Characters Appearing In Mark Rollins Mysteries
Adams and Davis: Judy Graves first worked at the African American law firm Adams and Davis. When Adams died and Davis retired, Judy went to work at Chambers & White in The Claret Murders.
Al and Sandra Marrazzo: In the Rainmaker, Bunny and Mark Rollins discover that the Marrazzo’s are mutual friends when Bunny tells Rollins that she and Neil will be having dinner with the couple. Al is a partner in Skadden Arps and Sandra is a partner in PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Alexander Kane: In the Rainmaker, Kane is a New Visions Investments partner with Jennifer Berson and Michael Webb, who had lunch with Rollins and Berson in the Belle Meade Country Men's Grill.
Ambassador’s wife: In the New Career, she is one of Rob Randall’s clients stood up when Rob is a no-show for her personal training session.
Amber Lansden: In the Puppeteer, Amber is Harold T. Lansden’s wife--also his second. She was his secretary before he divorced Cassie. She is very active in Nashville’s society and charity circles with the mission to advance the couple’s social and political position.
Ann Sims: In The Claret Murders, Ann Sims is a partner at Chambers & White and also a member of the Women’s Health Club. In her early thirties, the 5’6” tall, 120 lb. lady has a perfect hourglass figure and wears formfitting dresses or pencil skirts with tight silk blouses to work. Sims drives a red Mercedes CLK550, has a luxury condo on Bowling Ave, and is to inherit $60 million at the age of 35. She brings Rollins into her life because she wants him to investigate the untimely death of her beloved dog, Churchill. As the co-chair of the prestigious Swan Ball, Sims’ pre Swan Ball date is the English Lord Deed Millhouse. She is in charge of the Taylor estate auction when she discovers the old mansion’s secret—but is it a secret worth dying for.
Ann Sparrow, a DEA agent, appears first in New Career. Luckily protective body armor saves her life enabling her to later play a role in the rescue of Rollins from a Russian crime boss. In The Claret Murders, Sparrow is Ann Sims’ bodyguard.
Annette (no last name given): Rollins’ previous manicurist at The Look.
Andre Delorme: In the Puppeteer Delorme is the magistrate in the city of Bordeaux France that is handling the investigation of Amber Lansden’s death.
Arlene Hill: In the Rainmaker, Hill is a plain-clothes security member at the Nashville airport on duty at the Nashville airport near gate 11.
Arlene Honeycutt: In the Rainmaker, Mrs. Honeycutt is attorney Christopher Berry’s secretary.
Becky Ridder: In The Claret Murders, the Rollins brothers’ college-age server at Bricktops has an Irish complexion and wears her auburn hair pulled back in a ponytail. When Becky reminds Mark Rollins that she had previously temped at Themis one summer, he remembered she did good job.
Benjamin Franke: In the New Career, Mark Rollins credited this rising star in the treatment of colon cancer, Dr. Benjamin Franke, with saving his life. Rollins’ brother Glen introduced them.
Betty Foster: In The Claret Murders, Betty is the receptionist at Chambers & White who Judy Graves consoled in the breakroom after Burroughs made her cry.
Betty Ann Hadfield: She is the motel clerk in Bowling Green, KY. In the New Career, Rollins calms Hadfield after the shooting.
Big John Felts: This heavyweight, 380 lbs., is a member of the WHC brain trust and previously worked at CSI. Big John can program circles around the typical computer geek but his most important value to the WHC brain trust is his ability to navigate the Web.
Billy Hill: In the Rainmaker, he is a patrolman on the Belle Meade police force.
Billy Lovejoy: Lovejoy is a gay male prostitute with a well-built athletic body, long blond hair, and wears Western boots, tight blue jeans, fitted shirt, and a black cowboy hat. He works local Nashville hotels and picks up Eugene Sims at Rusty’s Sports Bar & Grill after Rollins left. In The Claret Murders, Lovejoy drugged Eugene Sims with Rohypnol and stole his cash.
Bob Adams: Adams is the managing partner of a small Nashville law firm located on 2nd Ave. about three blocks from Lansden, Tillman and Hall. In the Puppeteer, Adams and Rollins flew out of Midway on the same Southwest plane where he told Rollins his friend in the police department said they’re not sure H.T. was shot by a random bullet.
Bob Parker: Appears for the first time in the Rainmaker. He is a member of the WHC’s technical team, the brain trust. He has proved capable of both tracking cell phone and e-mail activity and taping into the calls and messages involving persons of interest.
Bobby Townsend: Rollins tells Tony that Townsend runs the food service at Signature Flight Support facility in Nashville. In The Claret Murders, Tony is to rent Townsend’s Harley so he can leave Black Beauty for Rollins.
Brittany (last name unknown): In the Rainmaker, Brittany is the receptionist at the ParishWelch law firm.
Bryan Gray: Bryan is Rollins’ main man in the WHC information technology Brain Trust. The ‘brain trust’ is Rollins’ name for the small group of loyal computer experts who followed him from his prior commercial enterprises. As Rollins explains it, he got used to having a group of technical geniuses on his business team and now it is a luxury he can afford to continue. Bryan calls Rollins the “Chief.”
Bunny Forte: In the Rainmaker, Bunny, the young wife of Neil Forte and member of the WH Club, asks Rollins for help. Someone is trying to kill her husband. Before marrying Neil, she was the Legal Administrator at ParishWelch. She is very blonde, very tanned, and very smart. Rollins says she reminds him of E.D. Hill on Fox cable network.
Butch Purdue: Officer Conrad Otto Purdue Jr., Badge Number 717, is the driver of the Belle Meade police car that killed Ann Sims’ dog, Churchill. He joined the Army right out of Fairview High School and spent nearly 20 years as a member of 101st Airborne Division Screaming Eagles. He is fired from the Belle Meade police dept. after the Churchill incident because he did not conduct himself according to the professional standard the police department expects.
Carl Morgan: Morgan a recurring character in the stories of Mark Rollins adventures. He is the Chief of the Belle Meade police department.
Carl Powell: In the Rainmaker, Powell is a private security guard who, along with a Metro Nashville policeman, is monitoring activity within the Nashville International Airport as captured by security cameras. They are the eyes for the airport security personnel with boots on the ground.
Carolyn Osburn: In the Puppeteer Osburn is in her fifties and is a 17 year veteran of law firm’s accounting department. Mariko is undercover and Osburn takes the trainee under her wing and among other things explains the law firm’s billing and disbursement procedures to Mariko.
Carman Maria Diaz: A curvy Latina woman who is the fantastic Zumba instructor at the Women’s Health Club in The Claret Murders.
Cassie Lansden: Cassie is Harold T. Lansden’s first wife in the Puppeteer. She couldn’t stand the obligations of Lansden political life. Her distain for the limelight and H. T.’s need for it eventually lead to the divorce.
Cassie Poole: In The Claret Murders, Cassie Poole was Ann Sims’ friend who as a teenager was in a wreck with Ann and her parents. There was only one survivor?
Catherine (Cathy) Tate Adams: Cathy is Devora’s new neighbor in the New Career. She is an Olympic tennis player and wife of David Adams who is blackballed in his efforts to join Belle Meade Country Club.
Charles (Charlie) Harris: Harris appears in the New Career. Charlie, as he prefers to be called, is a gay instructor at the WH Club. He has been characterized as the WHC’s version of Richard Simmons and is jokingly accused of wearing a ‘third sock’.
Charles Newhouse: Mr. Newhouse is a prior CIA black bagman before his cover was destroyed. In The Claret Murders, he and his business partner offer Rollins twenty five million dollar at the Capitol Hill Club in DC to help them find a smoking gun legal case they are investigating.
Chris Howell: In the New Career, Captain Chris Howell is a helicopter pilot in the Diamond Knight paramilitary organization.
Christen Matous: In the Puppeteer, Christen is Rollins’ server at the Capitol Grill.
Christine Orcus: In Mark Rollins and the Rainmaker, (the Rainmaker), Christine is portrayed as the villain. The question of who is Christine Orcus is a central element of the mystery. In mythology, Orcus is powerful, wise, an accumulator of riches, and a punisher of broken oaths.
Christopher D. Berry: In the Rainmaker, Berry is described as the youngest ParishWelch partner at 38. Given Berry’s age, Rollins is surprised at his Alfred Hitchcock profile and limp handshake. Aspects of his past raise questions. Rollins is faced with the question: Is Berry a good guy or a bad guy?
Churchill: Churchill is Ann Sims’ big lovable dog. The chocolate Lab was run over by a Belle Meade policeman, Butch Purdue. Because of this, Ann Sims contacted Mark Rollins for assistance in The Claret Murders.
Colonel Jeremy Baker: In the Puppeteer, Baker is identified as a distinguished US Army officer currently on the West Point faculty. Rollins uses him to establish that Rollins word can be accepted as 100% reliable.
Cornerman (no name given): In the Puppeteer, the 17-year-old has already killed three men and carries a TomCat .32 loaded with hollow points. He is the godfather of his little intersection of sidewalks at the corner of Lafayette and Lewis streets. The Cornerman sells drugs and girls and hooks people up for other (hard) illegal activities.
Coroner (no name given): In the Puppeteer, the coroner bagged Herb Stewart's body for transport and told Rollins that a couple of Stewart's teeth were chipped.
Curtis Howard: The WHC attorney at Harwell Howard law firm. In the New Career, he worked with Meg re Willow’s EEOC complaint. In The Claret Murders, Curtis takes care of buying the Taylor estate for Rollins.
Curtis Ward: In the Puppeteer we meet the conference attendee buddies of Owen Santo. Curtis is one them--fellow administrators who share problems, tricks of the trade and who play together.
Daniel (Dan) Rollins: Mark Rollins’ married son made his first million in the dot-com businesses . He gave up his Manhattan business life and returned to Nashville to take over the leadership position at Themis while his father recovered from cancer.
David Adams: In the New Career, David Adams is the husband of Olympic tennis star Catherine (Cathy) Tate Adams. He made his money in the private hospital movement and moved to Nashville to join the executives at HCA.
David F. Blackwell: In Mark Rollins and the Rainmaker, (The Rainmaker), Blackwell is described as the most team-oriented of the ParishWelch partners. Rollins relies on him for much of the background information on the law firm partners and employees. In appearance, he reminds Rollins of former president Nixon.
David Blackwell' secretary (no name given): David Blackwell' secretary’s desk was directly across the hall from Blackwell's work office. In the Rainmaker, she is to give Rollins a copy of the ParishWelch compensation plan.
Debbie Lopez: In the New Career, Debbie is a body sculpting class instructor for the Woman’s Health Club.
Debbie Star Moon: Debbie is mentioned for the first time in the prologue of the Rainmaker. Rollins identifies her as “My tall, full-blooded North American Indian hairdresser.”
Devora Small: In the New Career, Devora is a Nashville blue blood and member of the Belle Meade Country Club whose tranquility is threatened by her new neighbors. She turns to Mark Rollins to solve her problem. In the Puppeteer she almost blows Mariko’s cover when she eyes her in the hall of Devora’s law firm.
Dianne Lacey: Neil Forte's secretary in the Rainmaker.
Donna Hill: In the Rainmaker, she is a plain-clothes member of the security force at Nashville’s International Airport.
Donna Wyle: In the New Career, Donna is a perfectly proportioned former Canadian model and the young wife of a top executive at Nissan.
Dorin and Gabriela: In the Puppeteer, Mark and Sarah Rollins have brought this Romania couple into their home as live in domestics. Dorin is a graduate student at Vanderbilt. Gabriela is his wife. The arrangement is short lived.
Ed Milbank: Milbank is the Private Investigator in the Puppeteer who took pictures that if found could help solve the case.
Edmond Brown: Edmond was Rollins’ waiter at the Belle Meade Country Club’s Men’s Grill in the New Career.
Edward W. Melbourne: Melbourne is the Nashville based representative of Hudson Bluff Mortgage. The company specializes in mortgage refinancing.
Eileen Walker: Mrs. Walker, an African American, is a secretary and long time employee at the ParishWelch law firm. In the Rainmaker, her daughter was represented at trial by Neil Forte and is serving a sentence in the Tennessee Prison for Women.
Eli Campbell: In The Claret Murders, the 5’10” tall 42-year-old is the Managing Partner at Chambers & White. The ex-Marine in Special Forces has a practiced façade where he appears friendly and approachable when in the office. Apparently he knew the Taylor estates’ secret and turned the auction over to Ann Sims, his lover, so he could bid for the estate himself.
Elizabeth Webb: Elizabeth Webb is one of the central (but unseen) characters involved in the mystery that Mark Rollins sets out to solve in the New Career.
Emily Graves: In The Claret Murders, Emily is the mother of Judy Graves and the daughter of Peaches and the Old Man. She had a PhD and was an English professor at Fisk University before she died of cancer at 53.
Emmett Davis: In the Rainmaker, Davis is the lead detective assigned to the Steelman case involving the missing live-in girlfriend of Kurt Harmond.
Eugene Sims: Ann Sims’ uncle who she had been close to as a child. Because he was devastated by his brother’s death, he hasn’t seen Sims since before the wreck. The tall, thin gay man dresses like a dandy in skinny black jeans, black vest over a striped dress shirt, a yellow bow tie, and Roper boots with three-inch heels. While a delegate at a Tea Party convention at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, Eugene met with Rollins in Rusty’s Sports Bar & Grill in the hotel. Eugene Sims appears in The Claret Murders and is murdered.
Eve (unknown last name): In the New Career, Eve is a soft Yoga instructor at the WH Club.
Felicia Jones: In the New Career, Felicia is the therapeutic massage professional used by Mark and eventually becomes a member of the WHC team.
Frank Parks: Rollins' personal banker at Pinnacle bank. In the New Career, Rollins recommended to him that Pinnacle set up lock boxes, etc. at WHC.
George Small: In the New Career, George, the husband of Devora Small, blackballs (blocks) David Adams’ initial efforts to join the Belle Meade Country Club.
George Thomas: In the Rainmaker, Thomas is the junior partner of FBI agent Lucius Reed.
Glen Rollins: One of two younger brothers of Mark Rollins, Glen serves on the board of Tennessee Oncology. In the New Career, Glen is credited with hooking Mark up with a rising star in treatment of colon cancer, Dr. Benjamin Franke. According to Mark Rollins, that saved his life. In The Claret Murders, Glen is witness to the Belle Meade police car hitting Ann Sims’ dog, Churchill.
Gloria (no last name given): In The Claret Murders, Gloria is Eli Campbell’s secretary. After listening to the small radio in her office, she warns Sims about all the rain.
Gordon Seemann: In the Puppeteer, Seemann is the young CPA who became the CFO of Hudson Bluff Mortgage, Inc. after softening the audit firm’s management letter critical of the organizations financial controls.
Greenwood: Mr. Greenwood is the banker for the law firm of Lansden, Tillman and Hall in the Puppeteer.
Gregg women: Sarah Rollins overhead the two of them at the Pineapple Room talking about Webb. One of them said, ‘I just hope he isn’t another Pearlman.’
Hall: Mr. Hall is one of the three original partners of Lansden, Tillman and Hall in the Puppeteer.
Halsey Kingman: Halsey is the CEO of the Diamond Knights, Inc., previously the Diamond Detective Agency. Halsey worked with Rollins during their Vector Data days and is mentioned in the New Career. Kingman does not appear by name in the Rainmaker but is referred to by Mark Rollins as the old friend he was having lunch with in New York when he first met Bunny Forte.
Harcourt: Mrs. Harcourt is Paul Tillman’s secretary in the Puppeteer story.
Harry T. (H.T.) Lansden: H.T.’s death is at the center of the Puppeteer adventure. He is a man that was on track to become Governor and maybe President. Mark Rollins sets out to find out if his death really resulted from a wayward bullet as reported or if he murdered. If murder is the answer, Mark intends to bring the bad guys to justice. H.T. is the husband of W.H. Club member Amber Lansden.
Helen Yoder: Sarah's friend whose home is where Sarah plays bridge in the New Career. Helen told Sarah that Amber had strange mood swings lately.
Henry L. Burroughs III: A 52-year-old; asthmatic asshole partner at Chambers & White. He was “old Nashville,” belonged to the Belle Meade Country Club, and enjoyed belittling people. In The Claret Murders, he was found dead in his office by Judy Graves.
Herbert Fox: In the Rainmaker, Mr. Fox is identified as the founder of NFocus magazine. The publication’s mission was reported to celebrate Nashville’s social and charity side. Mark Rollins adds, “...with emphasis on the beautiful people of Belle Meade.”
Herbert W. Steward, III: In the Puppeteer, Herb Steward becomes a partner in the law firm of Lansden, Tillman and Hall just before the death of Harold T. (H.T.) Lansden. Lansden death means a monetary windfall for the new partner. Like Lansden and Tillman, Steward is a tall jock. He is also a gambler and lady’s man.
Heidi (no last name given): Rollins’ new manicurist at The Look. Heidi is a young mother and part-time college student with a Bohemian spirit. She grew up on a farm and has that farm girl clean, natural complexion.
Hermes: In Mark Rollins’ New Career and the Women’s Health Club, (the New Career), Hermes is the joint agency’s code name for the head of a Russian criminal enterprise they are charged with bringing down. The god Hermes had many roles in mythology. One of those is as the god of thieves.
Hispanic husband & wife: In the Rainmaker, Ken’s crew is reported to include a husband and wife team who has worked on the grounds of the Rollins estate for five years.
Holly Burch: Holly is an Irish beauty with curly red hair and every bit of 19 or 20 years old. She is married to J. Douglas Burch, age 50. He’s the third-generation head of the family business, a wholesale distributorship of wine and spirits. Holly appears for the first time in Mark Rollins and the Rainmaker, (the Rainmaker), when she picks Rollins’ shoulder to cry on. Dougy, as she calls him, has refused to buy her the ring she wants—a $250,000 fancy yellow diamond.
Housekeeper: In the Puppeteer, Amber Lansden’s housekeeper is Spanish. Her English is limited.
Howard J. Taylor: In The Claret Murders, the ‘Old Man’ was one of the richest men in Nashville who died back in 1959 in the mansion he had built off Hillsboro Road. Taylor’s handwritten will left nothing to his four children and did not acknowledge his illegitimate child. Did he die of natural causes or was it murder?
Irene Davis: Irene appears in Mark Rollins’ New Career and the Women’s Health Club, (the New Career). Before her recent marriage to the wealthy James Davis, she worked for and was seduced by Attorney Raymond Walker. Walker attempts to retain his hold on Irene by blackmail. Irene was employed by Walker as his secretary right after her graduation from the University of Tennessee. Her qualifications in Walker’s eyes were self-evident—”She had a great body!”
Irene Steelman: In the Rainmaker, Irene Steelman is the missing girlfriend of Kurt Harmond. Harmond, staying in Mexico, has managed to stay beyond the reach of Nashville authorities.
J. Douglas Burch: Doug Burch is the husband of Holly Burch. The couple is introduced for the first time in the Rainmaker. He is the third-generation head of the family business, a wholesale distributorship of wine and spirits. Tennessee is what is known in the wine community as a “felony state”. Restrictive state laws have made Doug Burch rich.
Jack House: Rollins’ driver with Signore Greco’s A1 Omega Limo Service in DC wears no hat on his clean-shaven head. In The Claret Murders, Jack House wears a black suit with a 9mm sub-compact PX4 Beretta Storm in hi-ride mini belt holster over his tight black T-shirt. He has a seventh-degree black belt and is a certified instructor in Kung Fu San Soo.
Jamal (Jay) Lawson: In the New Career, Jay is the new instructor who takes over most of Mariko’s classes as her security role evolves. He is big, black, and according to certain WHC members, has a great set of glutes.
James Davis: In the New Career, Davis is a client of attorney Raymond Walker and the husband of Irene Davis. He is apparently wealthy. He met and married Irene when she worked for Walker as his secretary.
James Z. Welch: In the Rainmaker, James (sometimes referred to as Jimmy) is the oldest of the six ParishWelch partners. After the death of Walter Parish, Welch became the managing partner while Neil Forte took on the more public rainmaking role for the firm.
Jason Reed: In the New Career, Reed is the knee specialist in Nashville’s Baptist Ambulatory Surgery Center who repaired Rollins’ torn meniscus.
Jennifer Berson: Jennifer Berson appears in the New Career and is one of the three partners comprising the ownership of New Visions Investments. The other partners are Alexander Kane and the missing Michael Webb.
Jerry Duncan: In the Rainmaker, Duncan is a Nashville policeman assigned security duty at the Nashville International Airport.
Joann Crane: In the New Career, Joann is introduced as quite an athlete and Rollins’ golf buddy. She is a former executive with Themis software.
John Gray Hanger: Hanger had retired from Chambers & White a few months prior to The Claret Murders. Hanger had been Ann Sims’ mentor at the firm, and after he retired, Sims got his office and furnishings.
John Holzapfel: The server at Rusty’s Sports Bar & Grill in Opryland Hotel who served Rollins and Eugene Sims in The Claret Murders. Rollins recognized him from an event Rollins’ wife hosted because he had been impressed with John’s care to avoid opening (uncorking) wine before they were needed at the event.
John Randall: Randall worked at Arthur Andersen before it went under and, although in his late 30s and very smart, he is insecure in his current position as Chambers & White’s legal administrator. Because he’s allergic to wheat, John Randall is unusually thin for his 5’10” frame. In The Claret Murders, Randall confronts Sims for not turning in her time for billing and then screams at her after his new Saturn is keyed. Being tackled by Agent Sparrow in Sims’ office was the last straw for Randall so he quit Chambers & White.
Joseph Marshall: In the New Career, Marshall is the manager of the condo facility where Rob Randall lives. His torture and murder kicks the Webb mystery up another notch.
Judge Hanson: In the New Career, the Judge is Chairman of the Belle Meade Country Club membership committee and owes Rollins a favor.
Judy Graves: In The Claret Murders, Judy is a 39-year-old accomplished, well respected legal secretary who has worked at Chambers & White for four years. She was Henry Burroughs’ legal secretary before working for Ann Sims. Peaches Graves, Judy’s grandmother, worked at the Taylor estate most of her life and gave Judy a violet-colored vial containing a ‘secret potion.’ It is Judy who tells Ann Sims that according to her family lore the Taylor estate had a secret room.
Keith Nelson: In the Puppeteer, Mr. Keith Nelson is the CEO of Hudson Bluff Mortgage. He is a big man who amassed million dollar Wall Street bonuses into an even bigger fortune.
Keith Nelson's secretary (no name given): Keith Nelson's secretary was mentioned in the Puppeteer.
Ken (no last name given): In the Rainmaker, the Rollins’ landscaper is only identified as Ken.
Kevin Mitchell: In the Rainmaker, Kevin is one of two guards on the grounds of the Rollins family estate during the time the Fortes are staying with Mark and Sarah Rollins.
Kurt Harmond: In the Rainmaker, Harmond is an unsavory former Nashville attorney suspected in the disappearance of his live-in girlfriend. He is now practicing law in Mexico beyond the reach of U.S. authorities.
Leonard Roberts: Leonard Roberts is introduced in the New Career as the womanizing husband of Trinity Roberts. Roberts owns the local Jaguar dealership where Trinity worked as a receptionist prior to their marriage.
Limo driver (no name given): In the Rainmaker, this unnamed limo driver drove Neil and Bunny Forte home from hospital. Tony knew the driver because it was the same limo service where Tony worked before.
Linda (no last name given): The owner of The Look where Rollins gets his hair cut and manicures. Linda has wavy auburn hair and a curvy, girly figure.
Linda Cunningham: Good friend of Rollins from the Themis Software days. A real meat-potatoes girl, she has dinner with him in Chicago’s Capital Grill in the Puppeteer story.
Lord Deed Millhouse: In The Claret Murders, the British nobleman is in his mid-forties with salt and pepper hair and about 5’11” tall with Reagan-like posture. As a new friend of Ann Sims, he escorts her to a pre-Swan Ball event. After Sims discloses the Taylor Estate’s secret to Millhouse, he doesn’t want her to tell anyone so he can bid on the estate. The brain trust discovers he is really Charles Russell Collier who grew up in Boston and has a rap sheet a yard long as a scam artist. When no one is around, he loads his rented Jaguar with valuable cargo from the Taylor place and tries to leave town, but the Nashville history-making flood spoils that plan.
Louise Parish: In the Rainmaker, Louise is the wife of the late James Welch.
Lucius Reed: In the Rainmaker, Reed appears as one of two FBI agents sent by Littleton to provide Mark Rollins with backup.
Marcos & Angeline Fenio: Husband & wife who were enticed into taking out a sub-prime loan from Hudson Bluff Mortgage to refinance their home. In the Puppeteer, the law firm of Lansden, Tillman and Hall are handling the Fenio’s suit against Hudson.
Margaret (Meg) Rollins Scott: Mark Rollins’ married daughter is the manager of the WH Club. She graduated from the University of Alabama and earned her doctorate of physical therapy from Belmont University. A slender 5’ 8” brunette with zero body fat, Meg is a Black Belt in Taekwondo and a proficient kick boxer. She shares Rollins’ sky blue eyes but unlike her father she is a liberal vegetarian. Meg has two young sons and a feisty redheaded daughter about to start school.
Margaret S. Nelson: She is identified as one of the six ParishWelch partners in the Rainmaker.
Marguerite Weaver: Marguerite is introduced in the New Career as a lunch partner of Sarah Rollins. Their lunch conversation leads Sarah Rollins to conclude that Marguerite is a fan of Michael Webb’s investment wizardry.
Marie Gomez: In the Rainmaker, Marie is Bunny Forte’s housekeeper.
Mariko Lee: Mariko is first introduced as a WH Club instructor with an antipathy toward authority and rules. She eventually becomes Mark Rollins’ personal bodyguard and driver and then rises to the ranks of Vice President of Security. Mariko is 5’2’’. She is an ex-marine black belt who carried a Beretta Vertec handgun in most of Mark Rollins adventures but added a Springfield 9mm EMP to her armory later. She uses the EMP for the first time in the Puppeteer adventure. Her sexual orientation is an unresolved question. She calls Mark Rollins “Boss”.
Marion W. McTate, Esq.: McTate is the managing partner at Curtis Ward’s Law firm. Ward, a law firm administrator, is a friend of Owen Santo in the Puppeteer. They are convention buddies.
Mark Rollins: The main character, Mark Rollins, a retired business executive and entrepreneur, has sold the Themis software company he founded to a large multinational corporation. The transaction left him with more money than he can ever spend, a large empty office building, and far too much time on his hands. He repurposed the building into an exclusive fitness club for socially elite, wealthy women of Nashville, Tennessee. Against the backdrop of daily life in the fitness club, Rollins becomes a father figure to club members who turn to him when they have a problem. Rollins has sky blue eyes, a buzz cut on his bullet-shaped head, and usually wears his trademark personal uniform consisting of khaki trousers, black cotton polo, and Cole Haan driving shoes. He drinks martinis—straight up with an olive—and prefers Belvedere or Skyy vodka. Rollins is a cancer survivor and proves the adage ‘what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.’
Master Ajay Palle: In the Rainmaker, the WH Club’s number one Yoga instructor is reported to have studied under Master Palle in India. In the Puppeteer Rollins has brought Palle to the states. Sarah’s marketing skills make Palle’s workshops, Journey to Perfection in Mind and Body with Yoga, a financial success.
Matt Williams: In the New Career, this member of the personal training staff subs for Rob Randall when Randall fails to show up for scheduled sessions with his WHC clients.
Meredith Purcell: In the Puppeteer, Meredith, an administrator, is another convention buddy to Owen Santo. She pays hard and cheats to get her travel expenses paid for by her law firm.
Michael Sloan: Appears for the first time in the Rainmaker. He is hired during a flu outbreak contingent on results of his background check. He worked for a fitness facility in Hawaii and then moved to Nashville for his wife to pursue a music career. Sloan is tall with a symmetrical muscular body and sports a military-style buzz cut.
Michael Webb: In most cases, the spouses of Club members never actually appear in the story. They are only mentioned in connection with their wives. Michael Webb is the exception. He is introduced as the husband of member Elisabeth (Liz) Webb. Michael Webb is the CEO of New Visions Investments and is considered a Wall Street wiz by both the old money crowd and the nouveau riche of Nashville. His disappearance is the focal point of the story—Mark Rollins’ New Career and the Women’s Health Club, (the New Career).
Mr. & Mrs. Steelman: In the Rainmaker, they are the parents of Irene Steelman. Their daughter, the girlfriend of Kurt Harmond, is missing. The Steelmans believe she was killed by Harmond.
Mr. Brown: In the New Career, Mr. Brown is the name Mariko gives to the brown-suited bodyguard accompanying Roberto Greco, Sr. to The Palm restaurant in Nashville.
Mr. Gray: In the New Career, Mr. Gray is the name Mariko gives to the gray-suited bodyguard accompanying Roberto Greco, Sr. to The Palm restaurant in Nashville.
Neil Forte: In Mark Rollins and the Rainmaker, (the Rainmaker), Neil Forte is a prominent Nashville attorney—a partner in the law firm of ParishWelch. He is the rainmaker, the public face of the law firm credited with bringing in most of the firm’s new business. His wife, Bunny, is ready for him to semi-retire.
Owen Santo: The administrator at the Lansden firm for over 10 years. In the Puppeteer, Santo wouldn’t share his embezzlement secrets with his administrator buddies, Curtis Ward & Meredith Purcell, while at the ALA conference in Seattle. Bill Maxwell & Rachel Pappas are regular visitors to his $875,000 penthouse condo in one of the new Nashville high-rises.
Paige Rollins: Paige is the wife of Dan and is introduced by name for the first time in Mark Rollins and the Rainmaker. She is the mother of 3 daughters who started using a personal trainer at the Old Natchez Trace Country Club.
Pamela (Pam) Wilson: In the New Career, Pam is a body sculpting instructor. She is a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader who graduated cum laude from the University of Tennessee. She has returned to Tennessee hoping to break into the Nashville music scene. Pam is 5’10’’ and is always tanned without any noticeable tan lines.
Paralegal at ParishWelch (no name given): The paralegal delivered several case files to Forte when he was staying at Rollins’ house in the Rainmaker.
ParishWelch Administrator (no name given): In the Rainmaker, Bunny took Mariko to meet the administrator the first day Mariko and Rollins were at the firm. Bunny was the administrator before she married Neil Forte.
Parker McGovern: McGovern is a homicide detective with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. In the Puppeteer he is the lead detective investigating the death of Harold T. Lansden. He is old school, short and close to retirement.
Paul McVeigh: Referred to as McVeigh and Commander McVeigh, he leads a paramilitary contingent of the Diamond Knights. McVeigh has a prominent role in the New Career. In Mark Rollins and the Rainmaker, (the Rainmaker), he is only referred to as someone with whom Bryan Gray should consult.
Paul Tillman: Tillman is one of the three original partners of the law firm Lansden, Tillman and Hall. In the Puppeteer, he is described as a former college basketball star with a leading man appearance. He is well mannered and gracious but there is something about him--an air of superiority.
Paul Walton: Ann Sims’ soon-to-be ex-husband, the English professor at Emory in Atlanta specializes in British literary masterpieces. Sims married him while she was a student at Emory law school. Walton doesn’t want to divorce Sims because she’s about to inherit $60 million. Also overly possessive, Walton rents a motorcycle and stalks her. The brain trust detects his ‘Heathcliff’ and ‘William Darcy’ aliases and is able to track him in The Claret Murders.
Peaches Graves: Peaches was a black domestic who began working at fourteen-years-old for Howard & Rebecca. At sixteen, she had Howard Taylor’s bastard child, Emily. In The Claret Murders, Peaches gave her granddaughter Judy a violet vial w/poison.
Phillip Townhouse: In the Puppeteer story, Phillip Townhouse is an alias used when Amber’s lover checks into a hotel.
Rachel Pappas: She appears for the first time in the Puppeteer story. Pappas is one of the strippers who perform in a Printer Alley night club. She has also been seen on the arm of Herb Steward.
Ramiro Melendez: In the Rainmaker, Ramiro is a petty thief who jumps bail in Mexico, and with the help of his attorney, Harmond, migrates to Nashville as an illegal. Melendez is hired to kill attorney Neil Forte, the rainmaker for his law firm.
Raymond Arkwright: The retired vice admiral and Chief of Naval Operations for Information Dominance met with Rollins at the Capitol Hill Club in DC. His current client, a German bank with a US arm, lost hundreds of millions in auction rate securities, aka ARS. In The Claret Murders, he offers Rollins $5 million upfront and a $20 million bonus to find e-mails of various parties in the bank and then look for right words.
Raymond Walker, Esq.: Unsavory and unethical attorney defanged by Mark Rollins in the opening chapter of the New Career.
Rebecca Taylor: In The Claret Murders, Rebecca had been the kind, well-liked wife of the rich Howard J. Taylor.
Richard (Rick) Thomas Scott: Rick Scott is Meg’s husband—Mark Rollins’ son-in-law. He is the marketing manager for the WH Club and participated on the strategic planning team that led to the development of the WHC. Rick is unusually skilled at editing and manipulating digital images.
Rob Randall: Randall appears for the first time in Mark Rollins’ New Career and the Women’s Health Club, (the New Career). Rob Randall is a personal trainer at WHC. He is in his late 30s. Randall is over 6’ tall with large white teeth, long eyelashes, and a well proportioned muscular body. He is naturally tanned, possibly from his Italian bloodline. The name Rob Randall turns out to be an alias.
Robert Calloway: In The Claret Murders, he was the Old Man’s honest and unflinchingly loyal attorney who was approximately the same age as the Old Man.
Roberto Greco, Sr.: Signore Greco is a third generation head of a U.S. Mafia family based in Newark. While that makes him a bad guy, he is generous to his friends.
Rocky Johnson: Rocky is one of Nashville’s famous ghost. In the Puppeteer he is a reported occupant of the law office of Lansden, Tillman and Hall. In the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds the law office was an upscale saloon/whorehouse.
Sam Littleton: An FBI agent in the New Career, Littleton is either head of, or is an influential member of, a joint agency task force. His position within the FBI organization is not clearly identified in the New Career. In the Rainmaker, he is referred to as heading a regional FBI office. In The Claret Murders, Rollins asks Littleton to have Ann Sims watched until he could get things in order. Littleton also has people in photos aged which helps solve an identity question.
Sandra Beggs: Sandra Beggs is a friend of Devora Small who, in the New Career, tells Devora that the Adams are friends of Al and Tipper Gore.
Sarah Rollins: Mark Rollins’ wife for over fifty years is a blue jean-wearing grandmother of six young grandchildren. Sarah is an award winning herb gardener. She is active in the Herb Society, plays bridge, likes shopping for antiques and helped decorate the WH Club with local artworks. Her antiques include a collection of hand axes. She has a short and mean temper if threatened and once used a hand axe to chase, subdue, and restrain a burglar. Sarah does own a hand gun though she seldom carries it. The hand gun is a small Spanish made .32 automatic--chrome with mother of pear handles. She oversees the building maintenance, grounds care, and frequent remodeling and expansions to the Rollins estate or the family home as she prefers to call it. Her evening cocktail of choice is dry vermouth on the rocks—Martini & Rossi, of course. Now retired, Sarah was a career marketing executive, and she still does some freelance work. She was the big idea person behind some of the most successful advertising campaigns in our country. Even today when she discovers a product or service that delivers on its intended purpose, a rarity, she can’t help mentally designing a new campaign for it. Occasionally she will call the ad agency handling an account to offer them her ideas. There are very few agencies worth their salt that don’t know who Sarah Rollins is. They know that when Sarah calls, they need to listen.
Security guard (no name given): The only guard in the car patrolling the immediate area around Rollins' home while the Fortes stayed there. In the Rainmaker, the guard went speeding up the hill toward Skinners Knob when rifle shots were heard near Rollins’ house.
Shannon Nelson: Shannon is the nature loving receptionist at the WH Club. She is continually involved in some cause orientated effort to save the environment or its animal inhabitants.
Starr Barlett: In the Rainmaker, Starr is Neil’s nurse at the Baptist Hospital and temporarily moves into the Rollins family estate to help with Neil’s recovery.
Tess Brewster: Sweet young Tess appears for the first time in the Puppeteer. Her wealthy husband, Tyler, wants Tess to have a baby--she “would rather die” than damage her Barbie Doll figure. Rollins suggest a surrogate and has second thoughts.
Tillman's wife (no first name given): In the Puppeteer, she filed suit against Mariko for killing her husband. Tillman’s wife was jolted by scandal and invasion of TV reporters and satellite trucks so retreated to property in Spain where she quietly dropped the suit.
Tim Norris: In the New Career, Tim Norris is a lieutenant in the Diamond Knights paramilitary organization.
Tim Rudolph: Tim appears for the first in the Puppeteer. He is another member of the W H Club brain trust reporting to Bryan Gray the Club’s CIO.
Tony Caruso: Tony is introduced in the New Career as a driver with a limo service used on occasion by Mark Rollins. In that first Rollins adventure, the ex-submariner comes to Mariko’s aid at The Palm restaurant. He eventually replaces Mariko as Rollins’ chauffeur when she is promoted to Vice President of Security for the WH Club. He is 5’10” with a slender build. In Mark Rollins and the Rainmaker, (The Rainmaker), Tony carries a 10-round Glock Model 19 pistol but prefers a baton. He knows his plants and herbs and sometimes helps Sarah by doing handyman jobs around the house. By the time of the Puppeteer adventure, Tony has started referring to Mark Rollins as “Mr. R.”
Tori Flowers: Like a number of characters, Tori appears in both the New Career and the Rainmaker. While she doesn’t appear in the Puppeteer, she is mentioned in the story. She is the Club’s power Yoga instructor teaching classic Ashtanga. She studied in India under Master Ajay Palle, wears a nose ring, and has tattoo sleeves on both arms.
Trinity Roberts: Trinity worked as the receptionist at the Nashville Jaguar dealer before becoming the fifth wife of the owner, Leonard Roberts. In the New Career, she turns to Mark Rollins for fatherly advice after surprising her husband in bed with their next-door neighbor’s wife.
Tyler Brewster: Tyler is the husband of Tess Brewster and was probably a nerd in high school but invented things and became rich. In the Puppeteer, he wants a son to carry on the family name.
UPS Store manager (no name given): In the Puppeteer, the UPS store manager met with Tim Rudolph of WHC and identified the man who picked up the package from the mortgage company. He said it definitely was not Maxwell but thought it was Herb Stewart mainly because of his height.
Vicky Harris: In the Rainmaker, this career employee of ParishWelch started as their receptionist and is now the law firm’s billing clerk.
Victor Radoejev: Victor Radoejev is a member of Hermes’ inner circle. In the New Career, he has responsibility for managing the organization’s Russian airport operations. His responsibilities also include operational management of the organization’s international squad of contract hit men.
Vincent aka Vinny (last name unknown): Vinny is a driver who works for Mr. Greco, a New Jersey Mafia Don who feels indebted to Mark Rollins. Whenever Mark Rollins travels to New York, he is met by Vinny in his chauffeur uniform. As Vinny says, “Mr. Greco sent me to take care of youse guys.”
William Maxwell: In the Puppeteer William (Bill) Maxwell is reported to be a talented senior associate of the law firm of Lansden, Tillman and Hall. Maxwell is a suspect from several angles in the story.
William & Mildred Walker: In The Claret Murders, the Walker couple took care of the Old Man’s everyday life. They lived in the mansion’s caretaker’s bunkhouse and the Old Man bequeathed them in his handwritten will “enough money to live in comfort in the caretaker’s cottage.”
Willow (no last name given): A New Age light yoga instructor at WHC. The 55-year-old hippie filed an EEOC complaint against the club after she was fired in the New Career.
Walter Parish: In the Rainmaker, Parish was Neil Forte’s predecessor. It was upon the death of Parish, and possible murder, that Neil Forte rose in the ranks of the law firm to become its public face.
William Vance Kane II: In the Rainmaker, William Kane is one of the six partners in the law firm of ParishWelch.
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