Troubles in Paradise – Characters

SPOILERS!!!!!

These are the characters in the novel:

• Irene Steele (57) lived in Iowa City and worked for a decoration magazine. On New Year’s Day Irene received bad news: her husband, Russ, who was in finances, had been killed in a helicopter in St John, US Virgin Islands The pilot and a local woman were also on the helicopter. Irene travelled there with her two sons, and she discovered that her husband had deceived her for thirteen years. He had a lover, Rosie, and they had a daughter. During her stay in St John Irene struck up a friendship with Huck, Rosie’s stepfather. Irene then returned to St John and accepted to work as Huck’s first mate on his boat. Little by little Huck and Irene became close. Then she lost everything when the FBI seized the villa that Russ owned on the island as well as her house in Iowa city. Irene then felt forced to accept Huck’s hospitality. Then she got upset after reading Rosie’s diaries, and she and Huck didn’t speak for weeks. Thankfully, she realised that it was a mistake, and they made up.
• Baker Steele (30) is Irene’s eldest son. He is married to Anna and has a son. Just after learning the bad news about his father, Anna told Baker that she was leaving him for a female colleague, Louisa. Baker then fell in love with Ayers, and when Anna told him that she and Louisa were moving to Cleveland, Baker decided to move to St John with his son. She and Ayers got intimate after breaking up with Mick, and Ayers got pregnant. At the end of the book Ayers has a baby girl, and Baker and Ayers are a couple.
• Cash Steele (28) is Irene’s youngest son. He loves skiing and was a ski instructor for a while, but his father didn’t think that was serious so he gave him a supply company as a more serious occupation. Cash moved to St John when Ayers offered him a job as part of the crew of the Treasure Island. Cash was attracted to Ayers, but his infatuation faded and he became interested in Tilda. Tilda and Cash break up when she goes with Dudley, a young millionaire, who funds her project to build a resort, but in the end Cash and Tilda make up.
• Ayers Wilson (31) was Rosie’s best friend. They worked together at La Tapa, a popular local restaurant. Ayers used to live with Mick, but she left him when he cheated on her. Ayers met Baker and Cash at Rosie’s funeral, but she only discovered who they were days later. Upset, Ayers decided to get back with Mick. The brother Ayers likes is Baker, and she is pleased when he moves to St John. Ayers is undecided in her relationship with Mick, and even though she feels she can’t trust him, she accepts his marriage proposal when he asks her before many of their friends. Ayers feels that she has known Mick all his life, and she can’t just start a new relationship with Baker. Ayers breaks up with Mick when Maia tells her that she saw Mick kiss Brigid. Ayers gets pregnant, and despite their ups and downs, Ayers and Baker finally get together. At the end of the book Ayers has a baby girll.l
• Huck (Sam Powers) is Rosie’s stepfather. He is a good man, and he and Irene become close during her stay on the island. Huck divorced his first wife, Kimberley, because she didn’t stop drinking and cheated on him all the time, and then he met LeeAnn, and their marriage was a match made in heaven. Now Huck is in love with Irene. In this novel he and Irene fall out after Irene reads Rosie’s diaries, but in the end they make up and start living together as a couple
• Maia Small (12) is Rosie and Russ’s daughter. She is an intelligent and sensitive girl. He is happy to have two new brothers, and now she is also sweet on Shane, a boy who goes to another school.
• Tilda Payne is another waitress at the Tapa, the restaurant where Rosie worked. He and Cash started a relationship, but they break up when she cheats on him with Dudley, who intends to fund the resort that Tilda plans to create. Dudley lets her down in the end, and Tilda and Cash finally make up.
• Duncan Huntley (28) is the millionaire that invests his money in Tilda’s project. He and Tilda start a relationship, but he proves to be a pervert and an unreliable moron.
• Floyd Steele (4) is Baker’s son.
• Lydia Christensen is Irene’s friend. Lydia is divorced and an American history professor. Now he is dating Brandon, a barista she met on New Year’s Eve.
• Russ Steele was Irene’s husband who died in the helicopter crash, leaving many unanswered questions. Russ accepted a well-paid job which his former college mate had offered. He claimed that he only realised that the business was illegal when he was too involved. He and Rosie fell in love, and he hid his relationship from Irene. What he told Rosie was that Irene had little interest in him and all she wanted was the money he brought for her project to work on the refurbishment of her house. According to Marilyn Monroe, Russ wanted out of Croft’s dealings and return to his life in Iowa with Irene.
• Rosie Small was Russ’s lover who died alongside him in the helicopter accident. She was much younger than he was, and they had a daughter, Maia. Rosie told everybody that Maia’s father, The Pirate, was a man who came to the island one weekend, but she never saw again. That was a lie as Russ was Maia’s father.
• Mick was Ayers’ boyfriend, but when she discovered that he was cheating on her, she left him. At the end of the previous novel, Ayers gets back with him after her disappointment with Cash and Baker. However, they also break up when Ayers sees him with Brigid, and then he proposes to her and she accepts.
• Dr Anna Schaffer is Baker’s wife. On New Year’s Day she announced that she was leaving Baker for Louisa, her colleague. Now the two women are moving to Cleveland where they have been offered positions in a renowned clinic.
• Dr Louisa Rodríguez is the woman Anna has left Baker for. She wants to get pregnant so that she and Anna can be a family.
• Agent Colette Vasco is the FBI agent who is investigating Russ’s death and business dealings. At some point she hits on Hunk, but he lets her know that it is a bad idea as he is in love with Irene.
• Granger and Luaren Payne are Tilda’s rich parents.
• Todd Croft is Russ’s boss. He has been arrested for fraud and money laundering.
• Oscar Cobb was Rosie’s boyfriend when she was very young. When Cobb came out of jail, he became Croft’s thug and did dirty jobs for him. Croft killed him when he refused to set a deadly trap for Rosie and Russ.
• Ed Sorley is Irene’s lawyer. He is married to Anita.
• Skip is the owner of the Tapa. He and Tilda had a fling, but she has no interest in him, so he has become a pain in the neck for hier.
• Joanie (12) is Maia’s best friend. She is sweet on Cotton
• Colton Seeley is Maia and Joanie’s friend. His parents are about to divorce and the boy is upset.
• Swan Seeley is Colton’s mother. She is interested in Baker, but she realises that there is nothing she can do to have more than his friendship. Swan also starts working for Tilda and Dudley, and she gets upset when he makes a pass a t her.
• Bright Whittaker is another of Maia’s friends.
• Shane (13) is the boy who Maia likes. She and Shane have their first kiss when the sneak into the villa.
• Lilibet is a girl who goes to Shane’s school, and Maia is jealous of her.
• Rupert is Huck’s friend and Huck often consults him about his problems.
• Phil and Sunny Ray are Ayers’s parents. They are nomads, and during her childhood Ayers hated the idea that she didn’t have a home. When Ayers got pregnant, the couple decided to be with their daughter.
• Milly Steele (97) was Russ’s mother. She passed away at the end of the first book.
• Dot was Milly’s nurse.
• Paulette Vickers is the wife of the property manager. When she heard about the investigation, she fled to her sister’s, but the FBI found and arrested her. Paulette and her husband were deeply involved in Croft’s businesses, and she and her husband refused to accuse Croft out of fear.
• Douglas Vickers was the property manager. He and his wife have been arrested because of their dealings with Todd Croft.
• Marilyn Monroe was Todd Croft’s secretary. We disccovered later that she was actually his wife, and she goes to see Irene to tell her the whole truth about Russ and Croft, and she intends to testify and have Croft arrested for murder.
• Jeff and Julie are Joanie’s parents.
• Stephen Thompson was the pilot of the helicopter where Russ and Rosie were travelling. Stephen was Russ’s associate.
• LeeAnn Powers was Rosie’s mother and Huck’s wife. She died five years ago.
• Levi Small was Rosie’s father but he left when Rosie was very young. At the end of the novel Maia learns from the midwife that her birth grandfather is alive, and he was last seen playing the piano in a bar in mainland America.
• Mavis Key (31) is Irene’s colleague at the magazine and the reason why she has been demoted. Mavis is technological savvy and she has been given the responsibilities Irene had.
• Joseph Feeney was Irene’s boss at the magazine. The man generously pays the retainer for the lawyer that Irene hires to deal with her situation.
• Natalie Key is Mivis’s sister and the lawyer that helps Irene to deal with her sitation and get her personal things back from the FBI.
• Kimberley was Huck’s first wife. She was a star bar woman who got drunk daily, and Huck discovered that she was a big cheater. Kimberley fell pregnant but lost the baby, which shattered Huck even though he later realised that the baby may not have been his.
• Jayne is the magazine’s receptionist. She is in her sixties.
• Brigid is the girl Mick cheated on Ayers with.
• Brandon is Lydia’s boyfriend. He is a barista.
• Ellen, Becky and Debbie are the mothers who are friends of Baker’s.