The Locked Room – Characters

SPOILERS!!!

These are the regular characters in this series of mysteries:

• Dr Ruth Galloway (51) is a forensic archaeologist who has worked with the police in Norfolk several times. Ruth had a complicated relationship with her parents because of their religion, but four years ago her mother died, and they managed to make their peace in the end. Now Ruth seems to have a closer relationship with her father, and she misses her mother. Ruth also has a peculiar relationship with Harry Nelson, the detective. In the first book they slept together, finding comfort in each other after very tragic events, and then she got pregnant and had her daughter, Kate.  Nelson’s wife eventually discovered that the baby was Nelson’s, and she forbid him from seeing Kate and Ruth again. However, when Nelson got sick, Michelle reconsidered her decision, and now he sees Kate regularly. Ruth had a short relationship with Max, another archaeologist, but Ruth broke up with him because she realised she wasn’t in love with him. Some time later she met Frank, a American historian who has a programme on TV, and Ruth had a fling with him, but when he asked her to move to America with him, she refused. Frank returned to England some time later, and two years ago he asked her to move in with him. So Ruth accepted a job in Cambridge and lived with him for two years. However, in the end we see Ruth was not really happy with Frank, and when Frank asked her to marry him, she refused and decided to return to Norfolk. Now she is the head of the archaeological department, replacing Phil Trent, who has retired. In this book she discovers that her new neighbour, Zoe, is her half-sister. Her mother had a baby out of wedlock in 1963 and her parents forced her to give the baby away.
• DCI Harry Nelson (52) is the head of the crime department in Norfolk, and he and Ruth first met when he asked for her professional advice in a case. He and Ruth have a complicated relationship because they have had sex on different occasions , after one of which she got pregnant.  Nelson loves his wife, but he also loves Ruth. When Michelle discovered the truth about Kate, she banned him from seeing Ruth or the child, but after he fell seriously sick, Michelle agreed to let him see Kate on a regular basis. Harry also has two teenage daughters. When in a previous book Nelson discovered that his wife had had a fling with Tim for a year, he felt hurt and betrayed, but he could not begrudge Michelle what he had already done with Ruth. Nelson considered leaving Michelle for Ruth, but then his wife announced she was pregnant, so he couldn’t leave her. Now Nelson has a son, who he is very proud of. In the last book he told his mother about Kate, and she surprised him by her understanding.
• Kate Galloway (11) is Ruth’s sweet daughter. Kate is really lovely, talkative and determined. Now Kate is aware of her family situation, but she doesn’t seem bothered. She is just happy to have two older half-sisters and her baby brother. She claims to want to be an actress when she grows up
• Flint is Ruth’s cat.
• Cathbad (Michael Malone) (52) is Ruth’s friend. He is a druid and usually wears colourful tunics and cloaks. He and Judy Johnson are now together and have two children. Their relationship started when Judy and Cathbad were looking after Kate when she was a baby. That night they slept together, which was just before she got married, and  after her wedding, Judy continued her affair with him. She had her first child while married, but Cathbad knew the boy was his. After a couple of years in her marriage, Judy realised that she was not happy and decided to leave Darren, her husband. Cathbad had to make some changes in his life for Judy. He used to live in a caravan, but now he and Judy have a house where they live with their two children, Michael and Miranda. In this book Cathbad contracts covid and has to be hospitalised, and he almost dies.
• DI Judy Johnson (41) is part of Nelson’s team. She is clever and Nelson trusts her more than any of his other officers. Judy is separated from her first husband and living with Cathbad and their two children. In the past, she had an affair with Cathbad, which started just before her wedding, and the child she had was his. After she realised that she didn’t love her husband the way she loved Cathbad, she decided to break up with her husband and start a new life with the man she really loves. Judy promoted to a DI, and she sometimes wonders if she should move from Norfolk where she has lived all her life.
• Zoe (56) moves next door to Ruth. Zoe is a nurse, and Nelson discovers that some years ago she was accused of murdering some patients. Zoe/Dawn was acquitted but she had to live with the stigma even though the real murderer was found. Dawn changed her name to Zoe for that reason. Ruth discovers that Zoe is actually her sister because her mother had her out of wedlock in 1963.
• DS Tanya Fuller is also another police officer in Nelson’s team. Tanya is ambitious, and  she is also resourceful and clever. Tanya and Judy have a tense relationship because Tanya is envious of her, but she also admires her colleague.Tanya is gay, and her partner is Petra, a teacher.
• DC Tony Zhang (26) is a new addition to Nelson’s team. He is of Chinese origin, and he is very talkative, which annoys Nelson often.
• Maddie Henderson (28) is Cathbad’s daughter by a previous relationship. Now Maddie is a journalist working for a local newspaper.
• Michelle Nelson (t51) is Harry’s wife. She is very attractive and works as a hairdresser.  Michelle had an affair with Tim, who was part of her husband’s team, for several months. Michelle met Tim when her husband invited him to dinner, and then they saw each other regularly at their gym. Their affair finished when Michelle agreed to sleep with him but backed out at the last moment and realised that she couldn’t risk her marriage like that.  Nelson discovered her indiscretion, but she made  him see that he did much worse when he slept with Ruth and fathered her child. The affair with Tim eventually was consummated when he visited her several months ago. Michelle got pregnant, and during her pregnancy she was not sure if the baby was her husband’s or Tim’s, and in the end little George was Nelson’s.
• David Brown is a new lecturer, who replaced Ruth in her previous post. He teaches prehistory. He is too intense and cantankerous. David has a daughter who is Kate’s age.
• Superintendent Jo Archer (41) is Nelson’s boss. Nelson thought she would be a nice change after Whitcliff, but she proved to be difficult at first. The woman seemed to just care about the station’s reputation and about rates. Nelson is sure that she would like him to take early retirement.
• DI Dave Clough (40) was part of Nelson’s team, but after he was promoted to DI, he was transferred to Cambridge, where he leads his own team. Clough is socially clumsy and narrow-minded.  Dave is now married to Cassandra Blackstock, and they have two children. Judy misses him, and when he hears that Cathbad is very sick, he doesn’t doubt to break lockdown and visit Judy.
• Leah (29) is Nelson’s PA. Nelson helps her when he discovers that her husband was abusing her.
• Janet Meadows is a local historian. Janet is a transsexual who doesn’t hide her condition.
• Laura Nelson (28) is Harry’s daughter. Laura trained to be a teacher, and now she works in a school.
• Rebecca Nelson (25) is Harry’s twenty–five-year-old daughter. She lives in Brighton with her boyfriend, Asif.
• Georgie Nelson is Harry’s four-year-old son
• Michael (10) is Judy and Cathbad’s son.
• Miranda is Judy and Cathbad’s seven-year-old daughter.
• Bruno is Nelson’s dog
• Arthur Galloway (82) is Ruth’s father. In this book he remarries.
• Gloria Galloway (74) is Arthur’s new wife.
• Jean Galloway was Ruth’s mother. She died in the last book when she suffered two strokes. In this book Ruth discovers that her mother had a daughter out of wedlock in 1963. Zoe, the daughter, contacted Jean, but she replied saying that they couldn’t meet just yet because her husband and children didn’t know about her. And then Jean died.
• Simon Galloway is Ruth’s brother. He is two years older than she is. Simon is not happy about his father remarrying.
• Jack and George Galloway are Ruth’s nephews. Jack is 17 and George 19.
• Cathy Galloway is Ruth’s sister-in-law, but Ruth doesn’t like her very much.
• Maureen Nelson (80) is Harry’s mother. She and Harry have a strange relationship. Maureen is high maintenance as she keeps nagging him about everything. In the last book she learned that Kate was her son’s love child, and she surprised Nelson when she told him that he should try to pursue love if he is sure of his feelings.
• Asif is Rebecca’s boyfriend.
• Thing is Cathbad’s dog.
• Derek is Zoe’s cat
• Shona MacLean is Ruth’s best friend. Very attractive and red-haired, she is the head of the English department at the university. Shona and Phil are a couple and have a son, Louis.
• Maura is Bruno’s walker.
• Frank Barker is the historian Ruth had a relationship with. When they first met, he wanted to have a proper relationship with her, but she refused because she admitted to herself that she was in love with Nelson. After Frank returned to England, he asked Ruth to move in with him, and she finally agreed. However, after two years Ruth felt crowded, and when Frank asked her to marry him, she refused
• Cassandra Blackstock – Clough is is married to  Clough and they have two children.
• Spencer Clough is Clough and Cassandra’s son.
• Amélie Clough is Dave and Cassandra’s daughter.
• Phil Trent is Shona’s partner and used to be Ruth’s boss. Ruth doesn’t like him very much. In a previous book he had a heart attack so he took early retirement
• Louis Trent (10) is Phil and Shona’s son. Kate doesn’t like him very much.
• Darren Foster is Judy’s ex-husband.
• Tom Henty is the desk sergeant.
• Irish Ted Houllihan (Red Cross) is an archaeologist who Ruth often works with.
• Mike Halloran is the head of forensics.
• Maja Brown is David Brown’s daughter. She is Swedish.
• PC Rocky Taylor is an officer in Nelson’s team. Nelson thinks that he is clumsy and not very clever.
• Sandra is Kate’s childminder.
• Clara is Kate’s usual babysitter.
• Petra is Tanya’s wife
• Sue Trent is Phil’s ex-wife.
• Chris Stephenson is the police pathologist. Nelson hates him because the man is full of air and too arrogant.
• Madge Hudson is the criminal profiler. Nelson does not think much of her and her opinions.
• PC Jane Campion is an uniformed police officer.
• DS Tim Heathfield (32) was the sergeant who transferred from Blackpool after working with Nelson on a case. Then Tim transferred to Essex when Nelson discovered the affair he had with Michelle. Tim kept seeing Michelle every time he visited Norfolk, and this time they slept together. Tim died, trying to save Michelle who was being threatened by a criminal wanting to take his revenge on Nelson.
• Bob Woonunga is Ruth’s neighbour. He is from Australia and belongs to the elginists, a spiritual group.
• Erik Anderssen was Ruth’s professor, and she used to be his best pupil. Ruth admired Erik but things changed when she discovered that he had an affair with her friend Shona in a previous book. Now Erik is dead, but Ruth keeps remembering him fondly. In this book his son, Leif, goes to Norfolk.
• Magda Anderssen is Erik’s wife. In this book she reappears when Leif takes Cathbad and Ruth to the stone circle in somerset. Magda shows them a baby, a daughter of Erik, who was conceived through artificial insemination.
• Freya Anderssen is the baby that Magda presents to Cathbad and Ruth in the stone circle. She is Erik’s daughter. Magda used Erik’s frozen sperm and a surrogate mother.
• Peter used to be Ruth’s boyfriend, but they broke up ten years ago. Peter married someone else and they had a child. In the first book Peter returned after leaving his wife, intending to get back with Ruth, but she refused him. so he got back with his wife
• Maeve is Nelson’s sister. She is ten years older than he is, and already has a grandchild.
• Charlie is Maeve’s granddaughter.
• Louise is Michelle’s mother. Nelson describes her as attractive and agreeable.
• Delilah Henderson used to be Cathbad’s girlfriend when she was very young. Delilah appears in the first book as she is the mother of Scarlet, one of the girls that were kidnapped and the only one who was murdered.
• Chief Superintendent Gerry Whitcliffe was Nelson’s boss, but now he has a new job in the Met.
• Father Patrick Hennessey is the priest who ran an orphanage in a case Harry and Ruth worked on. Ruth  agreed to have Kate baptised by him. In the last  book he reappeared, and he confessed first to Nelson and then to Ruth that in his youth he had an affair and got someone pregnant. Instead of supporting the woman, he focused on his priesthood, but now he wanted to get to know his daughter, Fiona McCallister, who was the director of a rehab clinic.

Characters in this book:

• Samantha Wilson (52) is the woman who committed suicide and Nelson thought that her death was fishy. So he asked his team to investigate.
• Brady and Saffron Wilson are Samantha’s grown-up children.
• Jacqui is the instructor for Lean Zone, a slimming club.
• Avril Flowers was another case of a suspicious suicide.
• Hugh Baxter is an old man who befriended all the dead women through the slimming club, and he was the one to persuade them to kill themselves. Hugh then locked Zoe in the Steward’s House, and kept bringing her pills, telling her to end her life. He is finally arrested, but he claims not to remember now. It is going to be hard to prove his guilt in connection with Avril and Samantha’s deaths, but he will have to face the charges for what he did to Zoe.
• Bethany McGarrigle is Avril’s daughter.
• Tina Prentice was Avril’s cleaner. She found Avril dead, and it was thanks to a photograph she took of a heron that Judy discovers who was there the day when Avril died. Tina dies of Covid.
• Mother Wendy was Avril’s vicar.
• Maggie O’Flynn was a friend of Avril’s, who died recently of a heart attack.
• Karen Hear is another suicide that Judy and the others investigate. She also had a relationship with Hugh.
• Eileen Gibbon is a student in Ruth’s university. Eileen feels lonely during lockdown as she has to stay at university. Then she takes refuge in the Steward’s House with Joe.
• Joe McMahon is Ruth’s student. He comes under suspicion when Nelson discovers that he has a noticeboard covered of Ruth’s photographs. Joe later says that he simply admires her, but Nelson forces him to leave Norfolk because he doesn’t trust him.
• Alison is Ruth’s friend from when she was growing up in London. They went to the same school, and when Ruth is sorting out her mother’s things, Ruth goes to meet Alison and some others of her school friends in a reunion.
• Fatima was also a friend in Ruth’s schooldays. Alison, Ruth and Fatima were thick as thieves, but she doesn’t go to the reunion. Now Fatima is a doctor.
• Kelly Sutherland was also at school with Ruth, and Ruth discovers that she has been married several times.
• Danny Breakspeare was Ruth’s boyfriend in the sixth form. Danny is now a dentist.
• Abbas is the nurse who is assigned to Cathbad in hospital
• Jay is Leah’s abusive husband.