Dead Girls Dancing – Characters

SPOILERS!!!

Characters

List of characters in this book for further reference:

• Detective Superintendent Katie Maguire is  in the Gardai in Cork. Her appointment as a DS caused much controversy because many people in the force were against a woman having that position of power. Katie is a widow as her husband Paul died, and her baby son also died. Katie has many sisters, and she is the only one who decided to follow her father’s steps and become a garda. Katie was in a relationship with John Meagher, who she met through her job. Their relationship had many ups and downs, which ends with John’s kidnapping and then death. In this book Katie feels guilty for his death because in his last days she didn’t love him as he should. Katie didn’t behave well when he started seeing, Conor, the pet detective, while John was convalescing in her house. Katie then discovered that Conor is married, but he then tells her that he and his wife are separated, so she gets back with him. Katie also has a peculiar relationship with Kyna, a detective in her team, and all through the books Katie is ambivalent about what she feels. Kyna admits to being in love with Katie, and although Katie kindly refuses, she still has some erotic moments, and in this book she has a threesome with Kyna and Conor. Katie then tells Kyna that she is always going to need a man in her life. Katie also has a book, Barney, a present from John, but in this book the dog is kidnapped and kiled when she doesn’t agree to do what the kidnappers demand.
• Detective Sergeant Kyna Ni Nuallán is another garda and one who Katie trusts with her life. She is gay, and she is in love with Katie. That is why at some point she wanted to be transferred to another station. In the end, she stays. Kyna goes undercover in this book and feels attracted to a singer, Sorcha, but the other woman turns away from her when she decides to go out with the man she is investigating. Kyna and Katie have two intimate moments in this book. One when she stays with Katie and shares her bed, and the second is when she agrees to have a threesome with Conor and Katie. AT the end of the book Kyna says that she might request a transfer because her love for Katie is too much for her to bear.
• Conor O Maille is the pet detective that the police hire and Katie starts a relationship with. Katie learns that he is married, so Katie refuses to talk to him. Then Conor explains that he and his wife are actually separated. Then they get back together.
• Barney is Katie’s dog. He had been a present from John. In this book when Katie arrests McManus for organising dog fights, Barney is kidnapped and killed.
• Katie’s father – I don’t know his name – was a garda, and now he is retired.
• Detective Patrick O’Donovan is one of Katie’s detectives. He is forty and one of the men Katie trusts.
• Detective Robert Dooley is a 24-year-old detective that Katie trusts. In this book he dies when he confronts an arsonist, and the criminal pours petrol over him and sets fire to him.
• Detective Inspector Francis O’Rourke is another detective in Katie’s team. He is middle-aged, but so far we can say that he is the second in command after Katie.
• Chief Inspector Denis MacCostagain is Katie’s boss.
• Assistant Commissioner Frank Magorian is the man who replaces Jimmy O’Reilly. At first, Katie is happy because she met Magorian during her training. Magorian seems to be a nice fellow, but then he shows his real face. Magorian was friends with Jimmy O’Reilly and blames Katie for his death, so he explains that he will not hesitate to go for the throat when she fails. In this book he tries to undermine her all the time.
• Detective Michael Ó Doibhilin is another garda.
• Superintendent Michael Pearse is another garda.
• Matthew McElvey is the press officer.
• DS Sean Begley is another detective.
• Detective Padragain Scanlan is another of the detectives.
• Bill Phinner belongs to the forensic and technical team.
• Dr Mary Kelly is a forensic doctor.
• Eithne O’Neill is a technical officer who is in Bill Phinner’s team.
• Seamus was Katie’s son, but she lost him to cot death.
• Fergus O’Farrell, Jean Mulligan, Jimmy MacCraken and Fionnualla Sweeney belong to the press. Fionnualla is a TV reporter from RTE.
• Jenny Tierney is Katie’s neighbour. She is a gossip but the woman is also helpful and takes Barney for walks when Katie can’t. In this book when Jenny Tierney is taking Barney for a walk, he is abducted by some men.
• Siobhan Maguire is Katie’s sister. She is thirty, but once when he stayed with Katie, the wife of her lover attacked her. So she suffered irreparable brain damage, so she has the mental age of six and seven
• Moirin is another of Katie’s sisters. She is married to Kevin, and the couple look after Siobhan.
• Moirin is also the twenty-six-year-old assistant that Katie has now.
• Assistant Chief Officer Matthew Whalen is the fire officer who is summoned when the fire burns out the dance studio and kills all the dancers.
• Inspector Cafferty is another detective Katie works with.
• Clodagh is Conor’s wife, and apparently, they are separated.
• Inspector Carroll is one of the police officers who goes with Katie to arrest MacManus.
• Detective Nick O’Mara is one of Katie’s detectives.

In this novel:

• Catriona is the first victim in the fire in the dance studio.
• Brendan and Aoife are also dancers who perish in the fire.
• Nicholas O’Grady is the dance instructor, who also died in the fire. Nicholas was gay and married, but that didn’t stop him from flirting and having a fling with Danny Coffey, the owner of the studio.
• Danny Coffey is the owner of the dance studio.
• Davy Dorgan is a terrible man in this book. He is cruel and ruthless, killing Niall, forcing his men to rape Maggie Denehy, kidnapping his little sister and killing Bernie Denehy. He is shot dead when Katie finds out where he is, and when he threatens the garda, he is killed.
• Liam O’Breen is twenty-one and he used to work for Bobby Quilty, who in a previous book had a ring of cigarette smugglers. Liam is now involved with Davy Dorgan, who not only is in charge of Bobby’s business but also is a supporter of the real IRA. Liam is attracted to Kyna when she starts working undercover at the tavern where he goes. He reveals too much to her after Kyna agrees to be intimate with him. Yet, he betrays her, telling Davy about it. In the last chapters, Liam dies when he sneaks into the opera house to place the bomb under the stage. When the bomb goes off, he is caught and killed.
• Niall Gleeson was one of Bobby Quilty’s men. When he disagrees on Davy’s plans, he shoots him dead.
• Murtagh McCourt is one of the men working for Davy.
• Billy Ó Griobhta is another man working for Davy.
• Bobby Quilty is referred to in the book. In previous books he was a pain in the neck for Katie. He ran a ring of illegal cigarette trade, and when Katy arrested his men, he went after her, kidnapping and torturing John. Quilty was killed when Katie went after him.
• Steven Joyce used to be Danny Coffey’s partner, but they fell out when Steven wanted a larger share of the profits and when Coffey and Nicholas had a fling. Coffey accuses Steven of being the person who started the fire.
• Ronan John Barrett and Saoirse MacAuliffe were the two dancers found in the attic. They had been shot in the head because later Katie discovers they found out that Davy and Tadgh had stored guns and were having an affair.
• Guzz Eye McManus is the man who runs illegal dog fights. Katie arrests him and as a consequence, her dog is kidnapped and killed.
• Bernard Denety was the man whose wife had an affair with Niall. Actually, he and Niall were good friends, and they had reached an agreement. Niall could have an affair with Maggie if he paid Bernard some money. When Niall was killed, Bernard is accused, but he denies killing him. Then when his wife is raped, Bernard goes after Davy and Davy shoots him dead.
• Cissy Jepson is the little girl who escaped the fire in the dance studio. She is Davy’s sister, and she lives in constant fear. At first, she refuses to talk to Katie, but she eventually confides her. He spends several days in hospital, and when she is about to leave with a foster family, Davy kidnaps her. Yet, Katie had given her a phone, so she calls her, and Katie and her team rescue her. Cissy then tells Katie everything, about her brother and Tadgh’s relationship and the guns they stored in the attic of the dance studio. She witnessed her brother and Tadgh kill the dancers, and she managed to escape.
• Douglas Cleary was Saoirse’s fiancée. Saoirse was the dancer that was killed in the attic. Douglas cries when he realises that Saoirse was having an affair with Ronan.
• Tadgh Brennan was Nicholas’s husband but he was involved with Davy as well. He and Davy traded with illegal hands and stored them in the attic of the dance studio. When Saoirse and Ronnan discovered them, Davy killed them and set the studio on fire, and Tadgh let him.