Meet Chili Beane

Private investigator. Reluctant baker. Professional noticer.

Chili Beane has a rule, which is that she isn’t going to get involved.

She has never once kept it.

In book 1 she cracked a murder in a jewellery shop with nothing but nosiness, a set of lock picks and a talent for being underestimated.

In book 2 she’s taken a break from detective work to run her stepmother’s tearoom, which is an excellent plan for a woman who can’t cook. She follows recipes the way other people follow safety instructions, with her lips moving.

She is warm and stubborn, and she notices small details others miss: a jar in the wrong place, a smudge, a pair of sensible shoes.

Her instincts are good, and her judgement about acting on them is not.

• Superpower: noticing the one thing in the room that doesn’t belong.

• Weakness: saying “I’m only going to look” and then going in.

• Kitchen skills: scones, with a card. Everything else, under supervision.

• Her rule for life: if something is bothering you, sit in a car and watch it.

Meet Gideon

Detective. Chili’s steady point. Currently on a very long course.

Gideon is the calm one.

He’s a good detective because he’s patient, thorough, and doesn’t take a theory personally.

He’s also the man Chili tells things to, usually after she’s already done them.

He’s fond of her, worried about her, and long past the point of expecting her to stay out of things. He has settled instead on asking her to text him where she’s going.

His detectives course overseas is going about as well as a man’s can when he’s beaten by a colleague named Keith in a case study about a missing cat. His texts to Chili are dry, warm and slightly defeated.

• Superpower: staying calm while Chili does something alarming.

• Weakness: he cannot lie to her, and he cannot tell her to stop.

• Pet peeve: a case file with a coffee ring on it.

• On Keith: “He knows what he did.”

Meet Dad

Chili’s father. Fixer of fences. Speaker of sayings.

Dad believes that most of life can be handled with a good fence, a cup of tea and the right saying.

He has one for every occasion, and he delivers them like a man who has never once been asked.

You can tell a man by who carries him.

A country compliment is a complaint that has learned some manners.

If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing slowly and with a thermos.

Under it all he is deeply proud of his daughter. He shows it by going quiet, patting a nearby surface, and finding something that needs fixing.

On honeymoon with Bonnie in Fiji, he is happier than he’s been in years, and he mostly says so in postcards.

• Superpower: knowing exactly what to say, a day late.

• Weakness: wedding speeches. He can’t stop.

• His idea of a hug: holding your hand hard in the second row.

• On advice: “I’m not giving you advice, love. I’m just telling you what I’d do.”

Meet Bonnie

Dad’s wife. Owner of the tearoom. Keeper of every diary she has ever had.

Bonnie writes everything down so that she can forget it.

Her diaries sit in a row on a shelf, in order, from the week she opened, “in case of the taxman and nostalgia.”

Her recipes are laminated, her cups are good china, and her scones have rules.

She’s generous with butter, with advice and with people, and she’s never been known to let anyone leave hungry.

She is a gentle woman with iron opinions about cream. She once left a casserole in a bank, and it’s still the story she tells against herself.

• Superpower: remembering that someone liked their tea a certain way.

• Weakness: she can’t find her own handbag.

• Her laminated rule: no phones in the kitchen. The card has a skull on it.

• On her honeymoon: she’s rung home to check on the oven more than once.

Meet Coco

Chili’s sister. Mum to the twins. Family manager.

Coco is the sister who has her life together.

She runs a household, raises two lively children, and can read a situation from the other side of a room.

She knows what Chili is going to do about three days before Chili does, and she has stopped saying so, because it only makes Chili do it faster.

She loves her sister fiercely and shows it with food, lifts to the airport and silence.

Her silences are an art form.

A raised eyebrow from Coco has ended arguments Chili hadn’t realised she was in.

• Superpower: the look.

• Weakness: she never gets to be the one who’s rescued.

• On Chili’s plans: “Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. Tell me.”

• On the twins: loud, kind, and constantly sticky.

Dudley

Yellow Labrador. Enormous. Deeply sincere.

Dudley is a large yellow Labrador with the grave, damp, deeply intelligent expression of a dog who hasn’t had a thought since Tuesday.

He has no instinct whatever for the correct treatment of the police, and he approaches every stranger as a potential friend and every rack of cooling scones as a personal gift.

But Dudley is a better judge of character than anyone in town.

He lies on the right feet. He leans on the right people.

When he stiffens and goes quiet, it’s worth paying attention.

• Superpower: knowing who needs him.

• Weakness: scones. All of them.

• Hobbies: sitting in doorways, sighing, and eating evidence.

• On being told off: he looks grateful.

Bella

Brown Labrador. Delivery dog. Arrives exactly when needed.

Bella is a brown Labrador with a glossy coat, a wagging tail and an unshakeable sense of occasion.

She arrives in Chili’s life carrying something important and looking extremely pleased about it.

She’s gentle, cheerful and a little bit smug.

She has one job and does it with total dignity. She is also, privately, extremely interested in the biscuit tin.

• Superpower: perfect timing.

• Weakness: biscuits, and being told she’s a good girl.

• Hobbies: looking noble, sitting very still, and not eating what’s on her collar.

• On Dudley: admires him from a distance. He has no idea.