THE ROSARIO'S CHARACTERS & PLACES
IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE OR FIRST MENTIONED
(those in brackets are minor characters)
Katie de Vere Stubbs: 33 years old – is an expert in 16th-century Spanish and English Tudor history – expert deep-sea diver – searched with her father for sunken Spanish galleons carrying treasure from Central America to Spain – Oxford University Master’s degree in 16th-century Tudor and Spanish written and spoken languages, and Spanish archaeology – wants to be called plain Katie Stubbs – attractive – slim – cropped blonde hair – very fit – athletic.
(Chief Superintendent Trevelyan: convinces Katie to help the navy)
Sir Francis Drake – a famous English sea captain – circumnavigated around the world between 1577 and 1580 – commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I as a Privateer – basically behaved as a pirate, attacking and looting any Spanish ships, especially those carrying gold and silver taken from South America, via Panama - he helped to defend England against the invading Spanish Armada in 1588, although his main interest was looting the disabled galleon, the Rosario, or the Nuestra Señora del Rosario (Our Lady of the Rosary).
(Don Pedro de Valdés: the admiral commanding the Rosario is mentioned throughout the book, but not a major character)
(The Revenge: Drake’s ship during the Armada invasion and capture of the Rosario)
(Gareth Fitzwilliam: auctioneer at Mandevilles auction house in London – he sells the Spanish vagueño travelling writing desk to Xavier Nathanial Sinclair, via Victor Issac Parrish – before having a heart attack)
Xavier Nathanial Sinclair – 59 years old – blue eyes – back-combed grey hair – in Mandevilles auction house as Charles Bray – a suave, sophisticated, obnoxious, psychotic, rude, sexist, and a sexual predator Englishman - his main occupation is being an illegal arms dealer, but his hobby is scouring the world for artefacts, paintings and any other memorabilia connected with the Tudor times, especially the Spanish Armada – he has commissioned Max Kraemer, architect, to design a new exhibition building for his collection – he contracts Katie Stubbs to decipher the documents that Tommy Perlmann finds hidden in his vagueño.
Victor Isaac Parrish: 50 years old – round bony head – ex-army security man – employed as Sinclair’s personal assistant and to keep him out of trouble – in charge of the security of Eagle’s Cliff and the ruined farmhouse communication centre.
(Madeline-B: Xavier’s yacht used in the Dartmouth doors heist)
The Eagle’s Cliff: Sinclair’s luxury villa complex located in an isolated valley in the Catalonian mountains – within the La Mola de Benifallet region, 160 kilometres west of Barcelona.
Gerald Braithwaite: Sinclair’s lawyer - senior partner in Masters, Trent & Gouton in London.
(Grace: Gerald’s secretary)
Juan Diego Aguado: 57 years old – senior agent in the CNI for 17 years – fit and svelte for his age – loves smoking cigarillos – works in the CNI’s central office in Madrid – the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia (equivalent: Britain's MI6) – ambition: to arrest Sinclair.
Antonio Alonso de Mazarredo: second-in-command to Juan, within the CNI – works in the CNI’s central office in Madrid – in a stakeout of Sinclair's Eagle's Cliff with his boss.
Tommy (Thomas Perlmann aka Bill Collen): Sinclair’s expert furniture restorer, running from the British authorities – based in Barcelona – situated in Restauración de Muebles Antiguos, off Barcelona’s Carrer de Josep Anselm Clavé street – has itchy varicose veins.
Toby Sinclair: Sinclair’s troubled twin brother – allowed by Sinclair to live at Eagle’s Cliff – bent over – lacks confidence in his brother’s presence – likes wearing a bright orange cloak – utters strange phutting noise from his puckered lips – rotund stomach – wears fluorescent-blue flip-flops.
(Manek: one of Sinclair’s heavies from Slovakia)
(Geо́rgy Antonovich: Sinclair’s second heavy from Russia – replaces Manek after he is shot at Fountain Villas)
(Francisco García Botella: Juan’s superior at the CNI)
(Señora Violeta Mendoza, the villa estate housekeeper – interviews Sophia Guerrero)
Sophia Guerrero: CNI agent who becomes Marina Resendiz – the new maid at Sinclair’s villa complex – she is interviewed in Barcelona.
(Valentin: looks after the main security gate into the Eagle's Cliff villa complex)
Max (Maximilian) Kraemer: brown hair – husky Devon voice – architect – on-site at the Eagle’s Cliff designing and building Sinclair’s new exhibition building or known as the Pavilion – falls in love with Katie.
Miguel Cappelo: 56 years old – Spanish builder of Sinclair’s Pavilion - has a mop of curly grey hair and a drooping white moustache – has sparkling white teeth and two gleaming gold incisors.
Hikaro Oshiro: English/Japanese – MI6/CNI agent posing as Sinclair’s cook.
(Susanna Fitzwinton: Sir Francis Drake’s lover, who informs him he is to have a son)
Holly Kraemer: 26 years old – Max Kraemer’s sister – training to be an architect – studying at Bath university – following in the footsteps of her brother – gaining site experience at the Eagle’s Cliff building site.
(Commander Rodolfo Castillo: 56 years old commander of the GEO – a balding and grey-haired fifty-six-year-old veteran of many undercover operations Special Forces Group, the Grupo Especial de Operaciones of the Spanish Police)
(Bill: builder at Saint Lezanthe church in Devon)
(Frau von Grimmelshausen: the Generaldirektor of the Wolfeberg bank)
(Fraulein Gerda Reuter: Wolfeberg Bank employee – shows Max and Katie the bank’s artefacts located in its two basement levels)
Doktor Greiner-Schang: one of the three owners of the Wolfeberg Bank in Germany – Sinclair discovers the Doktor has been his competitor collecting artefacts to do with the Armada – the Doktor invites Katie and Max to his yacht to see his private collection.
(Adrià: 16 years old – goat herd boy, who finds paper plane messages)
(Josephine Michaels: senior agent of MI6 arrests Braithwaite and tells Max and Katie what has happened to the hostages, Sinclair and Victor)
COUNTRIES, CITIES AND PLACES FOUND IN THE NOVEL
SPAIN
Catalonian mountains in Spain: where Sinclair has his luxury Eagle's Cliff villa complex and clandestine ‘ruined’ farmhouse communication centre.
Barcelona: in Catalonia, where Tommy has his furniture restoration business – where he cleans and restores Sinclair’s vagueño.
Madrid: Spain’s capital: where the CNI have their headquarters.
ENGLAND
London: where Mandeville’s auction house is located.
Dartmouth and Kingswear: where Max and Katie search for the Rosario’s doors and find them in Dartmouth at Fountain Villas.
Devon: Saint Lezanthe church – the last church indicated on the silver hexagonal map – where Max and Katie find hidden Spanish gold bars.
GERMANY
Hamburg: where Max, Katie gain access into the Wolfeberg Bank's special artefact floors – Max and Katie are taken by Doktor Greiner-Schang to his yacht in a De Havilland Beaver seaplane.
Glücksburg: where Katie, Max and the Doktor are attacked by Victor Parrish and Geо́rgy Antonovich, onboard Doktor Greiner-Schang’s yacht – the assailants steal valuable Tudor and Spanish artefacts for Sinclair.