Clarke

Clarke was a police constable on the mainland before landing his current job with Guernsey Police. He moved across from the mainland when his position was confirmed.

Falla

Falla grew up on the neighbouring island of Sark and came to Guernsey when he got his job on the island police force.

Dutroux, Bob

As the States Police fleet manager, Bob Dutroux is responsible for making sure that the force’s collection of marked and unmarked vehicles is always ready to roll out of the garage and go into action.

Technically this is a desk job but he spends at least as much time on the garage floor itself, with the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up and the hair on his forearms glossed with oil and grease.

Minchin, Gregg

Minchin is second in command of the forensics department at the States of Guernsey Police, where he works under Charlie Dubois. He had applied for Charlie’s job when it had first become vacant but missed out to Charlie. Fortunately this hasn’t caused tension between the two of them, and he has learned a lot from his boss over the 17 years they’ve worked together.

He’s slightly younger than Charlie and, as described in book 1, Dead in the Water, had ‘shorter hair and fewer lines on his sunburned face’.

Charlie trusts him implicitly and is happy to recommend that Minchin steps in to fill a gap whenever he’s been called away from the island or is busy on other matters.

Henri

As Miles Bichard’s PA, Henri spends his days fielding calls in an anteroom to Bichard’s office. He considers it his job to shield his boss from incoming requests and calls, even if they sometimes ought to be put straight through.

Christine Le Page finds his irritating rather than helpful, and she perceived his voice to be ‘male, but high and slightly breathy, almost as though whoever it was could have done with clearing his throat’.

He’s rarely seen outside of Police headquarters.

Sampson

Sampson

Sampson was Remus Carey’s cat. He lived on the Huffin’ Puffin, even when Remus was not onboard, and used to go out to sea with him.

Following Remus’ disappearance, he stayed on the boat and now is looked after by Remus’ son, Ollie Carey.

Sampson

Renouf, Sophie

Sophie Renouf is a nurse at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital, Guernsey’s only full service hospital, where she works shifts. She is also Inspector Marc Renouf’s wife and a friend of his boss on the States of Guernsey police force, Miles Bichard. She has known Bichard longer than she has known her own husband.

She and Marc have a five-year-old daughter called Cleo.

Bichard, Miles

Miles Bichard is Chief Officer of the States of Guernsey Police Force. We first encounter him in book 1, Dead in the Water, when Christine Le Page goes to meet him in his office at police headquarters:

He had just passed fifty and marked his thirtieth year on the force, yet his face was scored by only the lightest of lines and there was no sign yet of a paunch spilling over his belt. His shirt sleeves were tight over well-worked biceps, the tailored front only just containing his chest. Christine could see a dark patch of hair pressed against and inside it. Everything about the man seemed coiled, taut and ready for action, and he looked as though his journey home would not require a bus or a car, but a run or a ride or a row round the coast.

He and Christine have known each other for years, having first met when she was helping to marshall the car races on the sand at Chouet and he had won his heat in his souped up Ford Capri. There is some suggestion that the two of them may have had more than just a friendship between them at one time, and they spent some time in Paris together, but that is now in the past, as she is married to Dan and Bichard is married to Marlise. Miles has assured Marlise that nothing ever happened with Christine, which she is happy to believe.

He lives on the west coast, close to Portelet, and has a view of Fort Grey from his home.

He was involved in the investigation of the ‘Carteret Operation’ with Remus Carey, and following Remus’ disappearance he brought Christine over from the police force on Jersey so that she could work alongside Marc Renouf in the hope of finding out whether he was in any way involved. Bichard is therefore a valuable ally for Christine, but he has to be careful not to make this too obvious for fear of giving her away.

He works closely with his PA, Henri, who sits in the anteroom to Bichard’s office.

Holdbrook, Rosalynd

Rosalynd is the brains behind The Fleet. She developed the series ten years before the start of series one, but after eight years of working on the series she took early retirement and handed over the running of the show to Kira Spooner.

She was inspired to create the series by the fact that her father was a fisherman working out of St Sampson harbour. It’s for that reason that the boat in The Fleet, the MV John Gregg, also works out of St Sampson.

Although she won’t admit it herself, her retirement was brought on by a clash of personalities with George Dixon. Although she no longer works at the BBC every day she maintains contact with the organisation as she still pops in to lead training sessions, and works on a freelance basis at home on adverts for commercial broadcasters.

She is 55 years old at the start of book 1, Dead in the Water, and lives alone in a bungalow in the Vale parish, close to the coast and within view of the parish church around which much of her life has revolved. She has a daughter who lives on the mainland.

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