The Impossible Fortune - Characters

 These are the characters in the book for further reference

SPOILERS

REGULAR CHARACTERS

• Joyce Meadowcroft (78) is one of the members of the Thursday Murder Club. She joined after Penny, the creator of the club, became ill and was sent to a nursing home. Joyce used to be a nurse and is widowed. She has a daughter, Joanna. Joyce is very sweet and has a very special way of seeing the world. Now Joyce is very proud of having a son-in-law, Paul.
• Elizabeth Best (77) is another member of the Thursday Murder Club. Elizabeth used to be of the secret service. Elizabeth was married to Stephen but she helped him to die when he discovered that he had dementia and didn't want to deteriorate. His death has been a big blow for her, and for months she grieved, and in this book with the new mystery she starts to be the same Elizabet. Elizabeth is very determined and sure of herself. Elizabeth was married before; her first husband was also a spy, Douglas, but he was killed recently. 
• Ibrahim Arif (81) is another member of the Thursday Murder Club. He is a psychiatrist. He becomes Connie's therapist, and when he learns that Connie has been mentoring a young girl, advising her about crime, he is disappointed. Years ago when he was a student, he fell in love with Marius, another German student. Yet, Marius died, and he has never felt love again.  Ibrahim feels lonely, but at the end of this book Ron tells him that he is very much loved. Many people love him, including him (Ron)
• Ron Ritchie (76) is the fourth member of the Thursday Murder Club. Ron used to be a union activist, and now he is as belligerent as he used to be. He has a grown-up son and daughter, and a grandson, Kendrick. Ron and Ibrahim are very close friends. Ron is now in a relationship with Pauline, a make-up artist. In this book Ron discovers that his daughter has been illtreated by her husband, and the husband, Danny, tries to kill Jason, so he and Connie trick him and Danny is arrested. 
• PC Donna De Freitas (27) is the policewoman who the Thursday Murder Club become friendly with. Donna used to work in London, but left when her boyfriend dumped her even though she admits she wasn’t in love. Donna and Bogdan are now in a relationship.
• DCI Chris Hudson (52) is a detective who became friends with the the elderly people of the Thursday Murder Club.  Now Chris and Donna's mother, Patrice, are in a relationship. 
• Bogdan Jankowski is a Polsih immigrant. He is the person who those in the Thursday Murder Club turn to when they need something, illegal or not. Bogdan was with Elizabeth when Stephen killed himself. Bogdan and Donna are in a relationship.
• Joanna Meadowcroft (53) is Joyce’s daughter. She runs a hedge fund. Joyce and Joanna often don't see eye to eye. Joanna marries Paul in this book. 
• Paul Brett is Joanna's new husband. He is a university professor, and he is friends with Nick and Holly, who are central to this book's mystery. Paul admits that he and Holly dated, once when they were in their twenties, and they tried again just two years ago, but they split up. Then he met Joanna, and in six months' time they decided to marry.
• Kendrick Lloyd (9) is Ron's grandson. He is a lovely boy, intelligent and is good friends with Ibrahim. In this book he goes to live with his uncle when his mother leaves his brutish father. When he meets Tia, he takes a shine on her.
• Connie Johnson is a drug dealer who was in prison for her criminal activities. The reason why she was arrested and sent to prison is  because Ron and Bogdan tricked her. So she wants to kill them, but in this book she and Ron make their peace, and she helps him to get his son-in-law arrested. She later confesses that she helped Ron because she wanted to make Ibrahim, who has been her mentor and therapist for months, proud of her. In this book Connie mentors a young girl, Tia, and she advises to rob a warehouse for Rolex watches, but that goes wrong.
• Danny Lloyd is Ron's son-in-law. He is a criminal and after many years Suzi stands up to him and makes him leave the house, threatening with his own gun. Danny wants to kill both Jason and Suzi, so he hires a hired killer, but the man fails. Then Ron sets a trap for him, using the bitcoin as bait, and he is arrested
• Alan is Joyce's dog.
• Patrice is Donna’s mother. He and Chris are in a relationship
• Pauline Jenkins is the make-up artist.  Pauline and Ron are now in a relationship.
• Jason Ritchie is Ron’s son. He is a boxer, and now that he is older, he appears in all kinds of reality shows. 
• Suzi Lloyd is Ron's daughter and Kendrick's mum. She decides to leave her husband after putting up with his violence for many years.
• Carlito is the driver of the minibus in Coopers Chase.
• Stephen is Elizabeth’s late husband. Elizabeth was his second wife. Stephen confronted Elizabeth when he realised he had dementia, and she had to admit the truth. Stephen didn't want to show his deterioration so he told  Elizabeth that he wanted to die. Elizabeth assisted her husband to die. 
• Gerry was Joyce’s late husband.
• Bob Wittacker, Computer Bob, helps the Thursday Murder Club in other mysteries.
• Mervyn Collins appeared in the previous book as the new neighbour in the village and Joyce took a liking at him. He speaks very little and has a dog, Rosie. Mervyn is naive and blind to cheaters.
• Viktor Illyich is a KGB agent who Elizabeth knew twenty years ago. After an adventure in a previous book when Elizabeth was ordered to kill him, he and Elizabeth are are in contact, and Elizabeth uses him when she needs intelligence.
• Karen Playfair is the woman Jason is dating. She is the daughter of another pensioner living in Coopers Chase. She is an expert on computers.
• DI Terry Hallet is in Chris’s team. He is happily married and has four children.
• Anthony is the hairdresser who goes to Coopers Chase weekly to do the residents’ hair.
• Mark is the taxi driver that Ron and the others use when they can't take the minibus.
• Gordon Playfair owned a farm on the top of the hill, and he refused to sell his property to the developer, Ian, in the first book because he didn’t like him. After Ian’s death, Joanna made him an offer and he accepted, and now he is living in Coopers Chase.
• Marius was Ibrahim's lover when they were young.

CHARACTERS IN THIS NOVEL:

• Nick Silver is Paul's best friend, and at his wedding he is the best man. Nick works in cold storage and owns a company with Holly. During the wedding reception he talks to Elizabeth and explains that someone wants to kill him as he found a bomb under his car that morning. Elizabeth agrees to see him the next day, but Nick has disappeared. We discover later that Nick is afraid of being killed, and when the mystery is solved, Paul finally manages to contact him. 
• Archie is Paul Brett's dad.
• Tia Malone (18) is a young woman who Connie mentors as part of her therapy. Tia has done petty theft, and Connie convinces her to rob the warehouse where Rox watches are collected. That goes wrong, and Connie takes her to Ibrahim for protection. It is Tia who discovers the codes for the safe where the bitcoin is. At the end of the book Elizabeth finds her a job in the secret service.
• Holly Lewis was Nick's partner. She is killed when her car is bombed. The Thursday Murder Club try to find her killer, and they finally discover that Holly was the murderer. She tried to kill Nick because she wanted all the money for herself. Davey Noakes is the man she trusted, and he sent a man to check Nick's car, and the man took the bomb and left her in her car, so when she put her car on it, it exploded.
• Davey Noakes used to be a drug dealer but then turned to technical stuff. He was a client of Nick and Holly, and he was the one who gave them the bitcoin. Nick and Holly consulted him when they decided to cash the bitcoin. When Joanna discovered that Holly had talked to him on the day she married Paul, Davey confessed that Holly had told him that she wanted to kill Nick to get her hands on all the money. One of his men retrieved the bomb from Nick's car and put it on Holly's passenger seat, and when she dumped her bag, it exploded. Noakes confessed that there was no money as he used the money for his own use.
• Lord Robert Townes is the other person Nick and Holly consulted about the bitcoin. He is a banker, but he comes from a rich family. He realises that he is a loser and has got nothing in life, so he decides to kill himself. 
• Jasper used to be Elizabeth's colleague in the secret service and he specialised bombs. He helps Elizabeth and Joyce, and Joyce feels sorry for him as he lives alone in a house surrounded by china cats he hates. The man doesn't even have a teapot for guests, and Joyce decides to give him a whole tea set. 
• Hassan is Tia's friend, who helps her in the heist. He is caught and arrested. 
• DCI Varma is the policewoman who is assigned the case of Holly's death. 
• Clive Baxter is an ex-spy that helps Elizabeth. He manages to locate the phone numbers that Holly dialled before dying.
• Jill Usher is a nursery school teacher, and her number is the last that Holly dialled.
• Jamie Usher is Jill's usher, and Elizabeth realises that Holly might have called him as he is not stranger to crime and fraud. When she and Bogdan confront him, he denies the whole thing. Then Elizabeth realises that Holly wasn't calling anyone that day, but the number on her phone was the code for the vault at the compound.
• Bill Benson is the security at the compound. Ron knows him because he used to be a miner.
• Frankie East is the other security guy at the compound.
• Jeremy Jenkins is the solicitor who had instructions that everything would go to Paul if Nick and Holly were to die.