgomery

Fred Sawyer—a lobbyist who has contributed heavily to Senator Whitaker Montgomery’s campaigns and career and who also seems to be working on a project with Whit Montgomery

Madelyn Sawyer—Fred Sawyer’s wife, who’s involved with Whit Montgomery

Others

Athena Karras—aka Athena Pamfilis; a young widow hired to be a home health aide and assistant to Sloane Montgomery while she recovers from hip surgery

Clint Winston—an associate of Athena

Yvette—the cook for the Montgomerys

Doris—the housekeeper for the Montgomerys

Dr. Porter—Sloane’s rheumatologist who treats her lupus

Mac Slade—an old friend of Rosemary Chase’s; she asks him to investigate Whit

Character List for The Princess of Burundi

The Jonsson Family

John Harald “Little John” Jonsson—the first murder victim; an unemployed welder whose hobby and passion is tropical fish, specifically Princess of Burundi cichlids from Lake Tanganyika in Africa

Berit Jonsson—Little John’s wife; a part-time in-home attendant for social services

Justus Jonsson—Little John and Berit’s 14-year-old son

Lennart Albert “Brother Tuck” Jonsson—Little John’s older brother; a man who’s had previous interactions with the Uppsala police

Albin Jonsson—Little John and Lennart’s father; died when he either slipped or jumped from a cathedral roof where he was welding

Aina Jonsson—Little John and Lennart’s mother; still living, but in early stages of dementia

The Police

Chief Ottosson—the head of the Homicide Division of the Uppsala police

Ola Haver—the lead police detective on the Little John murder case

Rebecka Haver—Ola Haver’s wife, on maternity leave from public health job

Beatrice Andersson—one of the police detectives sent to investigate the original call about Little John’s murder; she makes initial visit to Berit Jonsson

Allan Fredriksson—one of the police detectives sent to investigate the original call about Little John’s murder; also called to the scene of the attack on Gunilla Karlsson

Sammy “Rasbo” Nilsson—police detective who seems to have theories about cases that are not usually shared by his fellow detectives; he’s also been part of a youth street crime project

Ann Lindell—police detective out on maternity leave but so eager to return to duty that she becomes inexplicably involved in the Little John case; her baby is Erik; (in a probable foreshadowing of later books in the series, she seems to have romantic feelings for Ola Haver and has been in a past relationship with Edvard Risberg)

Berglund—an older police detective with long-time ties in Uppsala

Riis—the police detective who does forensic accounting investigations

Peter Lundin—a germaphobic police detective

Eskil Ryde—the police’s forensic specialist

Lisolette Rask—the head of public relations for the police

Jan-Erik Hollman—a policeman killed by Vincent Hahn during Vincent’s arrest

Karolina Wittåker—the psychologist assigned to evaluate Vincent Hahn

Little John’s Friends, Classmates, and Other Associates

Mikael “Micke” Andersson—a childhood friend of Little John’s, whom Little John had visited the night he was murdered; he had sometimes given Little John information on part-time work in snow removal

Oskar Pettersson—an old timer who knew the Jonsson family when Little John was growing up

Vincent Hahn—a troubled classmate of Little John’s who has grown up to be a troubled man with a vendetta against former classmates and others

Gunilla Karlsson—one of the classmates against whom Vincent Hahn has a vendetta for ignoring him and taunting him in school

Vivan Molin—Vincent Hahn’s sister-in-law, formerly married to his brother Wolfgang Hahn (decamped to Israel); she’s another of Vincent’s victims

Mossa—an Iranian gambler with information about Little John’s big poker win

Ove Reinhold Ljusnemark—unemployed airplane mechanic who was in the poker game that Little John won; he gives the police eight names, but after interviews, only three—Lindstrom, Rosengren, and Mossa—are considered possible suspects in Little John’s death

Dick Lindström—one of the poker players in the game that Little John won; Lennart Jonsson believes that Berit had an affair with Lindström; he’s now disappeared and believed to be in Holland

Allan Gustav “The Lip” Rosengren—one of the poker players in the game; he’s also disappeared

Little John’s Former Co-Workers

Agne “Sagge” Sagander—the owner of Sagander’s Mechanical Workshop where Little John had been employed as a welder until he was laid off, ostensibly because of lack of work

Ruben Sagander—Agne’s twin brother

Erki Karjalainen—another welder at Sagander’s who had worked closely with Little John and was a friend

Meeting Reminder for February Mystery Books

 

Our Next Meeting

Is

February 10, 2025

At

12 Noon

If you are interested, here is a 10 minute video about the care and feeding of the Princess of Burundi Cichlids

https://youtu.be/ZtjppFAhxF8?si=pPUFqm8Y3Bmq4OGu

Hello Fellow Fish Keepers,

In this video we take a closer look at Neolamprologus brichardi a great fish from Lake Tanganyika. It goes well with many of the fish from that lake and shows some very interesting fry care.

January 2025 Author Video for Ruth Ware

 

January 2025

Ruth Ware

The Turn of the Key

Character List for The Turn of the Key

Mr. Wrexham—barrister to whom contents of the story are written

Rowan Caine & Rachel Gerhardt—one of these is the narrator of the story, the most recent live-in nanny hired by the Elincourts; the other is the narrator’s former roommate, now traveling in Southeast Asia

Bill & Sandra Elincourt—Owners of a home called Heatherbrae House in Scotland, as well as partners in a design firm; they seem to have trouble retaining nannies for their daughters

Rhiannon Elincourt—14-year-old eldest daughter of the Elincourts

Maddie Elincourt—8-year-old daughter of the Elincourts

Ellie Elincourt—5-year-old daughter of the Elincourts

Petra Elincourt—18-month-old daughter of the Elincourts

Jack Grant—a driver and handyman for the Elincourts who lives on the property

Jean McKenzie—a local woman who comes in during the day to wash up, pick up, and sometimes prepare food