The Ink Black Heart - Characters

 

SPOILERS!!!

These are the characters in the novel for further reference:

Regular characters that may appear in later books:

• Cormoran Strike (40) is a private detective. He used to be in the army, but he left  when he lost a leg as a consequence of a bomb blast in Afghanistan. He uses a prosthetic leg, which often gives him problems when he has been on his feet for too long.  Cormoran also has a very colourful background. His father is a famous singer, who has hardly come into contact with him,  and his mother was a groupie. His mother went from boyfriend to boyfriend, from squat to squat, and she died of an overdose, but in a previous book we learnt that Cormoran has always thought that his mother’s second husband killed her. Cormoran’s only steady background was when his uncle Ted and Aunt Joan took him and his half-sister Lucy in. In his personal life Cormoran had an on-off relationship with Charlotte. They broke up when she told him that she had got pregnant but got rid of the child. It is not clear whether this is true or not, because Charlotte is a born liar. Three weeks after their break up Charlotte announced that she was engaged to an old boyfriend, so Cormoran thought that she and the new man were already seeing each other behind his back. Charlotte got married, and had twins,but then she kept sending Cormoran texts, especially when she was  in a mental home. Cormoran saved her when she overdosed. In this book he is told that Charlotte's husband is going to use Cormoran for the divorce, and Cormoran can't affordd to be a well-known figure, so he sends his detectives to find something against him, and they discover that he mistreats his daughters.  Cormoran has feelings for Robin, and in this book they almost kiss after he invited her to a drink at the Ritz, but he pulled away when he saw the expression of horror in Robin's face. Then Cormoran started to date, Madeline, and jewellery designer, but that ended bad when she started to get possessive. 
• Robin Ellacott (30) is Cormoran’s partner. She is from Yorkshire and is divorced from Matthew, after discovering he had been cheating on her. Robin started to work for Cormoran as a temp while she was trying to find a proper job. Robin refused a better job and salary because she wanted to work as a private detective. That was what created problems with Matthew, who did not understand her point of view. She eventually told Cormoran that she was committed to work and wanted to be more than a receptionist, and he agreed to pay for some training for her. Now they are partners in the agency. Robin has strong feelings for Cormoran, but like Cormoran she is worried that starting an affair will lead to problems. At the end of the book she agrees to date DCI Murphy. 
• Sam Barclay is the agency’s longest-serving subcontractor. Barclay is Scottish.
• Pat Chauncey (57) is the agency’s office manager. She and Cormoran have a rocky relationship. In this book Pat almost got killed when the office got a package with a bomb inside. She noticed the hissing sound and ran to save herself and Cormoranl. 
• Midge (Michelle Greenstreet) is a new subcontractor. She used to be in the police and recently she broke up with her partner, Beth. 
• Dev Shah is another subcontractor in the agency. He is a met officer.
• DCI Ryan Murhpy is the detective investigating Edie's murder. He asks Robin out, which takes her by susprise, but at the end of the book she agrees to go on a date with him. 
• Angela Darwish is another detective investigating Edie's murder
• Charlotte Campbell was Cormoran’s fiancée. She is beautiful and well-off. The woman, though, is twisted in her personality. While they were dating, Charlotte kept lying to Cormoran, and he forgave her all the time, but when she told him that she got pregnant and had an abortion, he couldn’t put up with her any longer.  Cormoran broke up with her. Then she got engaged to someone else and married him and had his children.. In the last novel she kept bothering Cormoran with her texts. When she was admitted in a nursing home for her mental problems, she texted Cormoran, who realised that she had overdosed. Cormoran called the home and she was saved. In this book she and Jago are getting divorced and she wants Cormoran to find something against Yago because he plans to demand full custody of her children. Cormoran refuses to work for her, but still he goes after Yago to find something because Yago plans to use him in the divorce. 
• James Jago Ross is the man Charlotte gets married to. He was her first boyfriend, who she left for Cormoran. Now Jago is divorcing Charlotte and wants to use Cormoran as one of the reasons for the divorce. Cormoran can't afford to appear in the press, so he asks his subcontractors to find out something against him. So Midge finds out that he mistreats his daughter and videos him. Cormoran talks to his ex-wife, who is going to go for full custody, and when Jago is shown the video, he has nothing else to say. 
• Nick Herbert is a friend of Cormoran’s. He is a doctor.
• Ilsa Herbert is Nick’s wife and Cormoran’s friend. She and her husband met thanks to Cormoran. Nick was the friend Cormoran had in London and Ilsa went to school with Cormoran in Cornwall. Ilsa is a lawyer. Nick and Ilsa had tried to have a child for years and has had several miscarriages. In this book she is pregnant again, and it seems that things are going well.

• Lucy is Cormoran’s half-sister. She is the only relative Cormoran has a connection with. Lucy is married and has three children. 
• Jack (12) is one of Lucy and Greg’s child and Cormoran’s nephew. Jack is actually Cormoran’s favourite nephew.
• Prudence Donleary is Cormoran’s half-sister. Cormoran has never met her, and in this book they finally meet. Prudence is a therapist.
• Linda Elacott is Robin’s mother. She disapproves of her daughter's profession.
• Michael Elacott is Robin’s father. In this book he has a heart episode. 
• Max Priestwood is Robin’s landlord and flatmate. He is an actor, and now that he is with someone, Robin decides to find her own place. 
• Richard is Max's boyfriend.
• Uncle Ted Nancarrow was Cormoran’s mother’s brother, and he and his wife took Cormoran and Lucy in when he found the children in a terrible squat. He lost his wife recently. 
• Mitch Patterson is the man in charge of the rival agency. 
• Jmaes Ross is Charlotte's son
• Amelia Ross is Charlotte's daughter. 
• Spanner is the IT specialist Cormoran turns to when he needs help with technical things. 
• Stewart Nutley is the subcontractor who Cormoran hires as they need more people to cover the cases. Stewart used to work for him but he was dismissed because he was inefficient. When the agency was targeted and sent a bomb, Nutley resigned, saying that his wife didn't want him to risk his life. 
• Chrsitable Ross (14) is Jago's daughter. 

• Matthew Cunliffe was Robin’s husband. He didn’t like her working for Cormoran. He was really annoying and too chauvinistic in his views about Robin and her job. Shorlty after the honeymoon, Robin realised that she did not love Matthew when she discovered that he had stopped Cormoran from contacting her, but she didn’t leave him then because Matthew got sick. However, when she found an earring in her bed, she discovered that Matthew had been cheating on her with Sarah, a friend. After they separated, Matthew gave her a hard time, making divorce proceedings difficult.
• Sarah Shadlock is the woman Matthew cheated on Robin with. Robin always knew that Sarah would like to steal Matthew from her. Before her wedding Robin discovered that Matthew slept with Sarah when Robin was fighting her agoraphobia after being raped, and that was why she broke up with him for a while. AFter their marriage, Matthew cheated on her with Sarah once again, and they got divorced. Matthew and Sarah are now married and they have a child.  
•  Shanker is a petty criminal who Cormoran uses as an informer. Cormoran and Shanker share some history. Cormoran’s mother found Shanker years ago in a bad state, so she took him to the squat and treated him as if he were a nephew or a new son. So Shanker spent long periods with Leda and Cormoran in his youth. Cormoran knows that he can trust Shanker to bring him the information he needs, but he also knows that having the chance, Shanker would rob him of every penny.
• Jonny Rokeby is Cormoran’s famous father. He has never cared for Cormoran, and they have seen each other only twice, and both times were a disappointment for Cormoran..
• Dave Polworth (39) is Cormoran’s friend in Cornwall. They have been friends since they were at school together. Dave is married and has two children.
• Penny Polworth is Dave Polworth’s wife.
• Greg is Lucy’s husband
• Luke is Cormoran’s nephew. Cormoran does not like him as he thinks the boy is a little bully.
• Adam is Cormoran’s second nephew. Cormoran does not like him either.
• DI Eric Wardle is the detective that Cormoran has often worked with.
• April Wardle is Chris Wardle’s wife. 
• DS Vanessa Ekweski is Wardle’s partner. Robin has now become a good friend of hers.
• DI Chris Carver is the detective that takes over from Eric Wardle when he takes compassionate leave. Carver hates Cormoran because in the first novel Cormoran solved the case, making Carver appear as a fool. 
•  Tom Turvey was Sarah’s fiancé and Matthew’s colleague.
• Al (Alexander) Rokeby is Cormoran’s half-brother. He and Cormoran became friendly when Cormoran was in hospital after the bomb, and Al went to visit him.
• Aunt Joan Nancarrow was Uncle Ted’s wife. She died in the last book.
• Leda Strike was Cormoran’s mother. She overdosed when Cormoran was 20. When she was forty, she met a man in his twenties, Jeff Whittaker, and after a whirlwind romance, she got pregnant and they married. Leda had a baby boy, but then she died. Jeff was charged with her death as his alibi aroused suspicion, but he was acquitted.
• Richard Anstis is a detective. Anstis and Cormoran were together in the army and Cormoran saved his life by grabbing and pulling him from front of the car when the bomb exploded. To thank him for saving his life, Anstis made Cormoran the godfather of his first child.  He is married and has three children.
• Helly Anstis is Richard Anstis’s wife.
• Timmy Anstis is Richard Anstis’s three-year-old son and Cormoran’s godson.
• Tilly Anstis is Richard Anstis’s one-year-old daughter.
• Eddie Rokeby is another half-brother of Cormoran’s. He has little interest in Cormoran.
• Martin Elacott is Robin’s brother. He is at university.
• Stephen Elacott is Robin’s older brother
• Jonathan Elacott is Robin’s youngest brother.
• Jenny Elacott is Stephen’s wife. 
• Annabel Marie Elacott is Stephen and Jenny’s baby daughter.
• Geoffrey Cunliffe is Matthew’s father.
• Dominic Culpepper is a journalist that sometimes hires Cormoran for some stories to investigate.

Characters in this case:

• Kate is Robin's cousin who invites her to Switzerland at Christmas. 
• Hugh Axeman Jacks is the man who Robin meets in Switzerland. Even though she doesn't encourage him or returns his calls, the man keeps calling. When she tells him that she is not interested, he is quite nasty to her.
• Valentine Longcaster is Charlotte's stepbrotehr.
• Madeline Courson-Miles (35) is the jewellery designer who Cormoran starts dating after Robin does not seem to welcome his romantic pass. The relationship ends when Cormoran loses interest as she becomes possessive and jealous of Robin.
• Henry (16) is Madeleine's teenage son. 
• Edie Ledwell was a young cartoonist who created The Ink Black Heart, which was a great success. Edie came to see Robin because she wanted to find out who the person who harassed her online was (Amonie), but Robin told her that they were fully booked. Edie was killed, and her agents hired Cormoran and Robin to find out who Amonie was.
• Josh Bay (25) used to be Edie's boyfriend and they created the cartoon together. Yet, they broke up. Josh was also attacked the night Edie was murdered, and as a consequence, he was left partially paralysed.
• Anomie is the online name of the person who harassed Edie. He created a game based on the cartoon and when Edie did not show her appreciation in an interview, he went after her. Anomie killed her and attacked Josh. He also attacked Vilepechora/Oliver Peach and killed his partner, Morehouse. At the end of the book Robin and Cormoran discover that Anomie was Gus, and when they go to the house, he has killed his father and injured his mother. 
• Morehouse/Vikas Bhardwa was the co-creator of the game. Throughout the novel he expresses his feelings for another gamer, Paperwhite, and he starts distrusting Anomie after Edie's murder. Vikas is a professor at the university of Cambridge, but he was disabled, and that is why he was so uncertain to show himself to Paperwhite.  Vikas is murdered by Anomie, and Robin and Cormoran discover that Paperwhite was a fake account, and Anomie was behind that identity. 
• Yasmine Weatherhead used to work for Josh and Edie, but she was fired when Edie discovered that she played the game created by the person who was vicious online. In the game Yasmine was Hartella, and when two of the moderators, LordDrek and Vilepechora, said that they had a dossier evidencing that Anomie was Edie, she volunteered to give it to Josh. Josh told Edie, and they agreed to meet at the Cemetery where they were attacked. 
• Rachel Ledwell was Edie's cousin and in the game she called herself Fiendy1 but pretended to be a man because she had been harassed. Rachel was Grant's daughter by his first wife, and when Robin and Cormoran find out who she is, the girl helps them and thanks to her, they discover Morehouse's real identity. 
• Zoe Haigh was a young girl who looks after children at the art collective. In the game her name is Worm28. Cormoran and Robin discover that the girl has been groomed by Tim, and they have had a toxic relationship since she was thirteen.
• Allan Yeoman is Edie Ledwell's agent, and he hires Cormoran and Robin to discover who Anomie is. 
• LordDrek /Charlie Peach was in the game as parrt of a far-right group. He and his brother faked the dossier that triggered the attack to Edie. 
• Vilepechora/Oliver Peach was in the game with his brotehr and they belonged to a far-right group. When he went to the convention, trying to find out who Anomie was, he was attacked and pushed to the railway tracks. 
• Seb Montgomery is the man who Edie suspected of being Anomie because he knew a lot about her, which is what Anomie shared online. Seb was part of the team at the beginning of the cartoon, but then he was dismissed, and Edie suspected that he held a grudge. 
• Groomer is a man that the agency is investigating because his ex-girlfriend suspects he is trying to seduce her daughter.
• Legs (17) is the young woman who Groomer is after.
• Fingers  is a man who the agency are investigating because his stepfather suspects he is stealing things from him.
• Wally Cardew was one of the character's voice (Drek). He was fired when he appeared on a video, mocking the holocaust. Wally is arrested at the end of the book for his links with a far-right group.
• Tim Ashcroft used to be the voice of the worm but he was also let go. Tim proves to be a paedophile who tried to entice girls online. He had a relatioship with Zoe when she was only thirteen. At the end of the book Cormoran threatens him, and he flees cowardly.
• Richard Elgar is the head of the company that is making the film based on the cartoon. 
• Grant Ledwell is Edie's uncle. When Edie was homeless and in need, he just gave her some money. Grant is now her heir and is to inherit a lot of money. Grant keeps some information secret, that is, he took the letter that Josh wrote to Edie, and that is what makes Cormoran confirm who Anomie is. 
• Heather Ledwell is Grant's second wife. They have two daughters, and then she has a son. 
• Katya Upcott is Josh's agent. She also represented Edie at the beginning, but then Edie decided to have someone more professional. Katya is wounded by her son at the end of the book.
• Phillip Ormond was Edie's boyfriend. The police arrest him when they discover he lied about his alibi and they find Edie's phone. The truth is that he had a tracker on Edie's phone, and he followed the signal, and then a man dropped the phone and fled. 
• MJ is Cardw's sidekick on Youtube.
• Nils de Yong is the onwer of the art collective. He is also a suspect as Anomie.
• Bram de Yong (12) is Nils's son. Everyone agrees that the child is a terror. His mother was murdered when one of her clients strangled her. Then Nils went to find Bram, who was all alone. 
• Ppreston Pierce (Pez) used to voice another character but he lost his job because he had to go to Liverpool often to look after his father. Robin tries to find out more about him, and she agrees to have a drink with him, and he becomes very sensual towards her. 
• Mariam Torosyam is Nils's partner but she is not Bram's mother.
• Kea Niven (25) used to be Josh's girlfriend before Edie. She claims that Edie stole her ideas when she created the cartoon. 
• Inigo Upcott is Katya's husband. He is disabled and he is quite nasty towards his wife and children.
• Flavia Upcott is Katya's 12-year-old daughter. She was afraid of Gus because she had seen him steal Josh's letter from her mother's handbag and replace it with his. 
• Sarah Niven is Kea's mother. She breeds parrots.