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
