Cecilia
Cecilia is St John’s Screech sister. At the tender age of 9 she and her brother, aged 13, were orphaned when their parents died in a car crash in Monaco. They were brought up by their grandparents and their aunt Dorothy in London.
Cecilia showed an early talent for music, playing piano and clarinet from the age of 5 but her great love was always the violin. After graduating from the Royal College of Music with a First Class degree and a Masters, she auditioned for and was offered a position with the BBC orchestra but declined as she wanted a solo career as a violinist. For many years she performed in London with her accompanist Edward Shot with whom she had a passionate and turbulent love affair. This was followed by another turbulent, passionate love affair with another accompanist while touring Europe.
On returning to London, Cecilia founded the Park Quartet with second violinist Tilly Watts, viola player Pippa Phipps and cellist Rosalind Budd whom she always hoped would get together with her brother St John.
In London there followed yet another unsuccessful love affair with the notorious cellist Benjamin Bell. Cecilia’s unsuccessful love affairs were of great concern to her brother who felt that musicians were in general an unstable bunch and not suitable recipients of his sister’s love. It was with great relief – though it took him quite a while to realise what was going on – that he discovered Cecilia and his old friend Vladimir Vladimirov from the Russian Embassy had fallen in love. Vladimir was a man who had a passion for many things but in particular, music. He was the kind of man who could appreciate Cecilia’s many fine qualities and talents, her striking beauty and to provide the protective warmth, kindness and love that she craved. St John heartily approves.
Cecilia lives in a spacious second floor flat in Bickenhall Mansions, W1, off Baker Street, opposite her brother. They are very close yet lead independent lives. They meet several times a week for a catch up coffee or tea and once a week she bakes him a fruit cake of which he is inordinately fond. She worries about her brother’s lack of a partner in his life, feeling that a cat, however wonderful, is not a sufficient life companion just as much as he worried, before Vladimir, about her choice of unsuitable lovers. She is determined to find a mate for him but so far has had no success.
Cecilia is slim, statuesque with a pale complexion, startling green eyes and cascading, pre-Raphaelite, red-gold hair. She is very fit and jogs regularly round nearby Regent’s Park. She is the only person, other than St John, that his cat Potemkin can tolerate. Cecilia has another hidden talent, one that constantly mystifies her brother, of being able to get into any venue, performance or restaurant at a moment’s notice. She also has a will of steel.
Vladimir
Vladimir Vladimirov (Vladimir son of Vladimir) works is the Cultural Attache at the Russian Embassy. He was born in St Petersburg. He was married to Katerina Anna but divorced not very amicably some years ago. He has grown up sons Piotr Illych(after Tchaikovsky) and Modest (after Mussorsky) who continue to live in St Petersburg. He is a tall, bear of a man, with big brown eyes, a perpetual afternoon shadow and a huge, noisy laugh. He is passionate about many things – good food, wine, beautiful women and music. He is very emotional and regularly weeps when listening to music, especially when played by Cecilia, whom he adores. He is extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of Russian culture; music, opera and ballet.
Very little is known about his former life in Russia. He is believed to have spent time working in the intelligence services under various administrations. It is a past he rarely alludes to and is reluctant to speak about. Although he now lives permanently in London, he frequently returns to St Petersburg and has many contacts in the FSB and the police.
Vladimir lives in a stylish flat in the Bayswater area, overlooking Kensington Gardens. Although Cecilia spends much of her time there she prefers to maintain her independent life and has chosen not to move in with him. Vladimir respects her decision and it suits him too as he is away travelling much of the time. Many of his problems with his ex-wife were due to his frequent absences from home and the resentment that built up as a result. He has no desire to repeat the experience.
Bruce Bravo is St John’s Screech’s loyal and dogged assistant. He and Screech have a remarkably good relationship though Screech can never understand why as they have absolutely nothing in common. In Screech’s eyes Bruce is totally ignorant about the finer things in life though he fully appreciates his other qualities: his doggedness, his willingness to do the tedious legwork required in any investigation and his remarkable ability to charm any woman of any age, colour or class and to melt even the hardest female heart.
Bruce rarely betrays what he thinks and maintains a certain impenetrable blankness of expression. At times, Screech feels that Bruce may be making fun of him but he can never be sure. Bruce is an enigma.
Bruce lives in an immaculate, semi-detached house in Beckenham with his immaculate wife Cynthia who works in a local estate agent’s. They have no children and appear to want none. They have a cosy, comfortable existence together, only disturbed when Bruce is called away on a case or on the one or two rare occasions he has been required to cat-sit Potemkin, a job he heartily detests. Every August he and Cynthia rent a cottage for three weeks on the Isle of Wight in the little village he spent his holidays in as a child. They are usually in bed by 10.30 p.m.
Bruce has one weakness – a predilection for craft beers which he indulges with fellow police officers when Cynthia is away visiting her sister or her mother. On one occasion, in Barton, Dorsetshire. he had to be driven back in a police patrol car to the B&B he was staying in, after an over- consumption of local ales, though it has to be said while pursuing a line of enquiry, an event which caused Screech considerable embarrassment .
Despite his way with women, Bruce is totally faithful to his wife though he did get a little too close to a garrulous, copper-haired Australian girl while working on the case of a murdered viola player.
Quentin Michaelfish
Quentin Michaelfish is Screech’s Superintendent. He has grey wiry hair and penetrating, grey-blue eyes. With his considerable height – he is 6’4” tall and possessing a certain military bearing, he towers over his subordinates in more ways than one. His brusqueness and tendency to bark rather than speak often intimidate his junior officers though Inspector Screech finds his manner rather endearing.
Quentin Michaelfish has risen through the ranks to his present position through dedication, hard work and unnerving ambition. He is a great believer in the establishment though he is frequently let down by it when its members behave in a manner that goes against his strict moral code. He has connections in high places which means he is often called upon to supervise cases of a high-profile nature. This allows him to request the assistance of Detective Inspector Screech, for whom he has the greatest respect, to investigate cases that would not normally come under Screech’s jurisdiction.
He is usually to be found in New Scotland Yard or in the Members Bar of the House of Commons. He is a very private man and little is known about his personal life or even his marital status. He is believed to be a member of the Royal Surrey Golf Club but no one has yet discovered his handicap.
Consuelo Dolores Carmen Maria Ruiz
Consuelo is a Spanish actress from Murcia in Andalusia though her acting talents have taken her all over Europe including London where she took the role of Gertrude in an all women production of Hamlet. Although many of the shows she has performed in have not been five-star, she is without doubt an actress of considerable ability and possesses enormous stage presence. She is strikingly beautiful with a mane of curly, black hair that cascades down her shoulders, a figure to die for and a huge, flamboyant personality. She has a particular fondness for English men though it is rumoured she has also had affairs with the fairer sex.
St John Screech doesn’t know what to make of her. He is both attracted and overwhelmed by her. Whenever she is near, he finds his pulse is racing and his heart is beating faster. He has become accustomed to her lavish embraces and kisses but is never sure what her real intentions are. He finds her exciting and discombobulating and she brings to him an awareness of another world that he has up to now put to bed.
Consuelo was a main player in the story The Spanish Affair (from Game, Set and Match Screech) and is due to make another appearance in the next volume of stories “Is That It Screech?”